Japanese nationality law
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Japanese nationality is generally governed by the Nationality Law of 1950.
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[edit] Nationality by birth
Japan is a jus sanguinis state, meaning that it attributes citizenship by blood, not by location of birth. Article 2 of the Nationality Act provides three situations in which a person can become a Japanese national at birth:
- When either parent is a Japanese national at the time of birth
- When the father dies before the birth and is a Japanese national at the time of death
- When the person is born on Japanese soil and both parents are unknown or stateless
A system for acquiring nationality after birth is also available. If an unmarried Japanese father and non-Japanese mother have a child, and the parents later marry and the Japanese father acknowledges paternity, the child can acquire Japanese citizenship, so long as the child has not reached the age of 20. However, if the parents are not married at the time of birth and the father does not acknowledge paternity, the child will not acquire Japanese nationality. This fact has caused some controversy[1] and is currently a subject of debate among constitutional scholars. Nonetheless, if the mother is not stateless, the child would theoretically acquire her nationality (though this would depend on the legislation in the country of her nationality). p. For example, a Morracan-born mother can transmit nationality to her child even if the father cannot be determined.[2].
[edit] Naturalization
The Minister of Justice must approve all applications for naturalization. Review of an application generally takes about one year.
The criteria for naturalization are provided in Article 5 of the Nationality Act:
- Continuous residence in Japan for five years or more
- At least 20 years old and otherwise legally competent
- History of good behavior generally, and no past history of seditious behavior
- Sufficient capital or skills, either personally or within family, to support oneself
- Stateless or willing to renounce foreign citizenship
The Minister of Justice may waive the age and residence requirements if the applicant has a special relationship to Japan (for example, a Japanese parent).
The Nationality Act also provides that the Diet of Japan may confer Japanese nationality by special resolution to a person who has provided extraordinary service to Japan. However, this provision has never been invoked.
For many years naturalized citizens were required to adopt a Japanese family name. This requirement was abolished in the late 1980s. A well-known example of someone who did not adopt a Japanese name is Masayoshi Son, the wealthiest man in Japan as of 2007, who naturalized using his Korean family name rather than the Japanese family name he used during his youth.
[edit] Loss of citizenship
Loss of citizenship also requires the approval of the Minister of Justice.
A Japanese national is assumed to have renounced citizenship upon naturalization in any foreign country, although a formal report (on a form available at embassies overseas) from the renouncing person is generally required to finalize this process.
Articles 14 and 15 require any person who holds multiple citizenship to make a declaration of choice between the ages of twenty and twenty-two, in which they choose to renounce either their Japanese citizenship or their foreign citizenship(s). If they fail to do so, the Minister of Justice may demand a declaration of choice at any time, and if the citizen fails to make the declaration within one month, their Japanese citizenship is automatically revoked. This declaration, however, is seen by most foreign governments as an internal Japanese government issue, and is therefore considered null and void.
Japanese citizens who hold multiple citizenship by birth will be required to declare that they want to retain their Japanese citizenship by the age of 21. They also have to "make an effort" to renounce other citizenships once they have declared to retain their Japanese citizenship. This may be difficult for some Japanese with foreign nationality. For example, Iranian nationals cannot renounce their Iranian nationality until age 25,[3] so Iranian-Japanese dual nationals who were born to an Iranian father will have to renounce their Japanese nationality. Actually, even this, since the citizenship was acquired involuntarily, it is not necessary for them to renounce their Iranian nationality. However, exercising their other citizenship in Japan is an expatriating act. For example, for the sake of partaking in the JET Program, one goes to Japan as a Canadian citizen, then, returns to Japan as a Japanese. Another example is a Japanese citizen trying to get a job as an Assistant Language Teacher, a position which is not open to Japanese nationals, if a Japanese gets a visa to work on their Canadian or British passport, this too becomes expatriating act. So if a child is born with dual nationality or acquires it as a child as a result of the parents naturalizing, the child may hold dual nationality, but never allowed to exercise his or her rights as a foreigner in Japan, or they will be committing an expatriating act. This is an advantage, in particular, to Japanese who acquired a citizenship they may be unable to renounce (as in the case of Japanese citizens, born in Japan, to a father born in an Arab country or Israel).
A Japanese does not lose his or her citizenship if another citizenship is acquired involuntarlity. If a Japanese woman marries an Iranian man, she will automatically acquire his citizenship.[4] She will be allowed to be an Iranian-Japanese dual national, since the acquisition of the Iranian citizenship was involuntary.
[edit] See also
- Ethnic issues in Japan
- Foreign-born Japanese
- Egyptian Nationality Law
- Israeli nationality law
- Moroccan nationality law
- Rachida Dati, a French-born centre-right politician and a dual French-Moroccan national
[edit] External links
- Japan's Ministry of Justice: The Nationality Law (in English)
- Civil Code of Iran (last amended 1985), UNHCR
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