Naturalization question

5 comments

1. I don’t know the answer but the 法務局 should be able to answer this question. Give them a call and say that you want to naturalize. They will ask you a few questions including how long you have lived here. Tell them what you just said here and see what they say.

2. To naturalize in Japan, you must live in Japan for 5 “consecutive” years.

   And this means, you should not be out of Japan 90 or more consecutive days. If you had a travel which lasted for 90 days or more, you have not lived in Japan for 5 consecutive years.

   Or even if one trip does not exceed 90 days, if you were out of Japan for 120 (actually this is not a clear threshold) or more days in 1 year, you have not lived in Japan for 5 consecutive years.

   But you were out of Japan for long for business reasons, you have to show a proof and they may see it as necessary.

3. I think you’ll find that traveling won’t make a difference if you’ve maintained your status of residency (visa) and tax residence in Japan while traveling. Esp. if you were traveling for business. Why don’t you just apply, and see what they come back with? If they have additional questions or if you don’t meet some criteria they’ll be sure to let you know.

4. I recently heard that if you call 東京法務局国籍課 for a consultation, they give you a date for 3 months later. So you better call them as soon as possible.

5. Don’t you only need 5 years of continuous residence to apply for citizenship?

   If so, the question is moot.

   IANAE, but I’d imagine the limit is either 6mo abroad annually or 6mo abroad in total.

   Edit: apparently 60d/120d, not 6mo.