Important for Those Whose Residence and Registered Domicile Are Different! A Guide to Requesting Your "Family Register" by Mail Before Your Marriage Registration to Avoid Last-Minute Panic

2021.03.11 published

Do you have everything you need for your marriage registration?

Congratulations to all of you who will soon be getting married! ♡ Becoming a family with your beloved partner is the happiest thing ever. *

From now on, work together and keep moving forward no matter what!♡

@haruno45

By the way, do you have all the necessary documents for marriage registration ready???

Many people tend to start gathering the documents just before the registration and end up in a hurry, so be careful!

[Important] If your registered domicile is different from the place of marriage registration, you will need a family register certificate!

The following items will be needed for marriage registration:

① Completed marriage registration form

② Identification document (driver's license or passport)

Usually, these two documents are sufficient, but if you are registering your marriage in a different municipality from your registered domicile, you will need

③ a "family register certificate"!

What is a family register certificate?

Some might find the term family register certificate (こせきとうほん) difficult and may have never seen one in their life...

However, it is absolutely necessary to obtain one if you are registering your marriage in a different location, so remember to get it. Especially these days, many people are living alone away from their hometowns, so be sure to know where your registered domicile is to avoid rushing at the last minute to get your family register certificate. ♩

If you don’t know where your registered domicile is, it can be found in your passport, so checking your passport is the easiest and most reliable way.

How to obtain a family register certificate

There are two ways to obtain a family register certificate:

① Go directly to the city office to collect it

② Request it to be sent by mail

For those going directly to the city office＊

In case of option ①, it is okay for not just the individual but also family members or other representatives to go!

Just take an identification document and a seal with you. You can get the application forms at the counter, and many municipalities allow you to download the application forms from their websites in advance. ♩

There is a fee of 450 yen for each certificate, so just pay that and you’re good to go! ♡

For those requesting it by mail

If your registered domicile is far away or if you cannot go to the city office during open hours due to work, requesting it to be sent by mail is recommended.

In my case, I live in Tokyo but my registered domicile is in Fukuoka, so I also took the mailing procedure.

After you send the necessary documents for the family register certificate request to the city office, you will receive the certificate by mail a few days later.

I will explain how to obtain a family register certificate＊

For requesting a family register certificate ① First, go to the city office's website ➡

To obtain a family register certificate by mail, you first need to get the application form to send to the city office where your registered domicile is located.

Each municipality’s city office website has the "Mail Request Application Form" for the family register certificate, so download that.

Please fill out the required items. If you’re unsure, I think the safest thing is to call the office and ask for guidance. ♩

For requesting a family register certificate ② Get a postal money order at the post office

To obtain a family register certificate, a fee of 450 yen is required for each certificate. This is the same whether you are obtaining it in person or by mail.

However, since "cash cannot be mailed," you will need to put a postal money order (小為替), which is a substitute for cash, in the envelope.

Please note that postal money orders can only be purchased at the post office! Even at post offices open 24 hours, you can only buy them during the hours when the savings window is open.

For requesting a family register certificate ③ Include a copy of your ID

For the mail request of the family register certificate, you need to verify the identity of the requester. You must include a copy of an identification document, so select one of the following to print and enclose＊

☑ Driver's license

☑ Passport

☑ If you don’t have either, a health insurance card plus a utility bill as proof of payment are required together.

For requesting a family register certificate ④ Enclose a return envelope!

In the case of mail requests, the requester must bear the cost of the postage.

The postage for sending the application to the city office and for the return mail of the family register certificate must both be paid by you, so include a pre-stamped return envelope. ＊

[Note] The address to receive the family register certificate can only be the address on your residence record!

It is also important to note that even if you request the family register certificate by mail, it will only be sent to the residence address of the individual making the request, as indicated on the residence record. ＊

For example, if your residence record is in your hometown A city, but you live alone in city B, the certificate will only be sent to your family home in city A...!

In that case, you will need to either go to your family home to pick it up or ask a family member to forward it to you. ＊

When the registered domicile, residence record address, and current residence are all different

In my case, all three locations were different, which made it quite complicated...

The address to write on the return envelope for the request is the address of my family home as listed on my residence record, so the family register certificate was sent there.

I could have asked my parents to send the documents to my current home, but I didn’t want to trouble them, so my husband and I went to pick up the family register certificate that was sent to our family home and registered our marriage at the nearest city office right after.

Summary of how to request a family register certificate by mail＊

<Required items>

☑ Application form

...If the form cannot be downloaded, it’s okay as long as the necessary information is written on any sheet of paper.

☑ Copy of identification document

☑ Return envelope (with postage affixed)

☑ Postal money order (450 yen per certificate. Send as many copies as needed)

This is all you need!

After it arrives at the city office, it typically takes about one business day to be sent back, so even when considering the mailing time, you can usually obtain it within about a week. ♡

I arranged for express mail both ways, and the family register certificate arrived at my home about four days after submitting the application. ＊

To avoid panicking at the last minute, let’s check the necessary documents for marriage registration!

The process of marriage registration can be tough as it requires you to gather many complicated documents that you may not be familiar with throughout your life.

Moreover, there are people who are unaware that their registered domicile is in a different place, and I have heard that many couples who had hoped to register on a specific date ended up not being able to do so due to insufficient documents.

@asarin_wedding

To avoid rushing at the last minute and to be able to savor the happiness of getting married, let’s conduct these administrative verifications as early as possible! ♩