Hi everyone,
I haven’t been able to find a specific post to my situation and circumstances. I hope to gain some guidance from you all and get focused on how to proceed. I recently traveled to Japan last winter to reconnect with my family, and decided it’s time I move there permanently.
**Some reasons for the move include:**
* Reconnecting with my family
* Experience the culture, fully immerse while I learn Japanese, improving communication with my family
* Plenty to do, see, and experience
* Safety, especially to raise a family eventually
**Probably important to disclose:**
* Mother and I are Japanese citizens
* I am a naturalized US citizen (served in the US military)
* US surname is different than my Japanese surname
* Mother is a US permanent resident residing in US – still holds a valid Japanese passport
* My expired Japanese passport is considered lost since I am unable to find it at this time.
* I retrieved an official copy of my family registry while on my visit to Japan, but it was 3+ months ago
* I have a bachelors in mechanical engineering from state college, currently making career shift to IT
* No Japanese fluency
* I have a mortgage, and would have to decide to sell or rent my property while living in Japan
* Married, no kids, but we have a cat to relocate with us
From research, I have couple options but I believe #1 is most viable:
1. Go directly for “Child of a Japanese National” visa through my mother. Give up my Japanese citizenship but apply for JP permanent residency after a year, while not having to rely on work visa.
2. Attempt to retrieve/renew a Japanese passport at the JP embassy in Los Angeles, which would require recent documents, including a new copy of my family registry within the last 3 months. However, since I naturalized, I would not have my permanent residency card which may complicate things. This is my desirable option since I would maintain Japanese citizenship and have a copy of a Japanese passport if everything goes smoothly. I have read conflicting responses in this subreddit about “unofficially” being dual citizen but would this be applicable to my case?
3. One in a million – get a Japan-based job offer on work visa. But seems like it would not benefit if I can get the “Child of a Japanese National” visa and bypass the work visa.
I appreciate any feedback and advice. I am a little worried about forfeiting my Japanese citizenship but don’t mind doing so if I have the benefit of establishing permanent residency there.
by GreenTeaLeefz