Becoming Japanese

If you have been following the sports news in Japan recently then you have probably heard about the national rugby team's success at the Rugby World Cup. They defeated South Africa's legendary Springboks and went on to captivate Japan. Not all of the foreign born members of the national team are actually naturalized as this is not a regulation of the Rugby Union. Players on the national team must meet the minimum residency requirement in order to represent a particular country. Here is a brief profile of the naturalized members of Japan's national rugby team. Luke Thompson Born in New Zealand and naturalized 2011, Luke Thompson has been playing for the Japanese national team since 2007. He currently plays professionally for the Kintetsu Liners. Michael Leitch Originally from New Zealand and granted citizenship in 2013, Michael Leitch is also a member of the Toshiba Brave Lupus professional team.

Changing from U.S. Nationality to Something Else went from costing nothing to thousands of dollars. The United States has experienced a wave of accidental Americans giving up their U.S. nationality . That is, people with multiple nationalities that happen to have U.S. nationality but don't live in America nor use their U.S. nationality in any way. Some didn't even know they had U.S. nationality until that checked when the crackdown began due to FBAR and FATCA . Others that give up their nationality aren't accidental, but are doing so because the circumstances of their life events: career, marriage, family, children, home, assets. Their entire life, through fate, is completely independent of America. Perhaps they could continue to file a IRS 1040 form (because they're not tax cheats) every year detailing how their life situation exempts (or not) them from double taxation, however, overseas Americans tax returns are naturally complicated, as they don't l...