My child was born in Japan this year. Since both of the parents are not Japanese national, she’s not entitled for a Japanese citzenship (However, she has received a dependent visa to stay in Japan).
At the moment, she’s considered as “statelessness”. We’ve already began the process of registering birth aboard for the country where I have citizenship (Ireland), however, the wait time for this process takes months to more than a year to proceed.
I’ve emailed the department to ask if they can fast-track the process considering that the child is currently stateless. They’ve asked to supply a “*original documentation from the relevant civil authorities to confirm that the applicant holds no entitlement to citizenship from their country of birth*”.
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Does anyone know where and how can I obtain such document? I’ve tried to search online but couldn’t find anything relevant.
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EDIT: To clarify, I’m an Irish Citizen through naturalisation so I need to go through the Foriegn Birth Register process (which takes the most time).
https://www.dfa.ie/citizenship/born-abroad/registering-a-foreign-birth/
14 comments
no idea, just commenting and liking to hopefully get it pushed into more people’s feed. best of luck op.
Could you just find the relevant laws on birthright citizenship, your child’s birth certificate with your names, and the scans of your passports? Getting specific documentation to prove a negative is often a pain in the ass.
What city are you in? I’d imagine you’d need something from City Hall for it to look official. Your government probably just needs a paper, with a stamp from the Mayor on it or something that lists the law that says that the child has no right to citizenship.
Is there an international department or something you can call? Do you need any help with this? You can DM me.
Talk to your embassy. They should have information about what forms etc you need for a citizen to claim citizenship.
Wait, is she really stateless now or just Irish without documentation? Both are not good but being stateless is much worse.
A quick google says “if you were born outside of Ireland, you are automatically an Irish citizen by birth…” so, I’m skeptical that your daughter is stateless.
Have you asked if your daughter can receive consular services during the registration process?
You will want the “shussei todoke kisai jiko shomeisho” issued by the ward/municipality office where her birth was registered.
This is essentially her birth certificate which will be forever tied to Japan (where she was born) so get a few copies too because I think they actually destroy them after a while. And not sure if non Japanese can get it from the legal affairs bureau like Japanese nationals can.
Then her dependent visa should also prove she’s not Japanese. Because Japan does not issue visas to Japanese.
She is NOT stateless, she has citizenship by inheritance but no documentation to prove this as of now.
WTF does your embassy do? I’m constantly amazed with how it seems to be a Kafkaian for people to deal with basic citizen services abroad…
I’m French and our government boasts having a strong foreign embassy network but I always took this as being the most basic thing ever. When my son was born all I had to do was:
1. send an email to the embassy to tell them I’m coming the next day
2. bring the birth certificate given at the hospital, both parents’ passport and a simple form declaring the name of the baby
That’s it.
It was over in 10min.
I could have applied for a passport on the spot but it’s a pain to get a photo of a newborn so we waited until he was 6 months old.
I think you went out of your way and jumped an important checkpoint. You shouldn’t be mailing “home” for help, you should just go to your embassy and register your child birth, which is their job.
OK, don’t fret. We went through this when our kids were born (non-japanese). Firstly, your kid is not stateless. She automatically becomes a dependent of you and a citizen of the parents country according to Japanese law. Secondly, you will need to get the Birth Registration certificate from your local city/town office (all births are registered here).
It is not a birth certificate but a “registration certificate” as she is not Japanese . Get that from your city/ town office and have it translated and stamped by an official translator as the document will be in Japanese. The city/town office keeps the original but will give you a certified copy of your daughters birth registration. Send this “original”, with the translation as the “required documentation” to whomever is sorting her citizenship process. It was what, I as well as another friend form a different country had to do. Same process.
Edit: DM me if you need more details. It had us frustrated as well. This is the document 出生証明書 to get from your city office.
Seriously, it shouldn’t be this hard. The embassy in Japan should be able to confirm to the authorities in Ireland that Japan has citizenship by decent only.
The Australian process wasn’t hard – just time consuming. Biggest hassle we had was registering our kids birth at the local council offices. They couldn’t grasp the concept that she was born in Japan and didn’t come with a passport! First time this tiny rural council in Hokkaido had dealt with a birth to two foreigners.
The relevant authority here means the japanese authority. The country of birth is Japan. So you need to reach to whatever authority of gov in Japan to ask them to provide you with a confirmation that your child holds not entitlement to Japanese citizenship. I guess this issue should be resolved in Immigration office of Japan or Irish embassy in Japan
Is your spouse also an Irish citizen through naturalization? Why can’t the child get their nationality?
My youngest son was born via c-section, and due to significant blood loss, my non-Japanese wife couldn’t make it to the ward office on time to register his birth within the allotted time frame. As a result, he lost his right to claim permanent residency. Now, at 7 years old, he still hasn’t acquired it. The Japanese immigration authorities lack compassion and fail to recognize situations that warrant a grace period. Best of luck dealing with such bureaucracy. That’s just my experience of these devoid of humanity automatons.