Naturalization
QUESTION #1
I have a 13-year-old daughter. I’m not married to her Japanese father, who visits her at least seven times a year and supports her school and food needs. I have no issue about it until I heard that if my child will not be registered in Japan before she reaches 18 or 20 years old, her Japanese nationality will be lost. I was not aware of this. I thought her birth certificate as acknowledged by her father is enough. So, what I did was I went to the Japanese Consulate/Embassy and asked for advice and they gave me the papers that I must show to the father and need him to sign so that we can register her in Japan. I then showed it to her father, but he said he cannot register yet our daughter because he needs to tell his son first that he has a sister. I think it was nonsense because his son already knew me before I gave birth. He even visited the Philippines with his father before and stayed in our house for almost a week. I’m pretty sure he knows that he has a sister because his father and I were together for 15 years now. I find it very hard to believe. I was so upset because her father is sick and been taking lots of medicines to stay healthy. He also has a heart problem. I am not getting younger anymore also. My concern here is what if he dies without registering our child in Japan? I cannot give any assurance to our child’s future. She is also sick. She was operated in her intestine and heart three times. I always crying and thinking what if she gets sick again. What should I do? I really need your advice. Thank you.
– Worried Mother
ANSWER #1
As you quite understood your situation, your daughter cannot get the visa “Child of Japanese National” and also “Japanese National” in the future unless her Japanese father would carry out the formality (“Recognition”) based on the Japanese Civil Code/Registration Law. If he dies, unfortunately, there is no way of which she would be recognized by her father. So, you have to discuss the Recognition” with him and make him do it promptly while he is still alive. If he recognizes her, it is possible for her to get the suitable visa. Moreover, even after he dies, she will be able to acquire the Japanese nationality by herself.
QUESTION #2
I appreciate your quick reply. I already have an update regarding my daughter’s recognition about becoming a Japanese citizen. Her father and I already talked about this matter after I emailed you. Last month, he said that he is now ready to register our daughter to his koseki-tohon as well as acquire her Japanese nationality. Please let me know if our plan is the right way.
- He wants us to go to Japan in January 2019 as tourist for three months. He said we will go to the city hall so that we can register our daughter. He said in less than a week, our daughter’s name will be added to his koseki-tohon.
- Once we already have the koseki-tohon with our daughter’s name on it, we will go to homkyouko to acquire our daughter’s citizenship. He was advised to bring the following documents (all translated in Japanese):
- Daughter’s birth certificate
- My birth certificate
- At least three pictures of us three together
- Daughter’s operation records and baby book from hospitals
- My ceasarian operation record
- My cenomar
- Personal Appearance
- He also said that after my daughter gets her nationality, he wants to apply for a permanent visa for me because he wants our daughter to continue her studies in Japan and I should be with her. She suffers from asthma attack every year. My daughter wants me to be beside her at all times.
Will this plan will work out? He is a self-employed architect and will be retiring in July next year. He is 64 years old now. How true that he doesn’t have the credibility to be our guarantor once he retires? Some people said that I don’t have the opportunity to go to Japan to be with my daughter because we are not married. Is it true that it will be impossible for her to acquire the Japanese nationality even if her father already acknowledged her in his koseki-tohon?
ANSWER #2
Please find my comments as follows:
1. Recognition (Cognition)
The Cognitive Report should be submitted by the Japanese father of your daughter only to the municipal office. It means that you and your daughter are not obligated to appear and report to the municipal office. Even if a cognitive report would be accepted by the municipal office, a family name of your daughter is still her mother’s family name, and she cannot change her family name into her father’s family name since she is not his “legitimate child.” Therefore, in order to change into her father’s family name, you and her Japanese father have to carry out the legal marriage based on the Civil Code, or your daughter must be granted the Japanese national based on the procedure of “Application for acquirement of Japanese national” on the Nationality Law, which I mention as follows:
2. Application for acquiring Japanese nationality
Since your daughter is less than 20 years old (in Japan, aged 20 and over is an adult based on the Civil Code), there are two methods to obtain her Japanese nationality. One is to perform it at the Japan Embassy in the Philippines, and the other one is to perform it at the Legislative Bureau, Ministry of Justice in Japan. Even if it is which case, in principle, her Japanese father has to appear to the public office (Embassy/Legislative Bureau), submit the required documents, and apply for it.
For your information, even if your daughter would be able to acquire the Japanese nationality, the Bureau will not accept her case if she would enter into a country with a Temporary Visitor visa. Of course, you will not be granted the Permanent Resident Status since you do not fulfill the criteria of a permanent resident status. When your daughter’s Japanese father would like to carry out the necessary procedure in Japan, he himself surely can carry it out at the Legislative Bureau. However, it is complicated and difficult to do. If he would like to trust me, I will explain to him and guide him for the process and the required documents of this application.
If your daughter can acquire the Japanese nationality, she can make her family, and use the same family name as his father’s.
Office name: Miyoshi International Legal Counsel Office
Telephone/Fax (Japanese/English): 0463-61-
E-mail: miyoshi@ipcworld.co.jp or joshua-galasha@mvg.biglobe.ne.
Website: www.phildigest.jp
Address: Kanagawa-ken, Naka-gun, Oiso-cho, Higashikoiso 716-2
Nearest station: Oiso station by Tokado Line
Working hour/day: 09:00-18:00/Monday-