Welcome to Dave Higgins Office: Your Guide to Getting Married in Japan for U.S. Citizens
Hello! I’m Dave Higgins, a legal translator based in Okinawa, Japan. If you’re a U.S. passport holder looking to get married in Japan, I’m here to guide you through the process step by step.
First things first—getting legally married in Japan is all about the paperwork. While you might want to celebrate with a party or ceremony, these are entirely separate from the legal requirements for marriage in Japan.
The key document you’ll need is called the:
If both you and your fiancé(e) are U.S. passport holders, you’ll need a:
For U.S. Service Members – U.S. service members can obtain the required Notary of the Affidavit at their military legal services office.
For Civilian U.S. Citizens – Important Policy Change (As of September 2025):
The U.S. Embassy and U.S. Consulates in Japan have ceased offering notary services for the Affidavit of Competency to Marry.
While this policy may change in the future, civilians must currently use an alternative method.
Required Action:
You must use a U.S.-based remote online notary (RON) service. These services allow you to get the Affidavit notarized from your computer. For this service, we recommend www.onenotary.com
*Warning* – some city offices are not accepting the online notarized affidavit as is but requiring it also be Apostille Authenticated in the USA.
In addition to the Affidavit, you’ll need:
- A passport, birth certificate, or naturalization document. While your passport usually doesn’t need to be translated into Japanese, your birth certificate or naturalization document will.
All these documents—Affidavit, birth certificate, or naturalization document—will be in English, but they must be translated into Japanese.
At Dave Higgins Office, we specialize in providing these translation services. You can simply scan or photograph your documents and send them to us, and we’ll handle the translation for you.
Once the translations are done, we’ll assist you in completing your marriage application. It’s crucial that this application is only filled out after all your documents have been translated into Japanese. Consistency between the original documents and their translations is key, and having everything done by the same translator helps avoid any potential discrepancies.
The marriage application also requires two witnesses. My wife and I can serve as your witnesses, and since we’re both Japanese residents, we don’t need to accompany you to the city office. If you prefer to have your own witnesses, just provide us with their full names, birth dates, nationalities, and local addresses. They’ll need to be with you at the city office on the day you get married.
After completing these steps, you’ll submit your documents to the city office closest to where you’re staying in Japan. If you’re submitting your documents to a town or village office, they might ask for additional documentation, so we recommend consulting with us beforehand to ensure everything goes smoothly.
Your marriage certificate will be issued in Japanese. We’ll translate it back into English for you and provide several certified copies so you can report your marriage to the necessary authorities in your home country.
And that’s it! If you have any questions about getting married in Japan as a U.S. citizen, feel free to reach out. We’re here to make the process as easy and stress-free as possible.
