The Way to Become A Japanese Citizen
 

I'm wondering what the requirements are to become one, if anybody could help, that'd be awesome!

Haven

there is a thread on this topic where it was well discussed do a search and your answers will be found ^^

Never have I seen such stupidity. Quit using two names and posting crap advice for people.

Perhaps I am wrong, but wouldn't marriage just result in a spousal visa, not citizenship :confused:

Check out the posts he made in this thread http://www.japanforum.com/forum/livi...t-college.html

He threw a fit after MMM and a few others called him out on his bad information (regarding visas/working in Japan), so he made another account with which he proclaimed to be a "Visa Approver" in order to back up his claims.

Hey everyone. I ve found this website while searching something about japan and registered right away. (Like I have to say that and you wont notice that from the number of my posts lol)


Japan is one of the countries having foreign employee most in recent years but still a closed country to foreigners. It has the second economy in the world but never takes imigration although I assure you they need a hand in some fields. for instance the health sector simply sucks in Japan and apparently they need more physcians etc although they still keep decreasing the number of people working in hospitals for the sake of saving some money to close the gap in the government budget. Like they did it on our scholarships. The amount was reduced 4 times since I arrived in japan 3 years ago.

you mean the easiest way not the best way, trust me.
I have never seen anyone who got Japanese citizenship other than marriage. I dont say it is not possible but I havent met anyone who achieved that.

So, basically I have to get a working visa and one of the best ways to get citizenship fast is to get married?

Alright then, I'll put that on my to do list. Thank you!

I am not sure why "citizenship" would be more appealing than "permanent residency".

Marriage does not give you citizenship (this is true in the US, too).

What I do know is that becoming a Japanese "citizen" is a long an not-highly recommended process. I think what you want is permanent residency. (I mean, do you really WANT to vote in Japanese elections?)

Go easy, guys. This isn't the same J-O from the "Working in Japan without a college degree" guy.

Yeah, permanent residency looks like the path I'll go on now. Thanks for the details!

and for you to achieve that you need

if not married to a japanese national - minimum 10 years of living in Japan and of course Japanese fluency is a must

if married - minimum 5 years

that is only the time requirement, the other requirement well, you need to inquire about it when you get to the Japan.

I think citizenship and permanent residency time requirement MIGHT be the same..


but good luck though..:ywave:

so, 5 years if you are married to a Japanese citizen, and 10 years if you aren't. But, if you are married to an American citizen, would that be ten years?

Alex, the soccer player, was there since a kid and only got his citizenship last year.

well obviously and american citizen is not a japanese citizen :rolleyes:

the time you stay in japan is one of the requirement but it does not guarantee a citizenship, heck even if you are married and have a kid with a japanese national does not even guarantee a citizenship :vsign:

I know that an American citizen isn't a Japanese citizen, but I was trying to ask if already being married would change anything.

Why would it? It makes no difference unless you are married to a Japanese citizen, and even then they usually won`t even talk to you about citizenship until you have a child - proving that it`s a valid marriage, and not just a paper one. (I know this from personal experience)

Applying for citizenship is a pain. There are good reasons to do so, but 99% of the time, people who ask about citizenship just want a way to live in the country. You don`t need citizenship for that.

well it does make things a bit more difficult. at least in many cases, because if you're married to an american, that would result to having american children in japan. promoting your culture.

when mum moved to america, we couldnt move together, so my dad had to stay behind in russia, and mum had to marry a citizen in australia to get permanent residence. although its less complicated if you and your spouse both fluent at jap and both work in japan.

but i dont know the details of japanese citizenship sorry xD i'm planning 10 years ahead before moving to japan. Establishing the right degree and career and working a a famous studio in L.A. with much higher rating then the anime companies I'm dedicating my life to xD so it'll be much easier to get to Japan with a high expectancy and something to present to Japan instead of just taking you should think of giving something to Japan. What skill will you bring into it?

If Japan "needs" you and will think you are useful to its economy or status, you have a much better chance. Otherwise your best shot is work, language skills or marriage.

ciao

if you want to become japanesse citizen ofcourse you are required to live in japan fo a couple of years maybe consecutive years.....but before that short term visa is the first step to begin your journey here.....its not easy to do...patient is important.....:pandahurray: :marusmile:

This is all heresay but...

Marrage only will get you a spousal visa, having a spousal visa will make getting the citizenship a little easier (because those are 10 year ((5??)) visas and it will take you that long to get the citizenship)

Being Fluent, like REALLY fluent in Japanese will help since there is assloads of paperwork involved and while they will have someone to help you, you make one little mistake because they couldn't explain it right, you start back from square one. (And Government traslaters, as far as I've seen so far in dealing with them, really suck.)

I believe you have to have resided in Japan for 3 or 5 years before your eligable for the citizenship, and you have to give up citizenship to your birth country (so no dule visa's)

The downside of all this is even if you become a Japanese citizen, you, your children and your grandchildren, will always be "Gaijin" or somewhere down the line if your grandchildren are lucky they'll be "Halfs"

As much as I love Japan I'm not even going to bother trying to become a citizen, too much of a hassle and I'll never be treated equil anyway.

well you could de-naturalize yourself from your place of citizenship for that of another nation. you would need to take a naturalization test to work your way to being a citizen. also they wont naturalize you if you have an arrest record. you would also need to get a workers visa or something like that. just proof that your are verified to work in the country if your arent a citizen. thats what the Mexican Naturalization is like to become american citizens, i think it would be the same for japanese naturalization give or take.

geez, you people are really negative. you can tell someone that it is hard, but don't harp on people because they want to work hard to make something of themselves. it's not impossible, so don't be so pessimistic. gosh, haven't you ever heard of "follow your dreams"? I know that sounds naive but why live if you don't challenge yourself and don't do what you want with your life? just help and don't be negative about it. you sound like a bunch of depressed emos.

My mom is French. She moved to the U.S. in her twenties, met my dad and now has citizenship. I was always under the assumption that she became a citizen through her marriage to him. So, I'm wondering if what you said is true?

You can ask her. Marriage can make you a permanent resident, but you would still be a citizen of your home country. I know many Japanese women married to American men, and almost none of them have given up thier Japanese citizenship.

Well, I thought you were implying that it's impossible for her to recieve her citizenship through marriage alone. I'm sorry if I misread.

Everytime I ask her about it she tells me that she has citizenship here in the U.S. and in France as well. She's also told me that France is pretty generous and gives citizenship to any children of a French citizen, therefore I and my siblings are legal citizens and can live there for as long as we want.

Sorry to get off topic. I know this is about citizenship in Japan.
I was just curious.

The thing I've understood this far about japanese citizenship from others who live there, have tried or would like, is that Japan doesn't want foreigners to become citizens. They already have enough people as it is, thus why it is extremely extremely hard to go through with the process. Plus, they do not accept people to have two citizenship. So if you want one, make sure that you are ready to let go of your current one.

That's exactly why I was saying that...

I am not sure about the treaties between France and the US. I know now just getting permanent residency in America is a long (years) process. I thought you had to take a US history test for citizenship...did your mom do that? (Just curious...I am only familiar with Japan/US citizenship rules).

yes unfortunately they will always be gaijin. im japanese-american and even i'm called gaijin here. they dont outright say 'oh kenji is a gaijin.' but i can sense a feeling everyone's thinking, 'oh he's one of those people...the japanese from america..*gasp*...he speaks english perfectly...wtf this makes no sense.' haha i love the look on peoples faces when they find out im full jap, speak fluent english but not so fluent japanese.

^I am uncertain about how long the whole process took. She came over in the early 80's and the process became finalized in '96. And yes, from what I understand she took and passed a history exam and took an oath.

It's understandable that Japan has harsher laws due to the fact that their country is already so heavily populated. It's smaller than France and has what...three times as many people? So, I can't blame them.

ppl have written 4 pages without referring to anything. it seems indeed that this forum has gathered the creme de la creme of smart ppl. anrakushi might be excluded since he/she referred to something, it didn't help though. tenchu said some clever things, but....now having come across as the arrogant bastard i am on to the question of the op.

if you are not a celebrity, a former japanese citizen or have ancestors that are/were Japanese u might want to have a look at this.
How I became Japanese ....no, it is not me.

and here is the law.
The Nationality Law

Why is it difficult to find anything official in print on how to become a Japanese citizen? Because it is case by case, my friend.

while i am on it, perhaps i could continue with correcting some of the off-topic remarks too.
1. u don't get citizenship, u apply for it.
2. in reality u don't need to give up ur present citizenship, in theory however yes.
3. u don't need to be really fluent in japanese
4. There are indeed quite a couple of differences between being a permanent resident and a japanese citizen. u r allowed to vote, u don't need to carry the highly beloved alien registration card, u don't need to renew ur visa (yes, u do renew a permanent visa too), i believe u still need to get a re-entry permit if u r permanent, some professions exclude foreigners (prime example is of a korean, 在日朝鮮人, who couldn't become boss of something, or the foreigner (i forgot the nationality) who couldn't become even a volunteer fire-fighter and no need for fingerprinting every time u come back to japan (special permit residents are excluded)

there r of course other differences, but the tend to be more obvious ones or unofficial.

if i find anything wrong in my little essay or if u just think i am unsympathetic u can bash me all u want.

lastly, jpdragon, it's そんなの関係ねぇ。just thought u wanted to know.

How fortunate we are to have an expert here now.

We are very blessed by your presence blimp haha

where did you get this information? lets just see how this works out with your information:
20million people each have 200,000 debt to mostly foreign Asian owned agencies.
20,000,000 * 200,000 = $4,000,000,000,000 of debt. so where are the debt figures that lead to such a large amount of debt. we have a public debt (2006) of $585,000,000,000 but there is still a good $3,415,000,000,000 of debt missing from your figures. Considering that the top Australian banks are all Australian owned where do you get this?

haven, u could also contact a immigration solicitor (lawyer).
please be aware that that they might want to charge u for whatever help they provide u.

warning, totally off-topic!

perhaps i should become a more frequent visitor here.
for making fun of me, u r more than welcome to do that, i have indeed deserved it.

however on to the more objective responses. i have not stated anywhere that i am an expert on how to become a japanese citizen. i have no experience of it nor do i work for or as a immigration solicitor. that is why i am referring to actual sources. the law from MoJ is difficult to question i reckon u will have to agree with, the source of Mr Artwinkle (?) is i believe (!) rather trustworthy. had i been an expert i would have told it in my own words.

tenchu, would u believe me if i said i wasn't? (as someone u were referring to earlier in the post) addition after tenchu replied below: tenchu, try this. compare me with the person u think i am! it seemed from the very brief description that he was arrogant and wrong, however while i am arrogant i am not wrong.

anrakushi, i loved ur reply, mind if i nick it? speaking of "nick", if ppl find me arrogant, what do they think of ur nick?