Hi y’all, I’m hoping to apply to some Japanese English teaching jobs in Japan. I have dual citizenship for the US and Japan and have heard that JET requires you to denounce one of them. Are there any other programs you know of that either don’t check dual citizenship status or allow it?
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Thanks!
4 comments
JET being a government run scheme will obviously apply Japanese law, which is that you can’t be a citizen of Japan and another country.
I’m fairly sure nobody else cares.
You always renounce the US citizenship and then just ask for it back afterwards because they don’t care if you have 2.
For the love of all that is holy do not renounce any citizenship. The only people who care about dual citizenship in Japan is the government, and if anyone asks you are working on giving up your US citizenship (you don’t actually have to do it, just say that you are). As for applying I think that any place (other then JET) you’ll be fine just say your nationality is Japanese and apply with your Japanese passport or whatever form of identification you have. I say Japanese because then you don’t have to worry about the visa. Just leave the US using your American passport and enter Japan using your Japanese one. Then do the opposite if/when you re-enter the US.
Another option for you is to just come to Japan and look for a job while here. Again b/c you have Japanese citizenship you can enter on a Japanese passport and not worry about any type of overstay limits. If you can speak any Japanese minimum wage jobs are very easy to find if your worried about not having a job during the search period.
It’s the law that requires you to *re*nounce one of them.
Make sure you read Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) for American citizens living abroad. After you read this you might want to give up your USA citizenship to avoid paying high taxes. In my opinion if you plan on working and staying here with no plans coming back to the USA then I strongly suggest you give up your citizenship and keep only your Japanese citizenship. All banks report American’s money affairs to the IRS and because there is a fee to do so this makes opening a bank account over here rather challenging since most Japanese banks don’t want this responsibility. You will pay high fees yourself just to file your tax returns every year to the IRS which might make you rethink coming over here to work and live. Currently the USA taxes you based on citizenship and not your place of residence.