Confirmed with Driving History Certificate?About Naturalization Application and Traffic Violations
When you apply for naturalization, one of the requirements is your good conduct. One of the factors that affects whether the applicant’s conduct is considered good is past traffic violations. However, some people wonder which violations are considered most critical. In this section, you will learn which traffic violations are considered in a naturalization application, how good conduct works, and what to look for when applying for a naturalization permit.
About traffic violations in naturalization applications
When you apply for naturalization, one of the requirements is good conduct.
Article 5, paragraph 1, item 3 of the Citizenship Law states that a person must be “in good conduct"
This includes, in particular, previous criminal records, whether you have met your tax obligations, whether you have failed to pay pensions, whether you have committed civil offenses, traffic violations, etc.
Traffic violations refer to minor infractions such as parking violations, cell phone use, and stopping violations.
Immigration officers may not treat a single small violation as decisive, but if the applicant has unpaid fines or ignored traffic tickets, this can weigh heavily against approval.
Even though these are minor, repeated violations within a short time frame may still be viewed negatively, as they suggest a pattern of carelessness toward Japanese laws.
Effects of traffic violations on naturalization applications
When you apply for naturalization, one of the requirements is good conduct.
Article 5, paragraph 1, item 3 of the Citizenship Law states that a person must be “of good conduct”.
This includes previous criminal records, whether you have met your tax obligations, whether you have failed to pay pensions, whether you have committed civil offenses, traffic violations, etc.
Minor traffic violations refer to minor infractions such as parking violations, cell phone use, and stopping violations.
However, it is not expected that 4-5 violations in the last 5 years will affect the review.
Still, the review is conducted on a case-by-case basis, and regional differences between Legal Affairs Bureaus sometimes lead to stricter or more lenient judgments.
On the other hand, if the number of violations exceeds this or involves multiple speeding offenses, the examiner may judge that the applicant does not yet meet the standard of “good conduct.”
Serious violations such as speeding, drunk driving, driver’s license suspension, etc., will likely result in the application being denied unless the violation occurred several years ago.
What is a driving record certificate?
You can check the status of previous violations on your driving record certificate.
A driving history certificate is a document that proves traffic violations, traffic accidents, official dispositions of driver’s license, etc. in the last 5, 3 or 1 year.
You can see what kind of violations were committed in the past and what was the cause of the accident.
For example, the document serves as proof of your driving record when you apply for a job where you drive a car, such as a truck driver, cab driver, bus driver or chauffeur.
With a job like this, it only natural that whether you drive safely every day will be used as a hiring criterion.
Since it is a public document, falsification or alteration can be prosecuted as forgery of an official document. The offense of forgery of a document with a signature or seal is punishable by imprisonment for not less than 1 year and not more than 10 years.
Forgery of unmarked public documents without a signature or seal, is punishable by imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine of not more than 200,000 yen.
The fee is 670 yen per copy.
What you should keep in mind when applying for naturalization
It is not unusual for it to take about a year from the time the application is accepted until the applicant is notified of approval or rejection.
If a traffic violation is committed during the review period, the application may be denied depending on the nature of the violation.
For this reason, applicants are strongly encouraged to maintain a clean record after filing and to show evidence of corrective behavior, such as attending safe driving courses if applicable.
This is why many experts recommend waiting several years after a serious violation before applying, so that you can demonstrate a consistent record of compliance with the law.
Summary
When you apply for naturalization, one of the requirements is good conduct. Traffic violations are also considered when assessing good behaviour and refer to minor infractions such as parking violations, cell phone use, and stopping violations.
However, for serious violations such as drunk driving or driver’s license suspension, there is a high probability that the naturalization permit will not be issued unless the violation occurred several years ago.
Also, if a traffic violation is committed during the application review, the application may be denied depending on the severity of the violation.
