Revoking My Japanese Citizenship

7 comments

1. How did you get US citizenship at 17?

   There is no rule that you can have dual citizenship by 22. The rule is if you happen to have dual citizenship by birth, you have to make a choice by 22. If you naturalize before that age, you can still lose your JP citizenship.

   Why are you applying for a travel visa? As a JP cituzen you should be able to enter Japan at will.

2. >I was born in Japan and became a US citizen during the age of 17 years old.

   ~~Because you naturalized in the US you are almost certainly no longer a Japanese citizen.~~

   ~~There’s a legal grey area for birth dual citizens, but the law is very clear that if you take a foreign citizenship by choice you lose your Japanese citizenship. It’s a~~ *~~little~~* ~~iffy in your case because you were a minor when you naturalized, but not iffy enough that I would feel confident in saying you’re still a citizen.~~

   **EDIT:** On reflection, and after being reminded about the details, I retract the above. Your citizenship status might still be a little iffy, but it probably hasn’t been revoked due to naturalization.

   ​

   >I’m not sure how I would get a Joseki Tohon when I’m currently in the US. I have a copy but it is in English and it is from 2006 so I don’t know if the embassy would take this.

   They will not. Especially not if you naturalized in the US in… 2017?

3. Because you naturalized at the age of 17, you’re not legally (in the eyes of the Japanese government) capable of making such a choice. So it does not trigger the automatic revocation of citizenship. Additionally, ‘automatic revocation’ is a misnomer, because you still need to inform the city where your family registration is based that you are no longer a citizen (and you’re required to do so within 3 months).

   So, if you want to choose American citizenship, you’ll need to fill out the forms to make the choice including notifying the city hall which stores your family registry. Then you can get the updated family registry that specifies that you’re not a citizen and the consulate will go to work on getting you a visa.

   Or you can *not* make that choice, and just get a fresh copy of your family registry showing that you’re still a citizen and proceed with getting a Japanese passport.

   Either way you need to reach out to the city hall that stores your family registry. Some cities allow you to do all of this by mail. Some require an authorized person to show up and do it in person. You’ll have to check the specific city to find out the process (or hire someone to do it for you).

4. I haven’t had a japanese passport since 2006 and have no clue where it is. How would I apply for a new passport without it? It is expired, but I don’t have it.

5. There’s a Facebook group called Japanese dual citizenship with about a 1000 members. I’d recommend joining and looking through there. A lot of people on there have successfully gotten passports at Japanese consulates as adult dual citizens (only if you had dual citizenship before turning 22). It seems that there’s a question on the application asking if you’re dual, but it’s more illegal to lie on that form than to honestly say that you’re dual even if you’re over 22.

6. Our sons were born dual and hold 2 passports (US and Japanese) and got their Japanese passports in their mid-20s about 3 years ago. And they haven’t renounced their US citizenship. And on their form they said (my wife filled out the forms) that yes they hold 2nd citizenship. Here in Los Angeles consulate office I saw the personnel use a dual citizenship (二重国籍) hanko on their forms.

   Did you ask the embassy person your exact situation? LA office seems to have a system in place to handle at least born dual citizens.

7. The others have said too, but don’t revoke your Japanese citizenship – it’s quite hard to get back. I thought I would just add, be careful when going through airport security and stuff. Sometimes bored workers will try and catch you out asking if you have another passport on you.