Japanese Citizenship for Child After Oath Ceremony

[frozentoast 0]

Hello,

 

I had a question that I was curious if anyone had any experience with. My wife is a Japanese citizen and will soon be doing her naturalization interview. If she passes and becomes a citizen (after the oath ceremony), I'm afraid any children we have in the future won't be able to acquire Japanese citizenship--at least not based on my wife being a Japanese citizen. The reason is that Japan does not recognize dual citizenship, and technically the moment my wife becomes a U.S. citizen, she will no longer be a Japanese citizen.

 

Has anyone else been in a similar predicament? If we do have a child in the U.S., it doesn't seem like we would be able to apply for Japanese citizenship through the Japanese Consulate, because they require the Japanese citizen living in the U.S. to present their green card. We could make a copy of the green card and send that (because the real card will be confiscated at the oath ceremony), but using the copy strikes me as being illegal. Also, I don't know how the consulate systems work, but if they looked up her information on the green card, would they be able to see that she has become a U.S. citizen?

 

Anyways, if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it. Thank you in advance.

[KULtoATL 1,551]

If Japan does not recognize dual citizenship and the fact that your wife is getting naturalized to become an American citizen, why would you guys still want to try to get Japanese citizenship for your future children in the future? 

 

ETA: Don't try to hide your wife's newly minted American citizenship when the time comes or do sneaky things behind either government's back because they will find out one way or another. You can't have the cake and eat it too. 

 

If it's important for your future children to be Japanese, then perhaps your wife should stay a green card holder and not get naturalized.

Edited July 17, 2017 by KULtoATL

[frozentoast 0]

I get your point and appreciate the response. As to why we would want the child to have citizenship, Japan does allow dual citizenship for people under a certain age (I think 20 years old, although I'd have to double check).

[KULtoATL 1,551]

If they allow dual citizenship under a certain age, then maybe delay your wife's naturalization?  That way she would still have a green card to apply for your future children and only proceed with submitting of the N-400 after you guys have had all the kids you want. Will she mind the wait to get naturalized much, much later?

[KULtoATL 1,551]

Info from Japanese Department of Justice: http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/information/tcon-01.html

[Ontarkie 14,229]

~~Moved to the Regional forum, from US Citizenship Discussion - The OP is asking about citizenship from Japan.~~