Update: Certificate of Alien Registration Card no longer necessary for naturalization


The website has been around for over 10 years. As with everything, things change, and previous information written years ago on this website will become obsolete.

When that happens and old information is no longer relevant, we will try to make a note of it on the site (just like how we point out when other sites on the internet make mistakes about Japan's naturalization process: we mention that in our "misinformation" section.

Before the nationalized, digital 在留カード {zairyū kādo} (Residence Card [for non-Japanese]) and database existed, non-Japanese carried a card called the 外国人登録証明証 {gaikokujin tōroku shōmeishō} (Alien Registration Card, or "ARC").

Because these cards were not digital (they didn't have chips in them with cryptographically signed credentials and they were not NFC — near field communication), as part of the naturalization process, you would need to go to your local municipal office such as a 区役所 {kuyakusho} (ward office) or 市役所 {shiyakusho} (city hall) and get a 外国人登録原票記載事項証明書 {gaikokujin tōroku genpyō kisai jikō shōmeisho}ruby> (Certificate of Alien Registration) proving that a city municipal work (公務員 {kōmuin}) had certified that your registration was indeed legitimate.

These days, however, the cards are practically impossible to forge (because of the modern digital cryptography inside the card authenticating the details printed on it), and the cards are easily checkable for authenticity with a special reader, this previous step is no longer required.


SPRs (Special Permanent Residents) also no longer have an old non-digital ARC card. While they don't have a 在留カード {zairyū kādo}, they have a yellow card called a 特別永住者証明書 {tokubetsu eijūsha shōmeisho} (Proof of Special Permanent Resident Card), which is also digitally signed and scannable with a NFC reader. They too do not need to do any special steps to get a certificate proving their status as a special permanent resident.

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