Japan Spouse Visa

Last verified June 14, 2026 against official ISA/MOFA sources

Japan spouse visa:
Brazil

Country-specific steps

Country guides cover the parts that depend on your nationality: the documents, legalisations, and consular steps. For some countries this work begins before the COE. For the overall process and the COE itself, start with the main guide.

Processing time at the consulate

The Japanese visa takes about 5 working days after the COE. Many Brazilian applicants already live in Japan and change their status of residence rather than apply from abroad.

Main mission

Civil-status documents: the Brazilian Embassy in Tokyo or a Consulate-General in Japan. The visa, if you apply from Brazil: a Japanese mission in Brazil (Brasília and the consulates) for the state where you live.

Where to apply

Apply at the mission with jurisdiction over your residential address — official embassy site .

General documents

  • Valid passport (original).
  • Completed and signed Japan Visa Application Form (fill every field; write "N/A" where it does not apply).
  • One recent passport photo to the mission's specification.
  • Certificate of Eligibility (COE): original or printed copy.

Brazil-specific documents

  • Civil-status declaration (Declaração de Estado Civil / atestado de solteiro) from the Brazilian Embassy or a Consulate-General in Japan, used to marry in Japan, with a Japanese translation. To obtain it you present a full birth certificate (certidão de nascimento de inteiro teor) issued within the last six months.
  • Some city offices instead want an apostilled birth certificate with a Japanese translation. Practice varies by municipality, so confirm whether your city office wants the consular declaration or an apostilled birth certificate.
  • Two adult witnesses for the Japanese marriage notification (婚姻届).
  • To marry in Brazil, the Japanese partner's certificate of legal capacity to marry from the Embassy of Japan in Brazil. After the wedding, the Brazilian marriage certificate (certidão de casamento) with a Japanese translation, to report the marriage to a Japanese authority within three months.

Document authentication

  • Brazil and Japan are both in the Hague Apostille Convention, so documents move between them with an apostille, not consular legalisation.
  • A Brazilian public document used in Japan is apostilled in Brazil (by an authorised registry under the National Council of Justice). A Japanese public document used in Brazil is apostilled by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Each is apostilled in the country that issued it.
  • The spouse visa and the COE need a Japanese translation only, not an apostille.

Submitting your application

  • Order a recent full birth certificate (certidão de nascimento de inteiro teor) and any apostilles early. Brazilian certificates have to be recent to be accepted.
  • Register the marriage: at the Japanese city office with the consular declaration or an apostilled birth certificate and two witnesses, or at a Brazilian cartório with the Japanese certificate of legal capacity. A marriage registered in Brazil must be reported to a Japanese authority within three months so it reaches the koseki.
  • Record the marriage in both systems: the Japanese koseki and the Brazilian civil registry. Doing only one leaves a gap.
  • Apply for the COE in Japan, then apply for the visa at the Japanese mission for your state in Brazil. If you already live in Japan, apply to change your status of residence instead. The visa usually issues in about five working days.

Expert tips

  • Decide your surname before the city-office marriage. A surname change has to be requested then so it appears on the Japanese marriage certificate, and the Brazilian consulate cannot register the marriage if your first name has changed.
  • Apostille in the country that issued the document. A Brazilian apostille belongs on a Brazilian document, a Japanese apostille on a Japanese document. Putting one on the other is not valid.
  • Do not apostille anything for the visa. The COE and visa need only a translation, and the marriage is proved at the COE stage by the koseki.
  • Keep your full name consistent. Brazilian names often carry several surnames, and they must match across the birth certificate, the marriage certificate, the passport, and the koseki.
  • If you already live in Japan, look at changing your status of residence to spouse rather than applying from Brazil.

Common mistakes

  • Apostilling the wrong document, or in the wrong country. Each document is apostilled where it was issued.
  • Assuming an apostille is needed for the visa. The COE and visa need only a translation.
  • A stale certidão. Brazilian certificates must be recent, and the marriage certificate for the report to Japan must be issued within three months.
  • Name mismatches across multiple surnames, the passport, and the Japanese register.
  • Recording the marriage in only one country, so you stay single in the other or have no koseki entry for the visa.

Translations: Portuguese documents need a Japanese translation; you or your spouse may translate them, and no certification is required for the spouse visa or the COE. The visa and COE do not require an apostille, only a translation. Apostille matters for the marriage registration: a Brazilian document is apostilled in Brazil, a Japanese document by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sources