There’s been lots of answers to “keeping” dual citizenship, and a lot of us over 22 stay in the grey area by not choosing either way. But the law states that you must choose (Japanese) and then “endeavor” to renounce your foreign citizenship. Has anyone here actually filed the paperwork to declare Japanese nationality? I’ve never actually heard of someone going through the process, only that people have put off making the choice.
To clarify my own position: born with US/Japanese citizenship, am in my 30s and had no problem renewing my Japanese passport and enter Japan with it. I’ve never declared, and I know other people also haven’t declared and don’t have issues.
I’m just wondering if anyone here HAS declared.
by fujisanviewexpress
32 comments
~~There is no paperwork.~~ You’re already a Japanese citizen. If you want to be ONLY a Japanese citizen, you need to renounce your other nationality, but that has nothing to do with Japan. The only thing that changes in Japan once you’ve formally given up your other nationality is that when you renew your Japanese passport, you check “No” in the box that asks if you have a passport from another country. That’s it.
Edit: As OP discovered, you probably want to file a 国籍選択届 (kokusekisentaku-todoke) when you turn 20 and declare that you are “making an effort to renounce” your other citizenships, just to formally register your intent to keep Japanese citizenship with the Japanese government and avoid problems later. I don’t personally know anyone who’s done this, but it seems like a good “cover your ass” kind of thing to do.
Completely separate thread, but I really wish they would change this no dual citizens BS.
Not a Japanese citizen, but if I was …. Well so many endeavors in this world end up unsuccessful … just saying
It’s a don’t ask don’t tell situation.
There’s no Japanese entity that can strip you of citizenship.
However you may need to renew passports within Japan before expiry
I’m going to make this simple to understand for you – **If you DO NOT declare yourself Japanese; Japan will likely decide that you chose the other nationality and Terminate your Japanese Nationality FOR YOU.**
There has been news stories about people who have had just this happen to them – Either you chose, or they may just ASSUME for you and you lose your Japanese citizenship.
I chose Japanese citizenship, although I never renounced the other ones.
Do you think Japanese people have to declare they are Japanese? No. They are Japanese, they don’t have to. Dual citizens are Japanese, they don’t have to. The issue is intent, which cannot be proven. Except in cases where someone obtains a new citizenship after birth, in which case they 100% lose Japanese citizenship and it is just a matter of detection and enforcement.
What you are referring to is declaration if intent. It is NOT a declaration of Japanese citizenship.
The Japanese government has consistently stressed there is no penalty whatsoever for keeping dual citizenship from birth past 22, because the Constitution makes no mention of any penalty or enforcement. And no one has ever been legally punished for it. If you are a politician, people may simply expect you to, though.
I personally know a couple people who have, since they really didn’t see themselves going back to their home country and didn’t want to be in the gray zone.
I also have a family member who went the other way and chose non-Japanese citizenship and officially renounced their Japanese citizenship, again just on a practical and moral basis
I was talking to someone who works at a consulate once and he told me the US has a privacy policy of not telling other countries who has US passports. That information can only be shared by the passport holders themselves.
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So while the exact number of dual citizens is unknown, the government knows how many people have chosen: between 1985 and 2014, 48,961 people filed a Notice of Choice of Japanese citizenship.
No I have never chosen and the government knows about me having dual citizenship as I had to tick a box when renewing my passport and declare it. 5 yrs later and nothing has happened yet so 🤷
Also just keeping both.
Whenever I have to renew my JP passport, I go to the embassy in the US. I don’t say anything about having dual nationalities unless they ask and at that point, I have no choice but to honestly answer that question. They gave me a form to fill out and I promised them I would make the decision when I come to pick up my passport in a couple of months. When I went to pick up my passport after 3 months or so, they never asked about the form and gave me my passport lol
I have a buddy who had dual but was forced to choose one when he got arrested
It’s safer to declare you choose Japanese.
If you don’t declare, in theory (though very rare) you could be forcibly stripped of Japanese citizenship under the assumption you chose the other.
If you declare you choose Japanese, there is no provision in the law allowing the government to strip you of Japanese citizenship, even if you “fail” in your “endeavor” to renounce the other one.
This is why I will keep my PR and never pursue citizenship.
As long as you can keep renewing your passport and strictly use your Japanese passport travelling in and out of Japan, there shouldn’t be a problem. The logistical capacity to cross reference every Japanese citizen against every other nation wouldn’t be possible, but you do want to keep your documents in check and revisit Japan relatively frequently so there aren’t too many questions. My sister and mom have been able to renew their passport with no problem, using a family members address as residency.
You do want to visit Japan relatively frequently though. My anecdotal experience – In early 2020 I went to Japan renew my passport. However, as the last time I visited was 2015, I wasn’t explain the five year gap on my passport without revealing dual citizenship (and lack of PR card or student visa), so they couldn’t proceed with my application. Now, my passport is expired.
I figured if I truly wanted to return to Japan one day, I would be able to figure out the citizenship issue by renouncing.
i cant renounce my birth citizenship, so i just did the 選択届 and thats it. when im in japan, im only japanese. outside japan, whichever gives me more benefits.
I’m 30 and I’m still US-JP dual. But I haven’t been filing my tax forms in the US so that might be an issue if I ever step foot in the US. But it’s not like I owe them any money, so it might not be.
Obviously hasn’t been an issue in Japan.
The obasan working at the ward office couldn’t have given less of a fuck when I renewed and divulged I had a second passport. She just wanted to know to keep my name consistent across both.
Debito Arudo. Though he later ended up moving to Hawaii or something so it seems like a questionable decision in retrospect.
Never chose. I did read a post here where somebody couldn’t get a job because the employer said it was illegal.
JP immigration basically employs a policy that people that have the dual nationality from birth, can just keep it. They don’t go after them, if you don’t flaunt it too hard. Immigration officers will never write this down or confirm it offcourse. Typical Japanese grey zone.
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If you don’t tell them, Japan basically can never get proof that you have a second nationality (from birth that is, see below for more). Due to strict privacy laws, most governments will flat out refuse to confirm or deny certain people have a specific nationality. e.g. If you call the french government and ask if Pierre Sauccisson has the french nationality, they will kindly tell you to get fucked. This also means they have no means of confirming that you renounced your birth nationality or not if you don’t hand in very specific paperwork.
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Buuuuut, if you willingly and purposefully (!) obtain the nationality after birth (as an adult), things are unfortunately a bit more complex. Many governments have Statute Books, which have a list of people that obtained the nationality. These lists are public, so anyone can figure out if you got a certain nationality after birth. I know multiple Japanese people that got a second nationality due to mariage (back in the 80s many EU countries gave the spouses the option to apply for the nationality after mariage). As soon as the JP gov found out (scouring the aforementioned statute books), they basically instantly stripped them of their Japanese nationality, traitors!. The only way to get it back is to renounce your foreign nationality and then get the Japanese nationality back. But you can’t renounce EU nationalities in general without having another nationality, as you cannot become stateless on purpose according to many nationality laws in the EU. So those Japanese people currently live in Japan with descendant visa’s and whatnot. They’re in pretty shitty positions tbh.
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So, long ramblings short: don’t mention it, don’t travel with your non-JP passport to JP and you’ll be totally fine.
Wait, question. Does this mean I can’t keep my Australian-French citizenship if I applied for Japanese?
Yes I went through the process last year, also in my 30s. Declared Japanese with the intent to “try my best” to remove my US nationality. Did it so I don’t run into issues renewing my passport.
i live and grew up in switzerland, my father is japanese. i was born in switzerland but my parents went to japan with me an registered me as japanese when i was a baby. so when i was 20 i was able to renew my passport from the jp embassy in switzerland. my father made all the calls but i think he had to ask my obachan to go and get some documents which se then had to send us to switzerland. anyways, im not quiet sure how it worked but i think i had to say that i am not swiss on the paper. they even told us at the embassy. but i think it only works because in switzerland its somehow impossible to lose swiss nationality if you are born here. so i technically dont have dual citizenship. just two passports. funny thing even the newborn of my sister which is a quarter japanese and never been there, is now registered as japanese bcs my obachan registered her. im still abit afraid that i lose the passport somehow, but im also pretty sure that i dont since they told me at the embassy…
Hello! I hope this question is ok since it has to do with this topic. I am a dual nationality holder (Japan / US). I am living in Europe and I need to get a new Japanese passport (it expired). At 22years old I chose Japanese citizenship and said I would “try” to renounce the US citizenship. I never bothered. Anyway.. I’m stumped on what I should choose on the “Possession of Foreign Nationality” on the passport application form… Yes or no.. Could anyone give me tips? Thank you!
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I’m technically still a couple years away from making that decision, but I’m going to chose Japanese citizenship and just not renounce my American citizenship. To my knowledge they don’t check or anything so I’ll likely just be able to keep both.
ごみ
Anyone experience renewing their Japanese passport after getting married? Specifically, changing your surname and having to renew their Japanese passport? Any problems?