The Way to Become A Japanese Citizen

[Kyousuke]

well you could de-naturalize yourself from your place of citizenship for that of another nation. you would need to take a naturalization test to work your way to being a citizen. also they wont naturalize you if you have an arrest record. you would also need to get a workers visa or something like that. just proof that your are verified to work in the country if your arent a citizen. thats what the Mexican Naturalization is like to become american citizens, i think it would be the same for japanese naturalization give or take.

[HYDfan]

geez, you people are really negative. you can tell someone that it is hard, but don't harp on people because they want to work hard to make something of themselves. it's not impossible, so don't be so pessimistic. gosh, haven't you ever heard of "follow your dreams"? I know that sounds naive but why live if you don't challenge yourself and don't do what you want with your life? just help and don't be negative about it. you sound like a bunch of depressed emos.

[kurezi]

Originally Posted by MMM

Marriage does not give you citizenship (this is true in the US, too).

My mom is French. She moved to the U.S. in her twenties, met my dad and now has citizenship. I was always under the assumption that she became a citizen through her marriage to him. So, I'm wondering if what you said is true?

[MMM]

You can ask her. Marriage can make you a permanent resident, but you would still be a citizen of your home country. I know many Japanese women married to American men, and almost none of them have given up thier Japanese citizenship.

[kurezi]

Well, I thought you were implying that it's impossible for her to recieve her citizenship through marriage alone. I'm sorry if I misread.

Everytime I ask her about it she tells me that she has citizenship here in the U.S. and in France as well. She's also told me that France is pretty generous and gives citizenship to any children of a French citizen, therefore I and my siblings are legal citizens and can live there for as long as we want.

Sorry to get off topic. I know this is about citizenship in Japan.
I was just curious.

[Neffiline]

The thing I've understood this far about japanese citizenship from others who live there, have tried or would like, is that Japan doesn't want foreigners to become citizens. They already have enough people as it is, thus why it is extremely extremely hard to go through with the process. Plus, they do not accept people to have two citizenship. So if you want one, make sure that you are ready to let go of your current one.

[Neffiline]

That's exactly why I was saying that...

[MMM]

Originally Posted by kurezi

Well, I thought you were implying that it's impossible for her to recieve her citizenship through marriage alone. I'm sorry if I misread.

Everytime I ask her about it she tells me that she has citizenship here in the U.S. and in France as well. She's also told me that France is pretty generous and gives citizenship to any children of a French citizen, therefore I and my siblings are legal citizens and can live there for as long as we want.

Sorry to get off topic. I know this is about citizenship in Japan.
I was just curious.

I am not sure about the treaties between France and the US. I know now just getting permanent residency in America is a long (years) process. I thought you had to take a US history test for citizenship...did your mom do that? (Just curious...I am only familiar with Japan/US citizenship rules).

[jpdrag0n]

Originally Posted by typing

This is all heresay but...

Marrage only will get you a spousal visa, having a spousal visa will make getting the citizenship a little easier (because those are 10 year ((5??)) visas and it will take you that long to get the citizenship)

Being Fluent, like REALLY fluent in Japanese will help since there is assloads of paperwork involved and while they will have someone to help you, you make one little mistake because they couldn't explain it right, you start back from square one. (And Government traslaters, as far as I've seen so far in dealing with them, really suck.)

I believe you have to have resided in Japan for 3 or 5 years before your eligable for the citizenship, and you have to give up citizenship to your birth country (so no dule visa's)

The downside of all this is even if you become a Japanese citizen, you, your children and your grandchildren, will always be "Gaijin" or somewhere down the line if your grandchildren are lucky they'll be "Halfs"

As much as I love Japan I'm not even going to bother trying to become a citizen, too much of a hassle and I'll never be treated equil anyway.

yes unfortunately they will always be gaijin. im japanese-american and even i'm called gaijin here. they dont outright say 'oh kenji is a gaijin.' but i can sense a feeling everyone's thinking, 'oh he's one of those people...the japanese from america..*gasp*...he speaks english perfectly...wtf this makes no sense.' haha i love the look on peoples faces when they find out im full jap, speak fluent english but not so fluent japanese.

[kurezi]

Originally Posted by MMM

I am not sure about the treaties between France and the US. I know now just getting permanent residency in America is a long (years) process. I thought you had to take a US history test for citizenship...did your mom do that? (Just curious...I am only familiar with Japan/US citizenship rules).

^I am uncertain about how long the whole process took. She came over in the early 80's and the process became finalized in '96. And yes, from what I understand she took and passed a history exam and took an oath.

It's understandable that Japan has harsher laws due to the fact that their country is already so heavily populated. It's smaller than France and has what...three times as many people? So, I can't blame them.