Japan Sets Age Requirements for Foreigners Applying for Citizenship
- Japan's Nationality Act sets 18 as the minimum age for foreigners applying for citizenship through naturalisation
- Children acknowledged by a Japanese father after birth can also acquire nationality, but must meet specific age and residency conditions
- Japan also allows children who lost their nationality at birth to reacquire it, subject to strict requirements under the Nationality Act
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Japan's Ministry of Justice has confirmed that foreigners seeking to acquire Japanese citizenship must be at least 18 years old and must hold full legal capacity under the laws of their home country, as set out in Article 5, Paragraph 1, Item 2 of Japan's Nationality Act.
The requirement applies to naturalisation applicants in 2026 and forms part of a broader legal framework that governs how foreign nationals can become Japanese citizens.
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Other ways to acquire Japanese nationality
Beyond naturalisation, Japan's Nationality Act outlines two additional routes through which a person can acquire or reacquire citizenship.
The first applies to children born to a Japanese father and a foreign mother before the parents marry. Such children do not automatically receive Japanese nationality at birth.
However, if the father acknowledges the child after birth, the child can acquire nationality by notifying the Minister of Justice, provided four conditions are met: the child must be under 18 at the time of the notification (a threshold lowered from 20 following a revision that took effect on April 1, 2022); the father must have been a Japanese national at the time of the child's birth; the father must still be a Japanese national at the time of the notification, or must have been one at the time of his death; and the child must never have previously held Japanese nationality.
This pathway was strengthened by a revision to Article 3 of the Nationality Act, which came into force on January 1, 2009, allowing children to acquire nationality through acknowledgement even when their parents are not married.
Reacquiring lost Japanese nationality
The second additional route covers children born abroad who automatically acquired both Japanese nationality and a foreign nationality at birth.
Under Japanese law, such children are required to declare an intention to retain Japanese nationality alongside their birth registration, or they lose their Japanese citizenship retroactively from the time of birth.
Children who lost their Japanese nationality in this way can apply to reacquire it by notifying the Minister of Justice.
To qualify, the child must be under 18 at the time of the notification (again, reduced from 20 since April 1, 2022) and must have an address in Japan, meaning their place of residence must be within the country at the time of the notification.
In a related story, Legit.ng reported that Japan set a minimum age requirement for applicants seeking its 10-year citizenship.
Japan's residency requirement for citizenship
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Japan published how long foreigners must reside in the country before applying for citizenship.
According to the Japanese Ministry of Justice, a person must have lived in Japan for at least five consecutive years before they can be considered for naturalisation.
According to the Japanese government, this requirement is enshrined in Article 5, Paragraph 1 of the Japanese Nationality Act.
Source: Legit.ng
