Japan weighs extending 5-year residency requirement for naturalization

29 comments

1. So they are trying to destroy the value of having permanent residency but also trying to make it harder to naturalize? I know they don’t care about this and are just doing it to appease the easily distracted voters but still this is crazy to me. There has to be long term negative consequences to a change like this no?

2. At this point anything is possible. In a worse way.

3. I wonder if there planning to eliminate the fast(er) track PR for spouses of Japanese nationals? I imagine there would be some pushback from Japanese wanting a foreign spouse. It’s why the exception exists in the first place. Not to help foreigners, but not to unduly inconvenience Japanese with foreign spouses.

4. >Japan’s naturalization rules require a person to have lived in the country for five years or longer. This is less than the 10-year minimum required for permanent residency, which lets people live in Japan without acquiring citizenship.

   The reason its shorter to naturalization and longer to get PR is because PR is what most people want since its the closet to dual citizenship. It allows you to stay in Japan but keep your country’s passport.

   If you extend naturalization, all you are doing is lowering the amount of immigrants that are willing to move to Japan and live.

   The Japanese government and public are worried about immigration for people doing the “low-wage” work, but they don’t realize doing these changes will change how highly educated people feel about moving to Japan. Japan needs more English speakers, STEM people, Social Sciences people, and etc…, not less.

5. Isn’t caveat with naturalization is that you renounce your countries passport? Like, that’s usually the big factor for most people applying, whereas with PR, you just need to be a good citizen for x number of years

6. Japan right now is like that one friend who has the potential of doing great thing but keeps doing stupid sh*t ruining theyre chances of succes , and instead of changing for the good just blames others for its problems ,if they keep this up no even third world miggrants will want to go , like its already horrible for them but with they are excluding people from all over not just the third world , omg i hope the japanese right gets their way i hope they enjoy extinction when they reach the point were not even the most hardcores weebs will want to live in there island , but hey atleast they will be “pure” , japan has all the tools and potential to be an super advance country but their xenophobia will always bring them down and keep them away from any type of progress

7. I think it’s fair.

   But then reducing PR to 5 years instead, and also creating clear criteria and legal protections (such as against being denied renting or loans based purely on nationality) for people who intend to live in Japan for long periods to be able to plan their lives safely, I suppose?

   But no, of course not. Thank you for nothing.

8. > This is less than the 10-year minimum required for permanent residency, which lets people live in Japan without acquiring citizenship.

   While most acquire PR via 10-year residency, there are also pathways to obtain PR within 5 years (eg: having made significant contributions to Japan), 3 years (eg: HSP 70 points, or spouse of a Japan National/PR), and even 1 year (eg: HSP 80 points).

9. I mean, the fact that PR takes longer than naturalization is a bit odd, but I’m sure this is not really an issue right? The weak yen, price increases, stagnant wages, etc., these are the issues, right? Right?

10. They don’t understand, because Japanese people chose stop making babies, Japan needs immigration. Who else will care for their elders, teach the reamining children or protect houses from fire?
    Japan needs to make the country more interesting for skilled immigrants to come and live here.
    All those people against immigration should answer the question: Who will pay for your pension?

11. They are just trying to screw hardworking, serious foreigner residents weekly it seems…

12. Instead of working to revive Japan’s struggling economy and rising inflation, the government seems more focused on imposing stricter rules on foreigners and blaming us for the country’s problems.

13. Good, kind of crazy in certain cases its easier to naturalize rather than get permanent residency.  

14. They would rather that Japan fizzle out as a nation than to allow immigrants to dilute their ‘superior’ culture. Best of luck to them. They will get poorer and poorer.

15. Only weeb are pissed about this

16. > There were 12,248 naturalization applications submitted in 2024, of which 8,863 were approved

    I just wanted to do the numbers, that’s 0.0716 new naturalizations per 1,000 Japanese.

    Just to give a comparison, the same number is 2.4066 per 1,000 people for the US ([818,500 people](https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship-resource-center/naturalization-statistics)), 0.9845 per 1,000 people for South Korea ([51,000 people](https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10019150)), and 1.4225 per 1,000 people for France ([97,300](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Acquisition_of_citizenship_statistics)).

    I find it hilarious when politicians spend so much time talking about this and trying to make it harder to apply, when it’s essentially a rounding error in Japan.

17. that’s fine. as long as there’s a way for people to have a long term legal status while they wait, this is a non-issue.

    the only group that this really sucks for are people who are already there and working towards the current requirements. (hopefully they get grandfathered in and any potential change has a phase-in)

18. I always thought PR should be 5 years and citizenship should be 10. But it’s the opposite.

19. Yeah because the rush to naturalize is overwhelming right? The more problem they have to distract from the crazier their ideas become.

20. This country doesn’t know what it wants anymore. They’re lost in their own confusion.

21. Is there actually anything else Takaichi does? Or just screw foreigner is in her agenda? Maybe she should sleep more than 3 hours and then she can increase productivity

22. Ok well then I can be naturalized

23. What a mess.. all this is. Glad I got PR years ago.

24. Good! There are way too many unqualified applicants anyway.

25. Like.. you have so many problems as a country, why is this even on the docket?

26. I would have naturalized years ago if I didn’t also need to give up my other passports. It’s easier than getting PR!

    But no dual/multiple nationality here is a barrier to choosing naturalization over PR, especially for anyone originally from a “strong passport” country or someone who would lose multiple passports.

    It seems to me those most keen to naturalize here come from “weak passport” countries, where the J-passport is a significant “upgrade”.

    For my personal situation there’s no incentive at all to go for naturalization over PR unless dual/multiple nationality is enacted, even when these stricter “PR revocation possible” policies come into play. Even though my permanent home is here, my other passports are more valuable to me than a single Japanese one.

27. Well, it’s just silly the bar is higher to get residency than naturalising. No other modern country has that.

28. Im already a citizen so Im 👍 good

29. Do people realize how horrible their immigration policies/migration system in their own countries? Do they?! Japan is so much easier than any other developed countries. Seriously tho, you never dealt with it so most people don’t know this but your country has it far worse. Especially the us. USCIS is one of the worst agencies to work with.

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