Sorry if this isn’t the correct place to ask. I searched everywhere and couldn’t find the answers.
I am a bit confused with the wording of Article 11 and 14.
If you currently are Japanese citizen and have a passport (both parents are Japanese), and decide to get citizenship in Canada, do you immediately lose the Japanese nationality or do you have 2 years to renounce one?
Having a PR in Canada and lived here for many years, you have to be in Canada for 3 of the 5 years to maintain it. I want to decide if I want to live in Canada or Japan, and in a tough spot to decide. I can speak Japanese and English fluently, and in the mix of both cultures.
4 comments
AFAIK you get Canadian citizenship via naturalization, you automatically lose Japanese citizenship.
Article 14 is only meant to apply to certain cases where the nationality was acquired at birth or certain times not by the choice of the person.
>If you currently are Japanese citizen and have a passport (both parents are Japanese), and decide to get citizenship in Canada, do you immediately lose the Japanese nationality
If you’re a birth dual citizen, you don’t have to do anything, as there’s effectively a don’t ask, don’t tell policy in regards to dual-citizens by birth.
If you naturalize as a citizen of another country, yes, your Japanese citizenship is automatically revoked. You won’t get a letter from the Japanese government or anything, but when you go to renew your Japanese passport or do anything bureaucratic you’ll be asked if you have any other citizenships and the revocation ball will start rolling.
If you have PR in Canada then there’s no reason to give up your Japanese citizenship except for tax purposes (avoid things like inheritance tax in Japan-don’t know what’s the situation in Canada, but in the US it’s nothing under $10M or so), and voting rights perhaps in Canada?
I don’t know how old you are, but eventually you’ll have to decide where you will retire. I suppose that will answer your question about what to do.
The usual characterization of this issue as a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation is misleading. A person with multiple nationalities applying for a Japanese passport must indicate this truthfully (as lying on an official document is a really bad idea.)
If a person is born with or otherwise acquired multiple citizenships *without choosing to do so*, answering this truthfully will not deprive them of their Japanese nationality and Article 11 doesn’t apply to them, though they may be required to show proof of their Japanese nationality, typically with proof of the “declaration of choice” on the resident register (see Article 14). There may be tax/citizenship impacts from this choice in the foreign country.
A person who makes this choice and doesn’t knowingly choose to acquire foreign citizenships afterwards falls under Article 16. They must “endeavor” to get rid of their other citizenships, but that can be as simple as looking up the form online and deciding it’s too hard; there is no requirement of proof and no punishment or risk of revocation for continuing to have other citizenships. Per the law, the person is now fully compliant: they are a Japanese national who may have other (but irrelevant) citizenships.
The rules are very different for those who *chose* to acquire a foreign citizenship (they will lose Japanese citizenship) or *chose* to become a naturalized Japanese citizen (they must renounce other citizenships and provide proof).
In your case, the person would fall squarely under Article 11 and would lose their Japanese citizenship upon choosing to acquire foreign citizenship.