Japanese Citizenship/Passport Query

[glinda]

A rather more contemporary citizenship question here. I’m looking for a resource for Japanese passport and citizenship rules - do they have birthright citizenship, if a citizen emigrates can they retain dual citizenship, is it different if they emigrated as a child etc.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website is very helpful on the subject of visas and emigration for citizens of other countries so I guess I’m looking for a similar kind of FAQ to this - https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/ - but for, I guess you’d call it re-emigration? Moving back to the country of your birth as an adult?

Any help, gratefully received!

Comments

[chestnut_pod]

Japan has a complex system of renewable non-citizen "long-term resident" visas for descendants of nikkei out to the third generation. There is also a relatively new five-year visa for fourth-gen people of Japanese descent who meet certain criteria around age, language abilities, etc. This family of visas are sometimes called "nikkeijin visas." Mostly they are used to essentially import low-cost labor from South America. While there are ways to naturalize "off" a nikkeijin visa, they are quite similar to non-nikkeijin naturalization procedures, and uptake is actually fairly low. Takeyuki Tsuda is the guy to go to for scholarly examinations of this system, which has sprouted a whole industry of brokers, intermediaries, etc.

The Japanese Nationality Law requires that minor emigrants born in Japan declare single citizenship (Japanese or not) by age 22, and does not permit dual citizenship after a two-year decision-making period for adults over 22 years old. The same goes for the children of Japanese citizens born abroad (if born in wedlock); they acquire Japanese citizenship at birth but must renounce any other non-Japanese citizenship by age 22 to retain their Japanese citizenship.

[glinda]

Thank you so much for this, it's really helpful!

[lilacsigil]

+1 on everything chestnut_pod said, except that the children of Japanese mothers and non-Japanese fathers don't have to be born in wedlock to get citizenship (presumably to free up Japanese men to have children with whoever they like without conferring citizenship). People with dual nationality are expected to declare either Japanese or not Japanese by age 22, until recently it was age 20.

Japan is very much set up for resident Japanese citizens only, and makes it difficult and costly for adult non-Japanese people (even if they used to have citizenship) to become citizens again. However, they very much encourage people of Japanese descent (up to the third generation, plus underage children of the fourth generation) to become resident non-citizens for long periods of time with minimal restrictions.

[glinda]

Oh that's really interesting. (The historical quirks and hangovers in different countries immigration and citizenship rules are kinda fascinating.) And very helpful for for my purposes. Thanks so much for this!