| How
are adoption and visas related? |
 |
| I work as the manager of a
textile factory in Nagoya. Every year, we bring in several
trainees from Indonesia. One of the trainees we accepted
last year, he had good attitude and picked up Japanese
very quickly and adjusted to life in Japan very well.
My wife and I have no children, so would we be able
to adopt this trainee as our child, and after the trainee's
visa expired, be able to live together? |
| |
 |
| Unfortunately, although I understand your hopes for
adoption, it is impossible for this person to stay in
Japan as your child. Although I'm often asked this question,
one cannot get a visa to live in Japan merely by becoming
an adopted Japanese child. Under Japanese civil law,
adoption is relatively easy. However, with the laws
covering making a relationship between a Japanese citizen
and a foreign child, while civil law and the family
registration law allows the adoption and registration
of the child on the family register, immigration law
makes acquiring a visa very difficult. |
| First off, with regards to the trainee system, the
person returns home after mastering advanced Japanese
techniques and skills, so in order to learn these skills,
it requires a visa. Therefore, since the trainee is
expected to return home and make use of those skills,
changing the person's status of residence is not easily
granted. |
| When the person in question returns to his or her
home country, if he or she wishes to continue studying
Japanese or wants to enter university in Japan, the
possibility of entry back into Japan does exist. Additionally,
if he or she marries a Japanese citizen, it may be possible
to change the status of residence. However, once again,
adoption by itself does not allow for a change in residence
status. |
| The only exception to this is in cases where the foreign
child is under the age of six years old. In this circumstance,
once the child is adopted, the possibility may exist
for the child to stay in Japan. |
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