Enforcement Regulation of the Nationality Act
国籍法施行規則
A Ministry of Justice Order (法務省令) made under Article 19 of the Nationality Act that sets out how notifications to acquire or renounce Japanese nationality and applications for permission to naturalize (帰化) are made — through which office, in person and in writing, with which documents — and how two notices under that Act can reach a person who is abroad.
- Text in force since
- Promulgated
- Articles
- 7
- Amendments on the way
- 0
What this law does
- A notification to acquire Japanese nationality as an acknowledged child (Article 3(1) of the Nationality Act), or to regain it after losing it following a demand published in the Official Gazette (官報) (Article 17(2)), goes through the Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau () or District Legal Affairs Bureau (地方法務局) for the person's domicile (住所) if they are domiciled in Japan. If they are domiciled abroad, it goes through the consular officer (領事官) stationed in that country, which includes the head of an embassy or legation doing a consular officer's work, or the person acting for that head. A notification to regain nationality lost under Article 12 by not reserving it (Article 17(1)) goes through the Director of the bureau for the person's domicile.(Art. 1(1), Art. 1(2), Nationality Act Art. 3(1), Nationality Act Art. 12(1), Nationality Act Art. 17(1), Nationality Act Art. 17(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Read the full overview
- Each of these notifications is made in writing, by the person making it appearing in person at the Legal Affairs Bureau (), District Legal Affairs Bureau (地方法務局) or overseas diplomatic establishment (在外公館). The form, signed by the person making it, gives the name, current nationality, date and place of birth, domicile and sex of the person acquiring nationality; the parents' names and registered domicile (本籍), or a foreign parent's name and nationality; and the grounds for acquiring nationality.(Art. 1(3), Art. 1(4), Art. 1(4)(i), Art. 1(4)(ii), Art. 1(4)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A notification as an acknowledged child must attach the acknowledging parent's family registers () and removed family registers (除かれた戸籍) from that parent's birth, as certified copies or certificates of all matters; a document proving the child's birth; the parents' written statement of how the acknowledgment came about; documents proving the parents' travel history around when the mother conceived the child; and other material enough to show a real parent-child relationship. A notification to regain nationality under Article 17 of the Nationality Act must attach documents enough to prove that the conditions for acquiring it are met.(Art. 1(5), Art. 1(5)(i), Art. 1(5)(ii), Art. 1(5)(iii), Art. 1(5)(iv), Art. 1(5)(v), Art. 1(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
- An application for permission to naturalize (帰化の許可の申請) goes through the Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau (法務局) or District Legal Affairs Bureau (地方法務局) for the applicant's domicile, and is made in writing by the person applying appearing in person at a Legal Affairs Bureau or District Legal Affairs Bureau. The application, signed by the person making it, gives the applicant's name, current nationality, date and place of birth, domicile and sex, the parents' names and registered domicile (本籍) or a foreign parent's name and nationality, and anything useful in deciding whether to permit the naturalization. It must attach documents enough to prove that the applicant meets the conditions for naturalization.(Art. 2(1), Art. 2(2), Art. 2(3), Art. 2(3)(i), Art. 2(3)(ii), Art. 2(3)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A notification renouncing Japanese nationality (国籍離脱の届出) goes by the same route as a notification to acquire it as an acknowledged child — through the bureau for a domicile in Japan, or the consular officer (領事官) for a domicile abroad — and is made in writing, by the person making it appearing in person. The form, signed by the person making it, gives the name, date of birth, domicile and family register (戸籍) of the person renouncing, and the foreign nationality they now hold, with documents enough to prove that they meet the conditions for renunciation.(Art. 3(1), Art. 1(1), Art. 1(3), Art. 3(2), Art. 3(2)(i), Art. 3(2)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Where a legal representative (法定代理人) makes, for a person under 15 as Article 18 of the Nationality Act requires, a notification to acquire nationality under Article 3(1) or 17(1) of that Act, a notification renouncing nationality or an application for naturalization, the form gives the representative's name, address and capacity, with a document proving that capacity. Any attached document written in a foreign language needs a translation that names the translator.(Art. 4(1), Nationality Act Art. 18(1), Art. 5(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Notification of acquisition of nationalityApplying for naturalizationRenouncing Japanese nationalityNotification by a legal representativeTranslations of documentsDemand to choose a nationalityNotice of a hearing
Amendments
A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . No amendment to this law is waiting to come into force. Its latest amendments are below. This law's amendments page lists every amendment e-Gov records and, for those whose changes this site has read, shows them provision by provision, in Japanese and English.
1 amendments already in force
1 April 2016
The text on this site
e-Gov gives no title for this amendment
Who it applies to
It applies to
- People who notify the Minister of Justice (法務大臣) to acquire Japanese nationality under Article 3(1), 17(1) or 17(2) of the Nationality Act, or to renounce it, and people who are not Japanese nationals (外国人) who apply for permission to naturalize (帰化).(Art. 1(1), Art. 1(2), Art. 2(1), Art. 3(1), Nationality Act Art. 3(1), Nationality Act Art. 4(1), Nationality Act Art. 13(1), Nationality Act Art. 17(1), Nationality Act Art. 17(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Legal representatives (法定代理人) who make, for a person under 15, a notification under Article 3(1) or 17(1) of the Nationality Act, a notification renouncing nationality, or an application for naturalization.(Art. 4(1), Nationality Act Art. 18(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Special rules and exceptions (2)
- A person domiciled abroad who has a residence (居所) in Japan may make a notification to acquire nationality as an acknowledged child or after a demand in the Official Gazette (官報), or a notification renouncing it, through the Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau () or District Legal Affairs Bureau (地方法務局) for that residence instead of a consular officer (領事官).(Art. 1(1), Art. 3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
- For a notification as an acknowledged child, where the parents' statement or the travel documents cannot be attached for unavoidable reasons, a document giving the reason is submitted instead. Where a court decision on the acknowledgment (認知の裁判) has become final, the statement, the travel documents and the other material showing the parent-child relationship are not needed.(Art. 1(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
How it is enforced (5)
- This Order sets no penalty of its own: it fills in the procedure the Nationality Act leaves to a Ministry of Justice Order (法務省令) in its Article 19. That Act itself punishes a false notification to acquire nationality as an acknowledged child with imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to one year or a fine of up to 200,000 yen. The offence follows Article 2 of the Penal Code (刑法), which applies to anyone who commits it outside Japan, where such a notification can be made through a consular officer (領事官).(Nationality Act Art. 19(1), Nationality Act Art. 20(1), Nationality Act Art. 20(2), Penal Code Art. 2(1), Art. 1(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The notifications and the application for naturalization are made to the Minister of Justice (法務大臣), who decides whether to permit naturalization. This Order has them pass through the Director of a Legal Affairs Bureau () or District Legal Affairs Bureau (地方法務局); only a notification under Article 3(1) or 17(2) of the Nationality Act, or a renunciation, by someone domiciled abroad goes through a consular officer (領事官) instead.(Nationality Act Art. 3(1), Nationality Act Art. 4(2), Nationality Act Art. 13(1), Nationality Act Art. 17(1), Nationality Act Art. 17(2), Art. 1(1), Art. 1(2), Art. 2(1), Art. 3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The Minister of Justice's demand (催告) that a Japanese citizen who also holds a foreign nationality, and has not chosen a nationality within the time limit of Article 14(1) of the Nationality Act, choose one (Article 15(1)) may be delivered through the consular officer (領事官) stationed in the country where the person is, if they are abroad. Once a demand is made, in writing or in the Official Gazette (官報), the Minister has the Director of a Legal Affairs Bureau (法務局) or District Legal Affairs Bureau (地方法務局) tell the mayor of the municipality (市町村長) of the person's registered domicile (本籍) — in a special ward () the ward mayor, in a designated city (指定都市) the ward mayor or administratively consolidated ward mayor (総合区長) — the person's name, their family register () and the day the demand reached them.(Art. 6(1), Art. 6(2), Nationality Act Art. 14(1), Nationality Act Art. 15(1), Nationality Act Art. 15(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A person who receives the demand to choose a nationality and does not choose Japanese nationality within one month of receiving it loses Japanese nationality when that month ends (Article 15(3) of the Nationality Act). That does not happen if a natural disaster or another cause beyond their control kept them from choosing in time and they choose within two weeks of becoming able to.(Nationality Act Art. 15(3), Art. 6(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
- The Minister of Justice may declare that a Japanese citizen loses Japanese nationality if, having declared their choice of Japanese nationality (選択の宣言) while keeping a foreign one, they take of their own will a public post of that country that only its nationals may hold, and the Minister finds this markedly contrary to their choice (Article 16(2) of the Nationality Act). Notice of the hearing (聴聞) held before such a declaration may be given through the consular officer (領事官) stationed in the country where the person is, if they are abroad.(Art. 7(1), Nationality Act Art. 16(2), Nationality Act Art. 16(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
How it connects to other laws
Cites this lawLawThis law cites it
It also names 1 law not yet held here.
Where the translation comes from
- 29
- 20
The Ministry of Justice's translation is shown only where the Japanese it translates matches the law in force today. Everywhere else the English is a machine translation, marked on the paragraph itself.
Only the Japanese is the law, and no lawyer has reviewed the machine translation.
Sources
Everything this page rests on
- e-Gov (Digital Agency)国籍法施行規則 — the text in force from 2016-04-01Original
- e-Gov (Digital Agency)国籍法施行規則 — revision historyOriginal
- Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of JusticeEnforcement Regulation of the Nationality Act — Ministry of Justice translationOriginal
- Machine translation, not official
- Machine translation, corrected on review, not official
- Written for this site with AIDescriptions of each law, written for this site
- Written for this site with AICorrections to the Ministry of Justice's English of the Enforcement Regulation of the Nationality Act
- Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text