The spouse visa income requirement: there is no official number

No. no statutory threshold; ~¥2.4–3M/year household income is the practitioner comfort zone — the ISA publishes no income figure for the spouse visa, anywhere. The checklist asks for the supporter's tax certificates and the form asks how the household will be supported; the review is about whether the numbers plausibly cover your living costs, not about clearing a stated bar. Any site quoting a fixed yen figure as "the requirement" is presenting practitioner guesswork as law.

There is no threshold to clear, so nobody can promise an outcome — but applications in this range are approved routinely, especially when the numbers add up: modest rent, no dependents, some savings, or family help. If the arithmetic looks thin, strengthen it the way the form invites you to: add a second supporter in items 25–26 (a parent or in-law with stable income) or document savings alongside the income.

Yes. Bank statements and passbook copies are on the ISA's own list of acceptable financial evidence, and item 25 has a "self" method-of-support option that covers living on your own funds. There is no published minimum balance; the working test is whether the savings realistically cover the household until income starts. Show the balance and its history, not just a one-day snapshot.

No official number exists. Think in terms of the budget you wrote in item 25: if you declared ¥200,000/month of support and have no income yet, a balance that covers a year of that (¥2–2.5 million) tells a coherent story; a balance that covers two months invites questions. This is planning logic, not a rule — the ISA publishes no formula.

The checklist itself answers this: when recent entry or relocation means the tax certificates can't demonstrate support, submit bank statements or passbook copies, internet-banking transaction records, or an employment offer (内定) from a Japanese employer. The list is explicitly non-exhaustive — payslips, an employment contract, or a written explanation of your support plan all fit its spirit.

Yes — an employment offer from a Japanese employer is explicitly on the ISA's substitute list for financial evidence. Submit the offer letter or contract showing the position and salary. A job you are merely interviewing for is not evidence; a signed offer is.

The ISA's substitute list names bank statements/passbook copies and internet-banking transaction records — evidence that shows history, not just a balance. A one-line balance certificate (残高証明書) proves a single day; pairing it with statements covering several months is stronger because it shows the money is genuinely yours and genuinely stable.

Yes. Nothing in the checklist restricts financial evidence to Japanese banks, and the form explicitly provides for supporters abroad and remittances. Attach a Japanese translation to any document not in Japanese — the translator can be you or your spouse; put the translator's name and date on it.

Match the figure you can document. The tax certificate shows last year's total income, and that is the number the reviewer will see — writing the same figure in item 26 keeps the file consistent. If current income is genuinely higher (new job, raise), you can state the current figure, but then include the payslips or contract that prove it.

Only if you put it in play. The checklist asks for the supporter's documents, not the applicant's. If you check "self" as a method of support in item 25, your own funds become part of the case and should be documented like any other support: statements with history, translated if not in Japanese.

It was never official. That number has circulated in forums for years as a rule of thumb for the monthly-support amount in item 25, but it appears in no ISA document. Write the amount your household will actually spend — a realistic figure consistent with your rent and family size reads better than a number copied from a forum.

The evidence the ISA asks for — statements and transaction history — makes a sudden deposit visible by design. A lump sum isn't disqualifying, but an unexplained one invites exactly the question you don't want the reviewer asking alone. Explain the origin in a short cover note (sold a car, moved savings from another account, gift from parents) and include the paper trail where it exists.

The checklist requests income and tax-payment evidence — there is no credit check in the published document list, and loans don't appear on the 住民税 certificates. What the certificates do reveal is unpaid residence tax, which reads as instability. If debt service visibly eats the income shown on bank statements you submit, account for it in the support budget you declare.

As a supporter, yes — items 25–26 accommodate supporters other than the spouse, including more than one, and the checklist's financial documents are submitted for whoever actually pays (their tax certificates, their income). The guarantor role in item 27 is a separate question — for a spouse COE the checklist assigns it to the Japanese spouse residing in Japan. See the form guide's supporter-vs-guarantor section for the distinction.

No — it's the system working as designed. An additional-documents request (追加資料提出通知) means the reviewer wants the file to succeed enough to ask, rather than refusing on what's missing. Respond completely and promptly; the processing clock effectively extends while they wait. The request letter lists exactly what to send.