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Lack of parental knowledge about paperwork behind stateless children in Japan

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Japan's bureaucrats are trying to blame everybody else now. Of course the Immigration service comes under the juristiction of the Ministry of Justice who (in my experience) do not seem to understand their own paperwork.

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

I did everything the right way - whew! - took my kids to the American consulate in Fukuoka to get a US birth certificate, took that to Kumamoto City Hall to prove that they were real, and got them registered as Japanese citizens. No problems since. They leave and return to Japan on their Japanese passport and enter and leave the US on their American passport, no questions asked. Just don't show both passports at the same time, an immigration official pleaded with me.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

“Hello, I am stateless”

”No problem, just register at your embassy and show us your passport and you can get Japanese nationality”

”Hellooo, I am stateless!”

”No problem, just register…”

”Hellooooooooooo!”

0 ( +10 / -10 )

Tokyo does not adopt the principle of birthright citizenship, and when foreign nationals have children, they are required to register the birth at an embassy or other diplomatic establishment with the submission of such documents as passports in order for the child to gain nationality.

So do the other 46 prefectures have birthright citizenship?

4 ( +8 / -4 )

”No problem, just register at your embassy and show us your passport and you can get Japanese nationality”

Umm, no this is not a fact either. One of the parents must be Japanese to qualify! Just because foreign parents have a child here, does not grant them citizenship!

7 ( +8 / -1 )

This article makes it sound as if foreign parents who have children born here can get Japanese citizenship just by applying for it.

The article is poorly written as this here makes it sound like it does! They have to register the birth of their children with their embassy or consulate!

Tokyo does not adopt the principle of birthright citizenship, and when foreign nationals have children, they are required to register the birth at an embassy or other diplomatic establishment with the submission of such documents as passports in order for the child to gain nationality.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

It's only poorly written for people who can't read

4 ( +6 / -2 )

When entering America show the American and when entering Japan show the Japanese.

if I was a customs officer, I would look to see where they came from with an exit stamp, but if they do not have one…kind of odd.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

It seems as though Japan should be doing everything possible to recruit and nationalize these kids as Japanese citizens since the country's facing a falling and failing birthrate crisis.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Japan's bureaucrats are trying to blame everybody else now. Of course the Immigration service comes under the juristiction of the Ministry of Justice who (in my experience) do not seem to understand their own paperwork.

I don’t think that is fair in this context. This isn’t actually a problem with Japanese bureaucracy, its a problem of bureaucracy in other countries making it difficult for children of their nationals born overseas (not specifically in Japan) difficult. Japanese bureaucrats have nothing to do with that.

I’m a foreign national who has two kids born here in Japan, getting them registered as citizens of my country did not require any involvement by the Japanese government whatsoever.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

stormcrowToday 08:02 am JST

It seems as though Japan should be doing everything possible to recruit and nationalize these kids as Japanese citizens since the country's facing a falling and failing birthrate crisis.

Why should these children whose parents - both of them, father and mother are not Japanese citizens - become automatically Japanese citizens? Only because they are born within Japan?

Many countries in such a case will not offer citizenship for these children and insist that registration of birth of those children is with those countries which citizenship is being hold by at least one of their parents - in most cases through their embassies.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

”Hellooooooooooo!”:

Tokyo does not adopt the principle of birthright citizenship, and when foreign nationals have children, they are required to register the birth** at an embassy or other diplomatic establishment with the submission of such documents as passports in order for the child to gain nationality.**

”Hellooooooooooo!”:

Sixty-three of the 305 stateless children, or 20.7 percent, became stateless because some countries such as Brazil require parents to return home in order to complete paperwork to register their child's nationality.

”Hellooooooooooo!”:

The survey also found five children became stateless because of U.S. rules for residence history regarding the registering of children born on or after June 12, 2017, to unmarried couples involving an American national .Under the rules, the American father or mother is required to have lived in the United States for at least five years, two years of which must have been after turning 14.

”Hellooooooooooo!”

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Lack of parental knowledge? How about putting the blame on an unnecessarily difficult and outdated procedure that requires a trail of little red stamps on pieces of crappy recycled paper?

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

expatToday 03:35 pm JST

Article fails to mention that had these Brazilian nationals gone home to complete birth registration, they would not have been allowed to return to Japan 

And? How is this the business of Japan to take care of the required paperwork of foreign children born by Brazil nationals, whose ancestors never have been anything else but Brazilians (or whatever nationality)?

The situation is different however for people who can prove that their ancestors have been Japanese nationals, they can easily apply for permit to stay in Japan, for a re-entry certificate to be allowed to re-enter Japan in case they travel abroad, no problem with working permit and can later on of course apply for Japanese citizenship too.

In Brazil alone there are more than 3 million descents of former Japanese and they are eligible to return to Japan and many are doing it because of the economic situation.

There are more than 300.000 Brazilian citizens of Japanese ancestry living now in Japan.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

A stateless child born in Japan is actually eligible for an easier expedited naturalization process as early as age 3 (its a clause right in Japan's nationality law). I wonder how many of these are intentionally hoping to exploit that special case.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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