Becoming Japanese

Can You Bring Your Spouse, Family Member, Boy or Girlfriend, S.O. , Lawyer, Friend with you to all the personal interviews? The placeholder photo that serves as the avatar for the pseudonym "Ken Seeroi" aka "Ken C Roi". TL;DR : "No". I noticed a popular blog, called "The Japanese Rule of 7" , had written recently an anecdote about attempting to acquire Japanese Citizenship because it had a link to this site, which generates an automatic notification to me. I read it. And I enjoyed it. Very funny tale. However, it's important to keep this in mind while reading it: It's a fictional account. Normally, I'd leave fiction alone and not file it in the "Misinformation" page . Unfortunately, from reading the comments on the post and other entries in the blog, it's not clear that most of the blog's fans are in on the joke. In the real world, they want to interview only the actual candidate (or if it is a l...

We've received a few questions about the continuous physical residency requirement for Japanese naturalization. As mentioned before, the official requirement for Japanese naturalization is five (5) years of continuous residency. If you qualify for 簡易帰化 { kan'i kika } (simplified naturalization) — usually due to a significant family connection to a Japanese national (such as marriage for many years) — that continuous residency requirement can drop to either three (3) years or one (1) year. "Physical" residency means exactly what it says: being physically present in the nation of Japan most of the time. Merely having a continuous 在留資格 { zairyū shikaku } (Status of Residence) with a 在留カード { zairyū kādo } (Resident Card) for the length of time is not enough. The purpose for this rule is to discourage "citizens of convenience"; that is, to keep people from earning the right to naturalize that don't actually live in Japan, even if they legally have...

There aren't too many books out there about naturalization to Japanese. All of the ones I've found are written in Japanese (of course) and are often written from the perspective of teaching a Japanese person working for a legal service on how to advise a non-Japanese for the naturalization process. Most of the good ones are written by those who are in the visa/naturalization business and have had experience advising non-Japanese on how to naturalize. This is one of those books. Title 日本国籍取得ガイド { Nihon kokuseki shutoku gaido } (Japanese Nationality Acquisition Guide) 帰化申請マニュアル　完全版 { kikashinsei manyuaru kanzenban } (Naturalization Application Manual Complete Version) Author 前田　修身 { MAEDA Osami } ISBN 978- 4-88399-120-4 Publisher すばる舎 { Subarusha } (Subarusya) Editions 1st edition: 2001-Apr-25 2nd edition: 2004-Jun-13 List Price ¥1,600 (+ tax) Mr. Maeda runs his own law office, titled 国籍問題研究所 { kokuseki mondai kenkyūsho } (Nationality Problem Resear...

No, you don't. Anecdotal evidence suggests that most people do not use a lawyer either. Unlike many processes related to visas in Japan, there is very little that a 司法書士 { shihōshoshi } (judicial scrivener) can do for a naturalization candidate because they are not allowed to represent the person in proxy at any of the interviews or presentation of the paperwork. The case officer wants to interactively talk to the candidate, to assess their Japanese skills among other due diligence. Additionally, it's probably unlikely the judicial scrivener will be able to help you with the hardest task: collecting all the paperwork, as most of the paperwork will be personal and private and will require your direct permission, identification, and/or communication with overseas family members that only the applicant would have familiarity with. Now, they may be able to help you complete the forms, but to be honest, the paperwork is not a U.S. 1040 tax form; most of the paperwork is sim...

To the nice Nigerian man who wants to be Japanese and keeps leaving his personal phone number in comments: I'm not publishing your comments for your own safety due to the personal info you included. This is a DIY info site and does not provide legal assistance. There are plenty of licensed professionals on the internet that can assist you though. Good luck!

prison in Ōsaka When I first decided to naturalize, I showed up unannounced at the 法務局国籍課 { hōmukyoku kokusekika } (Legal Affairs Bureau, Nationality Section} and stated that I wanted to naturalize but I didn't know what to do or what the procedure was and therefore I'd like a pamphlet, instruction book, and ideally somebody that could answer my questions. The first thing the clerk asked me, before answering any of my questions or providing me with any information was: "Have you ever overstayed your visa or have committed a crime, either here or overseas?" I was a little taken aback by the question. I'm used to getting asked if I can eat with chopsticks or how, after almost two decades of living here, "do I like Japan?" Did I look like a ex-felon? Should I have dressed nicer? Should I have shaved? Anyway, I tried to confidently answer without hesitating, "No." The man smiled and gave me a friendly colorful pamphlet and said, ...

Answer: more than any of the other Japanese visas and permanent residency, but probably not as much as you think and not as much as what you've read. If you go to sites for Japanese immigration lawyers , they're of course going to tell you that the amount of paperwork is insurmountable to do by yourself. No doubt the paperwork is a pain, but I and most people I know did it by ourselves (including permanent residency), so it definitely can be done. The immigration lawyers are trying to sell you their services, so they're going to be naturally inclined to make their document preparation service seem like the best possible value. Furthermore, if you read the fine print on those sites, they promise to try to reduce the amount of personal visits you make to the 法務局 { hōmukyoku } (Legal Affairs Bureau), etc., not eliminate the need for you to do legwork on your own. The tale of the tape: the picture on the left is a comparison between a naturalization application (20...