Becoming Japanese

Pennies, compared to most other developed countries In 2010, an article was published here about how much it costs to apply for naturalization. It was true then, and it's still true now in 2022: The application itself is free . ¥0, nada, zilch. Compare that to the US ($725) , UK (£1,330) , Germany (€255) . However, there are many things throughout the process that can cost money: getting your civil documents both in Japan and your home country, tax documents, driving record, etc. You will also to make personal appearances to your local Legal Affairs Bureau. Here I will talk about how much it cost me personally, including the cost of gathering all documents, photocopying, travel, etc. List of Expenses Below is the list of my naturalization-related expenses. All told, it cost me about ¥18,500 to make a successful application. It is worth repeating: There is no application fee . Everything in the list above are expenses related to getting documents I need to submit with my naturaliza...

This little guy completely changed the notion regarding international freedom of movement In early interviews with people done many years ago , people would often ask me, "Why did you naturalize? Why not just have Permanent Residency?" People expected me to answer with things like "so I could vote" or "so I could run for office" . When I actually answered, "so I have the right to live here," they would follow-up with: "but doesn't permanent residency give you that?" I would reply, "No, Japanese permanent residency gives you permission to be in Japan. With Japanese nationality, you have the right to be in Japan." I would then talk about how that in theory, there is nothing "permanent" about "permanent" residency — it is simply an idiomatic expression meaning you no longer had to qualify or keep renewing your SoR (status of residence {as a non-Japanese}). Many ...

The Amendments and Endorsements page of an American passport is in the back. In a Japanese passport, it is in the front. In a previous post, our contributors documented how to add your pre-naturalized name to a Japanese passport after it has been issued . This is still possible, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has changed its policy so that if somebody changes critical information on the first page of their passport, they now issue an entirely new passport rather than note the change on this special page as our previous post illustrated. The new protocol became effective March 20th, 2014 . Changing the following things on the first page will now require the issuing of a new passport : Your Japanese family and given names, transliterated into alphabet Your alternate alphabet names in parentheses, if any Your Japanese registered domicile Your sex Your birth date Note that in some changes, changes to your Japanese Register may not necessitate needing a new passport:...

Misinfo source: the Beeb & U of Chicago's Tom Ginsburg Yesterday's BBC News Magazine has an article in it, titled "Does it matter where a country's leader is born?" , that had an attributed quote with an example that is 100% untrue: "In some places it's impossible to become a citizen, like Japan." The quote surprisingly came from someone who should know better given his field of expertise and because he was a university lecturer in Japan : a professor and dean who specializes in comparative and international law, Dr. Tom Ginsburg. He is not solely to blame, though. Both the BBC News Magazine as well as the writer of the article should have checked his claims prior to publishing them. The writer of the article, after being informed of the error by this site, quickly edited and removed Dr. Ginsburg's incorrect statement and noted it in the article: @legallyjapanese thanks for drawing my attention to this - the article has been...

Some people have written in asking why diplomats aren't allowed to naturalize in most countries of the world. The reason is that naturalization is not just the bestowing of rights and privileges. It's not just an "award" for time lived in a foreign country, or an acknowledgement of one's parents' nationalities that you inherited. It's a Social Contract that binds a person, going forward until they die or legally give up that nationality , to a sovereign nation's laws. These laws include both current laws and any future laws, that you cannot foresee or expect now, that are created by the legislature — and the responsibilities that those laws create. You may not necessarily be able to necessarily escape those responsibilities by just leaving the country and living or working elsewhere . Those responsibilities could, either now or in the unknown future, include overseas taxation, military conscription, or anything else. When you beco...

South Korea is so high it needs a separate scale: see yellow / right side I met a gentleman who was referred to me a few days ago by a friend. While I get this a lot from those who are interested in naturalization, his situation was a first for me: he was a native Japanese who had naturalized to United States citizenship . In doing so, he renounced his Japanese citizenship . However, life circumstances (returning back to Japan and he doesn't wish to be hooked into two tax systems) meant he now wishes to re-acquire Japanese nationality and relinquish his U.S. nationality along with his Japanese national wife's U.S. LPR status. This means he will have relinquished/renounced two nationalities in his lifetime. That's very unusual, but it made me wonder: but how often do people give up their other nationalities? The general answer is: with the exception of South Korea, not very often. Even the highest number of renunciations (excluding the ROK , this would be the USA ) ma...