Hi All,
I am one of your classic, above-22-but-still-has-both-passports Japanese “dual-nationals”
I am currently applying for a work visa in Japan (All other steps are taken care of including employment. Yes I am aware it would be possible to go under Japanese citizenship, but I’m not. I am applying under my foreign citizenship (Australia))
On the “Visa Application Form to Enter Japan” one of the fields is “Former and/or other nationalities or Citizenships” and **I am seeing advice on how to handle filling this out**.
On one hand, I am aware that the Japanese government is lax (for now) on these things, however, admitting on a government form that you have/had a sneaky second passport seems like it would at best be ignored, at worst be checked out and come with a hostage situation where the visa wont be approved unless you officially relinquish.
On the other, leaving it off may go unnoticed, or at worst be checked out (which I assume they will with background checks etc) and essentially be a lie of omission/incorrect information, resulting in the application being rejected or a hostage situation as above.
Not getting the visa is highly problematic, I work full-time, remotely in Japan but need to head over ASAP, but I also don’t want to let go of the second nationality. Has anyone on here been through something similar? Do you guys have any advice on this situation?
Edit: After consulting with the consulates and embassies in my home country I’ve entered Japan on my Japanese passport, everyone commenting here is more or less correct, it was fairly simple other than getting all my documents reprinted in my Japanese name (vax cert etc). Some consulates straight up told me it would be fine because I hold the dual-citizenship from birth, while others were more hesitant but essentially said to go as a Japanese citizen in a roundabout way.
10 comments
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I don’t see how you are eligible for a visa when you have citizenship.
And I can’t imagine why you would want to.
I’ve worked with numerous people who are adults with two passports (Japan/Other), and they all worked in Japan as a Japanses citizens, not as something else.
>Yes I am aware it would be possible to go under Japanese citizenship, but I’m not. I am applying under my foreign citizenship (Australia))
Let me guess: You’re applying for JET or another English-teaching job that frowns on Japanese nationals?
If that’s the case, I’m also going to assume that you’re not informing your employer about your citizenship? It’s a really bad move to start an employment relationship by lying to your employer.
So really the question is: ***Why are you doing this?***
There is quite literally no reason to do this. The benefits of your Japanese passport *far* outweigh whatever cockamamie reasons you might have for doing this. For starters, you don’t need a visa. You can literally just show up at the airport with your Japanese passport and get in.
Oh, and it’s almost certainly illegal to enter Japan on a foreign passport given that you’re a citizen.
>On the “Visa Application Form to Enter Japan” one of the fields is “Former and/or other nationalities or Citizenships” and I am seeing advice on how to handle filling this out.
The general advice is to not lie on government forms, even lying by omission.
>I work full-time, remotely in Japan but need to head over ASAP
Then use your Japanese passport and come. You’re specifically saying “ASAP” and then saying you want to kick off a process that in the best of times would take several months to complete, and that’s without the two year backlog of aspirants that are currently being processed.
>Do you guys have any advice on this situation?
Book your flight and use your Japanese passport to enter Japan. Citizens are not being denied entry.
Renounce your Japanese citizenship.
Apply for Japanese COE and Visa, then fly to Japan to live chained to a work visa.
In time you can nationalize and renounce your Australian citizenship.
I am a multinational myself (although not Japanese), and have been interested in the topic for a while. This is how countries usually see people with multiple citizenships: if you are a citizen of the country, they’ll consider you as such, no matter what other citizenship you have. So for Japan, you are Japanese and to be treated administratively as a Japanese.
So if you apply to a visa for foreigners to Japan, Japan will legally say: “you are Japanese, you cannot apply to a visa for Japan”. Writing that you are Japanese in the document puts you at double risk: to have your visa refused, and they might create further trouble because they don’t want you to have both Japanese and another citizenship. They might not actively search for who has dual citizenship, but once you write it on an official document, can they still ignore it? Are you willing to risk losing your citizenship over this?
As you already wrote, omitting to mention the Japanese citizenship is a risky gamble and might get you checked. You could end up in the same way. I personally wouldn’t take the risk since once Japanese bureaucratic processes are started, it becomes very hard to deal with and difficult to avoid.
So to me it looks that there is no safe way to do this.
Fellow half Aussie/Japanese citizen here.
Honestly I have to side with everyone else, I have no idea why you’re doing this.
I’m pretty sure legally you can’t have a visa as a citizen meaning if they ever found out it would instantly be void creating all kinds of problems. Seriously once my mother brought me to Japan as a baby using my Australian passport an immigration were not happy. They told her in no uncertain terms to make sure next time I enter on my Japanese passport. I imagine they’ll be even less happy if they find out you’re a Japanese citizen.
Besides they seriously do not care. I straight up told them I had other citizenships when I renewed my passport and they basically just said cool you should probably sort that out soon. See [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/8iczg8/renewing_japanese_passport_as_a_dualcitizen/dyriqmp) comment for more information.
Seriously you’re making everything harder for yourself just come on your Japanese passport.
> but I’m not.
Pray tell… ***Why?***
> I am seeing advice on how to handle filling this out.
These visas are obviously not for people with dual citizenship, legal or otherwise. So the advice is: ***you don’t***.
Like god damn dude. You have easy mode. Dual citizenship. Enter Japan with your Japanese one, do your work, pay your taxes, live happily. Want to fuck off to Australia? Go for it. Decide which country will be your primary residence, and figure out the tax aspect of things. It’s not rocket science.
You should explain your exact citizenship status to get appropriate advice.
My sons have dual Japanese and U.S. because my wife was Japanese citizen when they were born in the US. They are now in their late 20’s and had to reapply for their Japanese passport about 3 years ago because their Japanese passports were expired. Turns out that if you are Japanese citizen born in the US, the Japanese embassy/consulate officials consider the the dual citizen as valid status since they were born with the 2 citizenship and they had no choice in the matter. I even saw the official put hanko with 二重国籍(dual citizenship) on both of my sons forms after making sure all the paperwork were in order.
Essentially, as Japan does not recognize dual citizenship, you are not eligible to receive a visa. Technically, they could go so far as to say you knowingly falsified a government application. This is far worse than making the choice of Japanese citizenship and then not following through on your “endeavoring” to rid yourself of the other citizenships.
Choosing Japanese citizenship does not automatically revoke those other ones from you so your fears are unfounded. As a Japanese citizen, you have the right of entry to Japan: you do not need (and are not eligible for) a visa.
Explain that you got confused in the process to your work, cancel your visa application, and come over as a regular citizen. Make your citizenship choice (Japanese) at the city hall, and be honest on your Japanese passport application in indicating that you have other citizenships. Your obligations stop there and you will be fully compliant. Continuing down the path you are on is a recipe for trouble.