Applying for citizenship

[Moneymatters]

Just curious, but why citizenship rather than PR?
And is your Japanese close to native level?

...

Not the OP, but am probably going to apply for Japanese citizenship soon. I agree that there is no real pressing reason if you have PR already and citizenship of a country with a strong passport.

......

...
Citizenship makes more sense than PR. Personally I’ve always found it quite half hearted to bother with PR. It’s just long term foreign resident.
I don’t want to be that. I want to be an actual citizen. And I don’t want all the BS of being a foreign resident.

My Japanese is not native. And I was under the impression that you had to have something like a 10 year olds’ Japanese level? Is that correct?
(Currently about to start taking up lessons again with a private teacher.

I have no personal experience but based on what I've seen in this forum and heard elsewhere. how the face to face interaction and hence language assessment will be handled will vary based on the case officer. Having good Japanese will have a big impact on that.
Have you passed N2 Japanese? I think that might be a suitable level to have rather than a comparing with a child.
viewtopic.php?t=3372
Certainly seems like there is homework in the form of a hand written essay required...

BTW, I don't think PR is how you describe it. I have PR.
I don't need to prove I have anything other than a pulse to renew my resident card. A significant difference from other visas.
The "BS" of being a foreign resident that I've had to put up in the last 2O years is; getting my resident card reissued once every 7 years. A different process to apply for my NISA account with SBI. Reentry restrictions when Covid was around.* (And the resident card might be combined with the mynumber card in the future.).

I think this might be useful to you:
https://www.turning-japanese.info/2021/ ... first.html

*I do need to use a different line at airport immigration and can't use the biometric gates. I expect that will change and it doesn't impact my overall journey time as I'm sure my luggage is invisibly tagged with "low priority".

[Roger Van Zant]

Just curious, but why citizenship rather than PR?
And is your Japanese close to native level?

I have been here since the 90s, have PR, and have never seen any huge benefit to getting citizenship.
I also don't want to give up my UK citizenship. Love it or hate it (sometimes both), I am still British.

Not the OP, but am probably going to apply for Japanese citizenship soon. I agree that there is no real pressing reason if you have PR already and citizenship of a country with a strong passport.

Extra benefits (IMO): can vote. Can run for office (don't think I want to do this, but have thought about it). Have the right to remain in Japan (or return here) whatever else happens. No longer a foreign resident, so don't have to do all the little niggling trivial things that annoy me any more.

Basically I have lived here all my adult life, can't imagine living anywhere else, and want to tie the knot. Don't feel British, especially after Brexit, and have very few ties to it.

Only thing stopping me is the curse of needing a plan B, C, D, etc.

Yeah basically this. I don’t want the looming stress of Japan reserving the right to just take my visa away depending on the current government of the day.
I have no desire or need to go back to the uk.
Citizenship makes more sense than PR. Personally I’ve always found it quite half hearted to bother with PR. It’s just long term foreign resident.
I don’t want to be that. I want to be an actual citizen. And I don’t want all the BS of being a foreign resident.

My Japanese is not native. And I was under the impression that you had to have something like a 10 year olds’ Japanese level? Is that correct?
(Currently about to start taking up lessons again with a private teacher.

The thing is, though, in the eyes of 99% of the Japanese population, you will always be a "foreign resident", even if you take citizenship and become a Japanese citizen. You'll have a Japanese passport, yes, but you can't really say you're "Japanese"; you're just a Japanese passport holder. (Well, you can, but most Japanese will be laughing at you behind your back). If I, a white Brit, take on citizenship of, say, Gambia, can I go around saying "I'm Gambian", and not expect a few raised eyebrows?
Personally, I couldn't imagine giving up British citizenshiip, just in case I get wrongly arrested by the Japanese police for something I didn't do; that kind of nightmare scenario.

[RetireJapan]

The thing is, though, in the eyes of 99% of the Japanese population, you will always be a "foreign resident", even if you take citizenship and become a Japanese citizen. You'll have a Japanese passport, yes, but you can't really say you're "Japanese"; you're just a Japanese passport holder.

There is some nuance there. I would probably not say 'I'm Japanese' as there are all sorts of concepts mixed up in that. I would just say 'I am a Japanese citizen' which would be both correct and a legal status.

Like I said above, I don't think there are many practical reasons to become a citizen if you have PR and your home country passport is reasonably strong. It is a personal decision and will make sense for some people.

People who cannot travel visa free on their existing passport, or who are burdened by obligations to their country of nationality (like military service or taxes) have more compelling practical reasons to naturalise.

[Roger Van Zant]

I would probably not say 'I'm Japanese' as there are all sorts of concepts mixed up in that. I would just say 'I am a Japanese citizen' which would be both correct and a legal status.

Yes, I agree with you on this.
Not that I would ever give up my British passport....

[Deep Blue]

It’s a personal decision. For me, the meagre benefits gained do not offset the optionality from giving up my British passport (even though I understand it’s very easy to regain).

I’m only in my 40’s and the world might be a very different place in ten twenty or thirty years time. Wars might have been fought and won/lost, territorial control might be different…. Fiscal positions of countries might have changed substantially. Politics could change dramatically and far left or far right populists could have ruined some places.

Feels far too early to be closing down options to me, especially the only tangible upside is a bit less paperwork around visa renewals.

[KCLenny]

Either way I’m not here to argue the pros and cons of doing it or not.
Just how to go about doing it.

[zeroshiki]

Either way I’m not here to argue the pros and cons of doing it or not.
Just how to go about doing it.

Call the nationality department of your local MOJ and arrange a meeting. Unless you live in Tokyo/Nagoya/Osaka, I've heard its easy to get appointments.

Once there, they will do a preliminary interview with you, ask some basic questions about you and then tell you the requirements. Its not really hard as long as your can carry a conversation in Japanese, can get documentation from your home country and you can stand doing all the busy work of getting the documents together.

[beanhead]

*I do need to use a different line at airport immigration and can't use the biometric gates. I expect that will change and it doesn't impact my overall journey time as I'm sure my luggage is invisibly tagged with "low priority".

Don't tell everyone but there is an automatic gate available to non-Japanese residents as well. Just need to register for it. It is always empty and faster than the re-entry line.

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

Hi all, don’t know if this is the best place for this.
I want to apply for citizenship. I’ve lived in Japan for 5 consecutive years (7 in total). My wife (English) and I (English) have made our lives here. We have no desire of moving back to the uk at all (I’ve been back once for 1 week in the last 5 years, and that just cemented my decision).

I think it’s probably a good idea to get an immigration lawyer to help. But I don’t know where to even begin looking for one or what to look out for to make sure I’m getting a good one.
As well as that, that can anyone give me a push in the right direction more generally? The official gov websites are quite vague as to “necessary documents”.
I’ve kept basically everything over the last 5 years so can definitely get stuff easily if requested plus whatever else is needed from the ward office.
Thanks in advance.

I am imagining that you do not have close family either parents or chidren in the UK any longer, because if you become Japanese if you want to stay in the UK beyond the three month tourist visa then you have apply for a visa, and they make the Japanese all encompasing specialist in humanities visa and application fee 8000 yen- hasn't gone up in 25 years; a walk in the park. Just ask anybody who has tried to bring a non-British spouse into the UK to live.

[adamu]

*I do need to use a different line at airport immigration and can't use the biometric gates. I expect that will change and it doesn't impact my overall journey time as I'm sure my luggage is invisibly tagged with "low priority".

Don't tell everyone but there is an automatic gate available to non-Japanese residents as well. Just need to register for it. It is always empty and faster than the re-entry line.

Is that this one? Have you used it?

Step seven of how to use the automated gates is the best part:

give the officer your passport