Losing Japanese nationality … and regretting it

18 comments

1. In my case I think its good to maintain a Japanese passport so my son can have an easier chance to live and work in Japan in the future.

2. I dropped my Permanent Visa after keeping it going 30 years. I was afraid I might regret it, but I haven’t at all. I just don’t see Japan being able to drop it’s obsession with race and becoming a dynamic society, at least not in my lifetime.

   Take the red pill. All that exceptionalism is just an illusion

3. Just don’t tell Japanese government that the spouse is becoming a dual national.

   It’s a don’t ask don’t tell system. Deal with the issue if it comes up in 15 years, which it probably won’t. It’s just easier for your spouse to have a passport for emergencies, especially if there are parents in Japan. Your kids might really want the citizenship or easy visas – don’t take that away from them.

4. I guess it also depends on the citizenship you‘ll gain instead. The Japanese passport is really strong, downgrading might become an issue later on depending on your lifestyle.

5. In Canada, as a PR, you’d better have a legit reason to stay out of the country for more than 6 months, otherwise you’d risk losing your PR.

   Besides that, the right to vote is another perk in your country of residence, though these days, elections seem to have lost its impact…

   But if these are not much of your concern, then you’d better keep the Japanese citizenship.

   I don’t regret losing it for aforementioned perks, but my daughter didn’t have a chance to apply for a Japanese citizenship though born to a Japanese parent, and now that we are kind of looking at a possibility of moving to Japan, I’d have to apply for a long term visa which isn’t too hard to obtain because I have my family in Japan, but still, it’s an inconvenience.

6. If you can have at least one of each I’d stick with that. But maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.

7. They’ve become stricter recently, so it’s a lot riskier to take the “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach. I know of one recent example where a Japanese spouse lost their Japanese nationality because they were suspected of having another (British). It happened when they applied for a replacement passport in the UK – the Embassy turned them down, as they suspected they had British nationality. They then tried to apply again in Japan and the Japanese passport wasn’t returned to them, with the reason explicitly stated. It’s easier for the authorities to track where you’ve been and whether the stamps in your passport match expectations.

   And yes, they hugely regret the loss. In theory, they could get it back, but they’d have to renounce their British nationality and reestablish their residence status there.

8. If your spouse CHOOSES another nationality, they cannot keep their Japanese passport. It’s black and white for people who choose to gain another nationality.

   However, if your spouse keeps their Japanese nationality, your kids can be dual because they will be born into it. You’ll need to be careful about processing this quickly once they are born.

   Any other info on this thread about, “just don’t tell Japan”, “don’t ask don’t tell” is incorrect when it comes to your spouse.

   “Exceptions” for dual citizenship are only for those born into it.

   Here’s more info on dual citizenship: https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/8iczg8/renewing_japanese_passport_as_a_dualcitizen/dyriqmp/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1&context=3

9. Many Japanese spouses that I know are contemplating retirement in Japan. If your spouse wants to live their old age in Japan, they may regret losing the nationality. However I heard it’s relatively easy for a former Japanese to regain the nationality.

10. Some places allow dual citizenship.

11. If you are planning to have a family then it may be best to have children while your spouse is still a Japanese national, then get your children’s Japanese passports / birth registrations all sorted so that they are unequivocally Japanese nationals before your spouse gives up citizenship. Your children should be able to stay dual nationals without issue.

12. I didn’t know Japan won’t let you have dual citizenship

13. If you are able to have dual citizenship or are okay giving up your own citizenship then you could do that and then just have your partner get a spouse visa which is pretty strong in most (if not all?) Countries and basically allows them to do whatever they want apart from vote and get certain benefits, if I’m not mistaken.

    I would personally never give up my own citizenship even though I have zero intentions to ever live in the US again simply because you never know what may happen in the future and having options is never bad. Maybe your parents fall ill. Maybe you get homesick or sick of your current country at least (I’ve been living in Japan for almost 10 years and I’m starting to feel like I want to move somewhere else now despite having been very happy until more recently here!). Maybe something happens in your current country and you want an out (economical downfall, natural disaster, war, etc).

14. You could change your mind in the future depending on of the 2 countries economies, politics, etc. Better to keep that residence option open.

15. The #1 rule of immigration law is never renounce or do something which would cause an involuntary loss of citizenship.

    It’s a lot easier to lose citizenship than to regain it.

16. If you have more to gain by taking a citizenship in your current country I say drop it

17. 🔥 Off topic but having formal national identity systems in place is medieval and barbaric. Mindless bureaucratic and ideological nonsense that is so deeply ingrained in people that to even question it is heretical.

18. The headline has me playing REM in my head, sorry that’s not a helpful reply.