Can I become a Japanese citizen?
 

Hello, I am a new member and was wondering if I could find some advice here. I was born in Japan in 1976 to a Japanese mother and American father. I never made a choice about which nationality I wanted but I have always had an American passport which I think my father got for me when I was an infant. My parents moved to San Francisco soon after I was born and I have lived in the US ever since with occasional trips to Japan to visit family. Lately, I have been considering a move to Japan. My mom is also planning to move back after 34 years because she has no health insurance here. I'm sure this type of question is asked here all the time but I couldn't find any specific information. So the question is am I a Japanese citizen? Can I have dual citizenship? Thanks, Mayuko

Did your mother file your birth certificate with the Japanese authority? Do you have 戸籍? If yes, you are still a Japanese citizen. If no, you need to apply for the citizenship. You are supposed to give up US citizenship when you get Japanese one, but in reality, many people keep their US citizenship. There is no guarantee though.

That's a good question. Did you ever have a Japanese passport?

It's obviously a grey area since the Japanese govt doesn't allow dual citizenship. With that being said, I know dozens of Japanese Canadian who have 2 passports and are currently living in Japan. However, in their case, they all had a Japanese passport long before they turned 18.

Is there a reason you'd want to become a Japanese citizen? Are you planning on living there permanently?

As you probably know, you should be able to qualify for the "Child of a Japanese national" visa.

I'm not sure. My mom thinks she may have filed a 戸籍 , but dosen't remember. How do I go about finding out? Is it online?

I have never had a Japanese passport. Whenever I go to Japan I use my US passport. I am thinking of moving there and I am assuming I need to have citizenship and not a visa if I want to live there with my husband who is American.

You should check with your mom if she got you your 戸籍(koseki). If you were born in Japan, and your mother is Japanese, you are technically a Japanese citizen in principle. If she's filed your birth certificate, your 戸籍 is still sleeping in an cabinet in some government building. Then you don't need to deal with the hassle of getting the citizenship. You can just go "home" and ask for your Japanese passport and/or file marriage with your husband.

If not, you probably need to go back to Japan with your mom first and get Japanese citizenship, which shouldn't be very hard and should not take years.

edit: I missed your post. Did your mom filed your birth certificate(出生届け)? if so, you probably have 戸籍. It is not online, you or your mom needs to send a mail to the goverment office where your 本籍(honseki) is.

It's funny to think of Japan as my "home". It would be great if I could just go home and ask for a passport, would I have to renounce my US citizenship? I think I will try to find my Koseki the next time I go to Japan with my mom. I actually have a copy of my original birth certificate but nothing that looks like a Koseki.

US citizenship is a hush-hush. It's rare people actually have to renounce it, but technically it's a gray zone.

Good luck on Koseki. Basically what you need is your mom's 戸籍謄本(koseki touhon). If you are listed as her child, you are a Japanese citizen. She should be able to ask for it by mail if she still has her Japanese passport or some kind of Japanese ID. Depending on where her 本籍 is, they might have a web site like this.

http://www.city.katsushika.lg.jp/kur...22/002230.html

I don't know that they will mail it overseas. You may need to go there in person.

This is a very good thread, as I don't remember someone with this exact question before.

I believe if the child of a Japanese citizen is born outside of Japan they have 6 months to get the koseki touhon updated and can then get a Japanese passport. I am not sure if it the same within Japan.

I have my original birth certificate. Would I be able to tell from that whether she filed the koseki?

The link says they do mail overseas, but yeah I'm not sure if the policy is the same across all the offices.

As for koseki, if one is born abroad, he/she will lose citizenship if birth registration(出生届) is not filed promptly(actually within 3 months.)
http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/S25/S25HO147.html
第十二条 　出生により外国の国籍を取得した日本国民で国外で生 まれたものは、戸籍法 （昭和二十二年法律第二百二十四号）の定めるところに より日本の国籍を留保する意思を表示しなければ、その 出生の時にさかのぼつて日本の国籍を失う。

http://www.moj.go.jp/ONLINE/FAMILYREGISTER/5-1.html
国外で出生したときは３か月以内。なお，国外で出生し たときは，この期間内に出生届とともに，国籍留保届を しないと日本国籍を失う場合がありますので，留意して ください。

People who were born in Japan to a Japanese mother are automatically Japanese citizens and will not lose their citizenship even if 出生届 is not filed. Their parents will be fined, but 出生届 should be accepted years after their birth if all the paperworks are there. So as far as I see it, there is no reason she's not a Japanese citizen. But I'm not a lawyer and even I can guess filing 出生届 30 years after birth can be tricky.

You will be on Koseki when your birth registration along with your birth certificate is filed. So if you have the certificate, your mom may not have filed it, but she might have had several copies, so we can't really tell. She can file it now though, even if she didn't do it back then. But I don't know if filing 出生届 30 years after birth is easier, or getting the citizenship as a foreigner whose mother is Japanese is. I would guess it the latter.