Obtaining Citizenship for Kids Born to Japanese Fathers Out of Wedlock

Researched By Cornelia [1 March 2009]

Background: New Law Passed on December 6, 2008

Basically, children born to Japanese women have been permitted
instant Japanese citizenship regardless of who the father is or
marital status between the parents. However in the case of
children born to a non-Japanese mother, but with a Japanese
father, they were not allowed Japanese citizenship from birth,
unless the father registered them within 2 weeks after birth to his
family register (Koseki Touhon).

In a ground-breaking decision, the Supreme Court of Japan

decided in June of 2008 that [under certain conditions] these
children are also entitled to Japanese Citizenship. On December 5,
2008, the Japan Diet passed the new law supporting the Supreme
Court decision. Here is a cached copy of an article in English on
this topic. The Ministry of Justice has now formulated the
guidelines and procedures by which these children can apply for
their Japanese citizenships. They have printed a brochure (click on
the image to obtain a larger printable image) that can be found in City Halls all over Japan.

What are the procedures and the guidelines?

All information published thus far by the Ministry of Justice seems to be in Japanese only except
for the translation provided for the flier pictured.

The typical place to start is at your local ward office or city hall. Ask about obtaining Kokuseki-
hou (citizenship) for a child born to a Japanese father out of wedlock. They may give you one of
the brochures (that for some reason may not be on public display) pictured on this page.

________
Here is the Japanese to English translation of the brochure provided by the MOJ:

(front) Criteria Changes to Acquisition of Japanese Nationality

The Nationality Act has been amended so that from January 1, 2009 a person
whose paternity has been acknowledged by he/her father who is a Japanese
national is able to acquire, by filing a notification, Japanese nationality even if
his/her parents are not married to each other.

Those who were not able to acquire nationality before this amendment due to
their parents' unmarried status can acquire Japanese nationality by filing a
notification by December 31, 2011.

For details please contact the relevant office as given below.

For people residing in Japan: The legal affairs bureau/ district legal affairs
bureau
For people residing abroad: The Japanese embassy/consulate
False notifications of parental acknowledgement of nationality acquisition may be subject to punishment.

Ministry of Justice (http://www.moj.go.jp/) [image for infra-red reader] Cellular phone site of the Ministry of Justice

(Back) Acquisition of nationality in accordance with Article 3 of the amended Nationality Act
The amended act permits a person whose parents are not married to each other to acquire Japanese nationality
through a notification to the Minister of Justice, provided that he/she meets the following requirement:

Requirements for acquiring nationality

The person who intends to acquire nationality must:
* Be acknowledged legally by his/her father or mother,
* Be under 20 years of age,
* Not have previously been a Japanese national.
* The father/mother who acknowledged the person who intends to acquire nationality must have been a Japanese
national when the person was born. The father/mother who acknowledged the person must presently be a Japanese
national (or must have been a Japanese national at the time of death, if he/she died).

Notification Procedure
You (or a legal representative if you are under 15 years of age) must come in person to the relevant office and make
the notification in writing.

Offices where the notification should be made

If you are residing in Japan: The legal affairs bureau / district legal affairs bureau with jurisdiction over the area in
which you reside
If you are residing abroad: The Japanese embassy or consulate

Acquisition of nationality through this interim measure

If you fulfill [one of?] the following conditions you will be able to acquire Japanese nationality by notifying the
Minister of Justice by December 31, 2011.

1: You were born on or after January 2, 1983, your father was a Japanese national at the time of your birth, and and
you were legally acknowledged by your father before you reached 20 years of age. It is also required that your father
is still a Japanese national at present (or at the time of death if your father is deceased).
2: You submitted a notification to acquire nationality by June 4, 2008, but could not acquire nationality at the time
due to your parents' unmarried status.
3: You are the child of a person who submitted a notification to acquire nationality by December 31, 2002, but your
parent could not acquire nationality at the time due to his/her parents' unmarried status. (In this case, your parent
must first acquire Japanese nationality by filing the notification given in the interim measure.)
For further details, please contact your local legal affairs bureau / district legal affairs bureau, or the Japanese
embassy or consulate.

False notifications of parental acknowledgement or of nationality acquisition may be subject to punishment.

You may be penalized if you make a false notification of acknowledgement stating that another person's child is
your child, or if you make a notification of nationality acquisition using a false parental acknowledgement.

False notification of acknowledgement --> a prison term of up to five years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen
False notification of nationality acquisition --> a prison term of up to one year or a fine of up to 200,000 yen
False notification to the municipality to the effect that one has acquired nationality --> a prison term of up to five
years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen

NOTE THAT:
The child must be registered in the father's Koseki Touhon. If the child has not been registered in
the father's family register (there is a special place for illegitimate offspring), be prepared to go
through a procedure called "ninchi". This procedure is made difficult, but not necessarily
impossible, by a father who is not willing. There are several cases of mothers who have been
able to to complete the procedure with the help of court rulings. Even with the father's assistance,
the procedure can take a long time, depending in large part on the original home and citizenship
of the mother (2 years is not unheard of).

For some reason there is a deadline printed on the brochure of 2011 December 31. This suggests
that if the child has not obtained ninchi yet, then there may be an enormous urgency to hurry up
and work on getting it. On the other hand it is probably possible to initiate the application for
Citizenship and also pursue the ninchi process simultaneously. In any case, the final deadline is
the child's 20th birthday. This can be seen on the application form, bottom of the front, where the
requirements are listed as:
* Ninchi completed (date)
* Applicant under 20 years old
* Applicant does not have Japanese nationality (yes, this is really what it says!)
* The wather was Japanese at the time the child was born.
* The father is still Japanese, or was Japanese at the time of his death (if he is deceased, date of
death)

The one specific case that I know of the "ninchi" process, with the father's cooperation, took just
about 2 years, but the entry in the father's Koseki Touhon was dated back to the original reception
of the application, not the day that it was finally authorized as completed. In other words, even if
you think it might be too late to start, because your child's is almost too old to make the deadline,
maybe if you start right away, it is still possible. The deadline of the end of 2011 strikes me as a
kind of blocking maneuver by the Department of Justice against the Supreme Court decision. I
don't think it would stand up in court. But going to court is costly.

MOJ Tokyo Location (by appointment only):

Kudan Dai 2 (building #2) Goudou Chousha
1-1-15-8F Kudan-Minami, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-5213-1234 (switchboard), or
Tel: 03-5213-1347 (direct to the appropriate department)
Website: http://www.moj.go.jp/
- Appointments are made by telephone. The available times are Monday through Friday from
9:00-11:00 and 13:00-15:00 The appointments are made in batches and afternoons are more
crowded than mornings. For example, even if you arrive exactly at 14:00, as appointed, you may
still wait until 14:45 before being seen. Do not bother going without an appointment. We saw a
woman turned away because she did not have an appointment.
- Access: From Jimbocho station 10 minutes. From Kudanshita station (exit#6) station 5 minutes.
From Takebashi station 5 minutes.
- When you exit the elevator on the 8th floor go staight across to a hall perpendicular and you'll
see a door on the right, probably open, with a small waiting area.
- Fill out a blank form, which looks something like this, that lets them know you are there and
put it in the basket.
- Bring a friend to translate, if you do not speak Japanese. Bring mother's passports, current and
also old, cancelled passport if child(ren) was/were born during the time frame of an older
passport; also for the father if possible. They will check that mother and father were in the same
country at the time of child(ren)'s conception. Bring the boshi techo for each child. Your initial
caseworker will give you a list of documents that they require, and ask that you make a second
appointment for presenting these documents. Call and make the appointment right away, which
will be a minumum of one month in the future, so that you can get a time most agreeable to you.
- Building is marked with a red asterisk on the map below showing Kudanshita subway station

Vocabulary:
Family Register = Koseki Touhon (Every Japanese person has one or is included on their
husband's or their father's, or parent's, etc.)
Child Gaining Legal Recognition by Male Parent = Ninchi
Citizenship = Kokuseki-hou
government office building = chousha
Ministry of Justice = houmu, houmushou