Do debts impact a naturalization application?

What is Naturalization？

According to the Ministry of Justice, naturalization is “a process that confers nationality upon those who are not nationals and wish to acquire nationality. In Japan, the permission for naturalization is under the authority of the Minister of Justice. (Article 4 of the Japanese Nationality Act)”

(Reference: Nationality Q&A )

So, both the indication of the foreigner’s intention to “naturalize” and the Minister of Justice’s permission are necessary.

For more information on naturalization, please refer to this article.

Overview of general requirements for naturalization

So, how does the Minister of Justice decide whether to permit or not permit naturalization? If the decision is made roughly and intuitionally in such an important situation, applicants will be anxious as they cannot predict what will happen to their naturalization application. Furthermore, without any standards, subjective and arbitrary judgement may become possible.

So, is there any guidelines for naturalization after all?

Nationality Act answers this question. It stipulates the requirements for naturalization as follows, and the Minister of Justice make judgements based on these requirements.

(Nationality Act)

Article 5 (1)

The Minister of Justice may not permit naturalization for a foreign national who has not met the following conditions:

(i)having continuously had a domicile in Japan for five years or more;

(ii)being eighteen years of age or older and having the capacity to act independently according to the person’s national law;

(iii)being a person of good conduct;

(iv)being able to make a living through the person’s own assets or skills, or through those of the spouse or other relatives who share living expenses among them;

(v)not having a nationality or having to give up the person’s nationality upon the acquisition of Japanese citizenship; and

(vi)on or after the date on which the Constitution of Japan comes into effect, not having planned or advocated the destruction of the Constitution of Japan or the government established thereunder with force, and not having formed or joined a political party or other organization planning or advocating the same.

In summary, there are:

1) Domicile requirement (i)

2) Capacity requirement (ii) * “Capacity to act” means the ability to perform legal acts alone.

3) Conduct requirement (iii)

4) Livelihood requirement (iv)

5) Prevention of multiple nationality requirement (v)

6) Constitution compliance requirement (vi).

If you take a look at these requirements, the ones that seem to be related to debts/liabilities are: 3) Conduct requirement and 4) Livelihood requirement.

So, let’s see whether debts affect the judgment of these requirements!

Good conduct requirement

One of the requirements for naturalization is “good conduct” (Article 5, Paragraph 1, Item 3 of the Nationality Act). It is abstract and difficult to understand, but the Ministry of Justice’s website states, “The person must be of upright conduct. The determination of conduct will be based on social conventions with ordinary individuals as the standard, considering the existence of a criminal record, their tax payment status and whether they have disturbed society.“

(Reference: “Nationality Q&A” )

Therefore, if you have unpaid taxes, it affects the judgement on the conduct requirement. In addition, the payment of pension premiums is also taken into consideration in the conduct requirement.

(For information on naturalization when pension payments are unpaid, please see this column article.)

In principle, debts other than unpaid taxes do not affect the judgement on conduct requirement. However, depending on the level of the debts, the seriousness of the non-payment, etc., it is possible that the person may be considered to lack “good conduct” due to the inconvenience to the society, and may not meet the conduct requirement.

Livelihood requirements

One of the requirements for naturalization is that “ being able to make a living through the person’s own assets or skills, or through those of the spouse or other relatives who share living expenses among them.”

This requirement is specifically explained as “(t)he person must be able to secure a livelihood in Japan. This condition will be judged on the basis of a family unit to make a living. Even if an applicant does not have an income, if a secure livelihood can be ensured through the property or skills of their spouse or relatives, this condition will be met.”

(Reference: “Nationality Q&A” )

In other words, the requirement is fulfilled as long as the spouse or relatives of the applicant have enough property or skills to make a living even if the applicant income alone is not sufficient.

What does ” being able to make a living ” mean specifically?

What does “being able to make a living” of the livelihood requirement mean specifically? Is it okay as long as one has enough income to get up, sleep, and eat every day?

In this regard, the income needs to be stable and the household income needs to be enough to live in Japan without any problems, in order to be regarded as “being able to make a living.”

Then how much is that exactly?

Actually, there is no minimum amount set for the household annual income for naturalization. We will not go into the details here, but, for reference purposes, the standard is said to be around 3 million yen per year. It depends on the family structure and individual circumstances, so please note that the amount is just a reference.

Do debts affect the state of “being able to make a living”?

If you have debts, will you be judged as “not being able to make a living as your income is unstable”?

Whether you are a Japanese or a foreigner, it is normal to have a car loan, student loan, etc., and many people still manage to live a stable life while repaying their loans. Therefore, having ongoing repayment of debts does not necessarily mean that your naturalization application will be rejected.

If you are repaying loans properly according to the repayment plan, and if the loan is not causing financial hardship on your everyday life, it should not be a big issue, in many cases.

One case where debts can be a problem is when your expenses are greater than your income, due to debt repayment.

Specifically, in the naturalization application documents, there is a document called “Summary of Livelihood (i),” in which you must describe your monthly income and expenditures and the debt details. If you are repaying debts every month, you need to write this down in the “Repayments” column under “Expenses“.

The total amounts of “Income” and “Expenses” listed in “Summary of Livelihood (i)” must match. Therefore, if the repayment amount is too high and “Expenses” exceed “Income,” it may be determined that the livelihood requirement is not met.

In addition, if you are in multiple debts and have no prospect of repayment, or if you are living off debt, your income may be considered to be unstable and it is highly likely that the livelihood requirement will not be fulfilled.

Moreover, the judgment may differ depending on the nature and reason of the debts, the repayment amount, who the lender is, and the repayment status.

For example, if there are multiple defaults or delays in repayments without a legitimate reason, or if the total amount of debts increases year by year, there is lower possibility that the requirement of “being able to make a living” is regarded to be satisfied.

On the other hand, if you have acquired assets by using loan, such as a mortgage loan, you are gaining the value of the asset (e.g. the value of the house), so if you have been able to repay without delay, it is usually not a problem.

Being able to repay properly can even be advantageous in the aspect that it indicates your ability of repayments and livelihood.

Having said that, if your mortgage repayments are delayed and your property is seized or auctioned, the Legal Affairs Bureau will immediately investigate the property registration information, so generally speaking, your naturalization will be difficult.

Finally, during interviews at the Legal Affairs Bureau, debts are usually checked in detail, so it is important to be well prepared so that you can clearly answer questions about the content of debts, the reason for borrowing, the repayment amount, etc. as well as whether they are legitimate and whether you can maintain your livelihood.

Summary

As we have seen so far, having debts does not necessarily mean that you cannot naturalize.

As long as you are able to repay the debts properly according to the repayment plan, it will not be a big problem, in many cases.

The worst thing you hide your debts and make a false declaration.

In naturalization application, the actual situation is investigated from all angles, not just based on documents. Therefore, if you hide the facts thinking, “They will not find out,” you will find yourself in a difficult position later. Once you make a false declaration, it is already illegal and there will be no possibility of permission.

Therefore, no matter how unfavorable the content is, it is important to honestly write and declare it.

In fact, among our clients in the past, there were some people who did not tell us about their debts at first. After we started preparing the application, we could easily find out that they had debts before submitting application.

We have many experiences in naturalization for clients who have used housing loans, scholarships, and prefectural loan systems during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we have seen so far, the impact of the debts on the conduct and livelihood requirements varies depending on individual circumstances such as the nature of the debts and the manner of repayment, so we recommend that you do not hide anything, including debts, although the fact that you have debts may be disadvantageous for naturalization, and consult with an expert about what action to take.

We are Yanagi group, which have offices in Osaka (Abeno and Tennoji), and our affiliated offices in Tokyo (Shibuya and Ebisu) are also available for an on-site consultation. We have handled many applications for permanent residence permits, naturalization permits, work visas, college student visas, management visas, etc., as well as visa renewal procedures related to the status of residence with the Immigration Bureau (Immigration Bureau) as a one-stop service. Our experienced administrative scriveners are also available to help you with any problems you may have.

We also have staff members who can speak each of the native languages and can assist you in obtaining a visa.

※If you wish to be consulted in Nepali or Bengali, please inform us in advance via our website or social media, and the translator will contact you ahead of time.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about your status of residence or visa, even if they are trivial.