2025-06-16

Naturalization is a procedure for foreign nationals to acquire Japanese citizenship. There are various requirements for naturalization to be granted. One of them is that the applicant must have lived in Japan for at least five years. We will explain this requirement in detail.

What is an application for naturalization?

An application for naturalization is an application made by a foreign national to the Immigration Bureau in order to acquire Japanese citizenship. Since this is the process of losing one’s foreign nationality and becoming a Japanese citizen, there are strict requirements.

For example, a person applying for naturalization must be an adult, that is, 18 years of age or older. They must also be of legal age according to the laws of the country of their current nationality. This is called the “capacity requirement.

In addition, the applicant must not be in arrears in the payment of taxes or have never been convicted of a serious crime in Japan. This is called the “background requirement.

What is the residency requirement?

One of the requirements for naturalization is the “residency requirement. This is the requirement that the applicant has a continuous domicile in Japan by the time of application. However, simply having an address in Japan is not enough to meet this requirement.

Basically, the applicant must “continue to have a domicile in Japan for at least five years. Since the word “continuously” is used, even if you have had a domicile in Japan for more than five years, if you have frequently returned to your home country during that period, you will not meet the “residence requirement.

Of course, if you return to your home country for a short period of time, you may satisfy this requirement, but if you do not live in Japan for a long period of time, such as several months or six months, unfortunately, you will be deemed to not satisfy this requirement.

Other Requirements

Note that just because you “have continuously resided in Japan for five years or more” does not immediately mean that you meet the requirements. In addition, it does not mean that the requirement is immediately fulfilled. In addition, if you have not worked for at least three years during that period, it is unlikely that your application for naturalization will be approved.

For example, suppose you attended a Japanese university for four years and worked for a Japanese company for two years after graduation. Since you have been domiciled in Japan for a total of more than five years, it would appear that you meet the “residence requirement,” but since you only worked for two years, you do not actually meet the requirement.

In this case, you worked part-time for one year while you were in college, and the total of that period and the two years you worked after graduation would add up to three years, but since part-time work and part-time jobs are not counted as “work,” you do not meet the requirement either.

If you have lived in Japan for more than 10 years, even if you have worked in Japan for less than 3 years, you will satisfy the requirement to apply for naturalization.

Summary

Residency requirement means that you have been continuously domiciled in Japan for more than 5 years, but it must be accompanied by the “actual condition” that you are actually living in Japan continuously. In addition, during the period of residence, the applicant must have been employed for at least 3 years other than part-time or part-time work.