Dual citizenship help

4 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Dual citizenship help**

   I have a Japanese nationality and I want to move to japan. I am currently a US green card holder and I am 25 years old. I already pledged to Japan that I am keeping my Japanese nationality when I turned 22.

   If I applied for US citizenship, will US notify Japan that I applied for it?

   During the US Citizenship application process will they say something to me when I tell them my nationality is Japanese since they would know I cant have 2 nationalities in japan? (will they deny me for that?)

   Is there anyway for Japan to find out if I do obtain 2 citizenships? (what should I be careful of?)

   Does anyone else have Dual citizenship as a Japanese citizen and have tips?

   Final question: if they find out, which nationality will I lose?

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   Thank you guys, Living in Japan again is my dream but my family lives here in the US, so I would like to keep both.

   Note if there’s no way to keep both citizenship, I will either file for the re entry permit or file for N-470 and taking that route, but its a little complicated, so I would prefer to have 2 nationalities if I can.

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2. [deleted]

3. >If I applied for US citizenship, will US notify Japan that I applied for it?

   No.

   >During the US Citizenship application process will they say something to me when I tell them my nationality is Japanese since they would know I cant have 2 nationalities in japan? (will they deny me for that?)

   No.

   >Is there anyway for Japan to find out if I do obtain 2 citizenships? (what should I be careful of?)

   You are legally obligated to file a notice of loss of citizenship either with the city hall where your family registry is based or at your local Japanese embassy/consulate.

   >Final question: if they find out, which nationality will I lose?

   By voluntarily gaining foreign citizenship you have triggered article 11 of the nationality act and have automatically lost Japanese citizenship.

   Whether or not you fulfill your obligations regarding filing the loss of citizenship notice doesn’t change that you are no longer Japanese the moment you become a citizen of the United States.

4. 1.) USA won’t notify Japan of your citizenship

   2.) The US citizenship process shouldn’t care what your original citizenship is. They also don’t care if a Japanese applies for naturalization despite Japan not allowing 2 citizenships.

   3.) Unless you are careless or become a public figure and people start digging into your personal history, I think the chances are low. However, when filling out a passport renewal form in Japan, they do ask you if you have any other citizenships. If you lie and say that you don’t (when you do) you would be willfully making a false statement to the Japanese government and there are consequences if they find out.

   4.) The only case where Japanese people seemingly can keep dual citizenship is if they were BORN with two citizenships. Naturalizing to another citizenship automatically revokes your JP one if JP were to ever find out.

   5.) The Japanese government can only revoke Japanese citizenship. Japan cannot revoke a person’s US citizenship.