Applying to Naturalise

Today, I started the process of applying to naturalise as a Japanese citizen.

Well, to be strictly accurate I called the local Legal Affairs Bureau to make an appointment to start the process of applying to naturalise as a Japanese citizen. There’s a good site about the process in general at Turning Japanese, and my personal experience suggests that the first step on their list — phone the office to make an appointment — is accurate.

I was asked quite a lot of questions on the phone, presumably to make sure that the first interview goes as smoothly as possible.

First, I was asked where I live. This is important, because each office has responsibility for a certain area, and you can only go to the office that handles your area. Fortunately, I had called the right office, so the conversation could continue for a bit longer.

The next question was about my current citizenship, my place of birth, and my parents’ citizenship. I guess that this is because the process is a bit different depending on your current citizenship, and almost certainly significantly more complex if you have multiple citizenships already. To the best of my knowledge, things are only different on the Japanese side if you have Korean nationality but are a Special Permanent Resident, but I believe that the procedure for renouncing your other citizenship differs quite a bit depending on which country it is, and that has an impact on the application process. Obviously, if you have two citizenships, that makes things even more complex.

Then they asked how old I was, and when I arrived in Japan. Then they wanted to know whether I had ever overstayed my visa. I haven’t, which is a good job, because that’s pretty close to an automatic disqualification, as I understand it. As I’ve said before, the Japanese immigration system seems to be relatively tolerant and flexible on a lot of things, but not on overstaying your visa. Once we had established that, they asked me what my first visa status was, and how it had changed after that, and then when I obtained permanent residence. Permanent residence is not a necessary condition for applying for Japanese citizenship, but I don’t suppose it hurts.

Since I’ve been on a spousal visa, the next questions were about my family: whether I was still married to a Japanese person, whether I had ever been married before, whether I had children, and whether we were living as a nuclear family. I think it was at this point that they asked whether I had any criminal record.

Finally, there were questions about my job and whether Yuriko was working. I told them I was a self-employed English teacher.

“Ah, so you run an English Conversation School.”

“Something like that…”

I suspect they’ll ask for contact information for students at some point later in the process, to make sure I’m really working, but one student has already said he’s willing to do that sort of thing, so it won’t be a problem. This question is because you are required to show an ability to support yourself in Japan.

Then I was put on hold for a few seconds, and told that the next open appointment slot was in early December. It was a time I could make without much trouble, so I accepted it.

At this point, they asked for my name and contact phone number.

Finally, I was told what to take to the first meeting. I need my Residence Card, a copy of Yuriko’s family record if we have one around, and all my passports. I’m going to have to see whether I can find the old ones. I’m not sure I have all of them any more.

At the first meeting, I will apparently get a long list of the documents I need to gather, which, it seems, typically takes weeks, if not months.