naturalization

One of the requirements that foreign nationals must meet before being allowed to naturalize as a Japanese citizen is that the foreign national have a very basic level of Japanese language ability.  The way the foreign national can prove that he or she meets this requirement is by taking a simple Japanese language test as part of the naturalization process.

There are several ways for a foreign national to become a Japanese citizen but one of the most common methods is listed in the Japanese Nationality Act and is composed of six requirements.

While most Japanese citizens acquire their citizenship at birth, Japan does not offer automatic citizenship to babies born within Japan. There are three ways a person may obtain Japanese citizenship by birth: 1) if the father or mother is a Japanese citizen at the time of birth; 2) if the father died before the child’s birth, but was a Japanese citizen; and 3) if the child is born in Japan and both of the parents are unknown or without nationality.

Foreign nationals who marry Japanese citizens do not need to live in Japan for the full five years normally required to obtain Japanese citizenship. The Minister of Justice has the discretion to grant Japanese citizen to a foreign national spouse of a Japanese citizen if he or she has lived in Japan for three years.