Requirement for Naturalization

Nationalization is to gain Japanese citizenship by applying for and getting permission from Ministry of Justice. In this case the authority is Ministry of justice not Immigration Service Agency of Japan.

We have 7 requirements for nationalization.

①Housing requirement: The applicant should have lived in Japan for five years or more consecutively and also have a registered address in Japan.

②Capability requirement: The applicant should be twenty years old or elder (The legal age of adulthood of Japan is 20 years old) and also be regarded to come of age in the applicant’s country.

③Behavioral requirement: The applicant should have good behavior and conducts.

④Livelihood Requirement: The applicant should be able to make its living by assets or skills of itself, its spouse or other relatives living together.

⑤Denationalization Requirement: The applicant should lose/abandon its citizenship after gaining citizenship of Japan.

⑥Respect the Japanese Constitution Requirement: The applicant should not have planned to overturn the government of Japan or asserted to overturn the government of Japan, or should not have formed or participated in a political group or any other group to plan or to assert overturn of the government of Japan.

⑦Japanese Language Requirement: The applicant should have Japanese language capability regarding daily conversation, reading and writing.

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①Housing requirements: The applicant should have lived in Japan for five years or more consecutively and also have a registered address in Japan.

Actually this requirement have some additional requirements. From the following a to c.

      a. The applicant should have worked in Japan for 3 years or more.

      b. The applicant hasn’t left Japan for 3 months in a row for the past 5 years. I mean not only overseas travel but business trip or returning home are included.

      c. The applicant hasn’t left Japan totally 100 days of the year. As mentioned before the number of days includes business trip or returning home or something like that.

②Capability requirement: The applicant should be twenty years old or elder (The legal age of adulthood of Japan is 20 years old) and be regarded to come of age in the applicant’s country too.

This means if the applicant’s country’s legal age of adulthood is stipulated 21 years old, the applicant will meet this requirement after he or she becomes 21 years old. The legal age of adulthood of Indonesia, UAE, Singapore and some other countries are stipulated 21 years old, by the way.

③Behavioral requirement: The applicant should have good behavior and conducts.

It means the applicant should pay pensions, taxes, etc. properly. In addition, the applicant has no criminal record or traffic violation (including parking violation, speeding).

④Livelihood Requirement: The applicant should be able to make its living by assets or skills of itself, its spouse or other relatives living together.

Compared to Permanent residency, there is no annual income requirement on naturalization. But on a monthly basis, the applicant’s income should be positive, not be deficit.

⑤Denationalization Requirement: The applicant should lose/abandon its citizenship after gaining citizenship of Japan.

Japan doesn’t accept dual citizenship, so after getting Japanese citizenship the applicant should abandon its home country’s citizenship.

⑥Respect the Japanese Constitution Requirement: The applicant should not have planned to overturn the government of Japan or asserted to overturn the government of Japan, or should not have formed or join a political group or any other group to plan or to asset overturn of the government of Japan.

It means the applicant shouldn’t be terrorist.

⑦Japanese Language Requirement: The applicant should have Japanese language capability regarding daily conversation, reading and writing.

This is not required from Japanese Nationality Act, but when applying for naturalization the applicant should have some Japanese Language exam. We don’t require highly level just the level of the 3^rd grade of the elementary school. The N4 Japanese language Proficiency Test (JLPT), the second easiest after N5 at the beginner level is enough.