# I'm Canadian, wife having baby in Japan



## Ricardo Martinez

Raising a child, in Japan

Cliffs: 
I'm a Canadian living in Japan, 
Japanese wife is 5months pregnant. Deciding which Nationality for the baby, Canadian or Japanese???

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As far as I know, Canada does not allow dual Passports. Therefore it's a Canadian passport or Japanese one. Both are excellent passports when it comes to travel. 

For the next few years, we'll be living in Japan. Future is still unknown. Ideally I'd like to move back to Canada eventually. 

Once baby is born, how do I go about obtaining Canadian Citizenship? Contact Canadian Embassy? 
I know that within 2 weeks of baby being born, I must go to local City Office and register baby's name. 

I prefer my kid to be raised (After 10yrs old) in Canada, compared to Japan. Yeah, I'm leaning towards choosing Canada for my baby's main Nationality however in Japan, everything will be much more convenient for my kid as Japanese. 
Ideas, suggestions, recommendations please. 


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## larabell

You should contact the Canadian Embassy, of course, but a quick look at the nationality rules for both Canada and Japan suggests that neither country has any restrictions against dual nationality if both nationalities were acquired at birth. And both countries do appear to transfer nationality through at least one parent so your child will likely acquire both nationalities at birth.

If that's the case, that's what I would recommend. That way your child will be able to choose one or the other upon becoming an adult. The world political climate 20 years from now could be quite different from what it is today.

Either way, you have 14 days to register the birth with your local ward/city office. If, for some reason, your child does not acquire Japanese citizenship you will also need to go to the Immigration office within 30 days to apply for a status of residency. For me, that alone would be reason enough to make sure your child acquires Japanese citizenship. Otherwise, between passport and visa renewals, you're going to end up with paperwork of some sort to fill out every couple of years.


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## BBCWatcher

I agree with Larabell. I highly recommend getting both of your baby's citizenships documented as soon as reasonably practical after birth. His/her Japanese citizenship will be easier since you're in Japan already, but Canada is relatively straightforward.

I'm assuming you're not a Japanese citizen. When your wife married you she had a choice whether to change her surname to yours in her Japanese family register or keep her surname. (You could have also changed your surname to hers.) If she kept her surname, then your baby's surname (in Japanese characters) will be the same as hers. Consequently, by default, your baby's Japanese passport will be issued in that name but also with the corresponding Romanji (Latin alphabet) representation of your wife's surname. So for example if your wife kept the surname Nakamura then "Nakamura" will be the surname (in both Japanese characters and Romanji characters) on your baby's Japanese passport.

That's kind of awkward, in my opinion, if your baby's Canadian passport has a different surname (yours). It's OK, you can do that, but "awkward" is a good word for it. If you think it's awkward too, then you have a couple options:

1. You can establish your baby's name on the Canadian side with your wife's surname, when you get your baby's Canadian citizenship documented.

2. You can fill out a special, extra form when you apply for your baby's Japanese passport requesting that the Romanji name deviate from norms and, instead, be your surname. Consequently your baby's Japanese name would still be 中村 (for example), including on his/her Japanese passport, but the Romanji characters printed on the passport would be MARTINEZ (presumably).

Option #2 is a bit speculative -- I haven't actually tried it -- but I have seen the form to do that, and it does seem to be an option. You could try Option #2 first and then, if it doesn't work, decide what you want to do about your baby's legal name in Canada -- i.e. start working with Canada after you have your baby's Japanese passport in hand.

The Romanji name is not your baby's legal Japanese name. It's only the _representation_ of his/her name for foreign purposes. He/she is not going to be 中村 anywhere else in the world anyway, but equally he/she is not going to be Nakamura or Martinez in Japan either. So you're still consistent in each country even if the Romanji expression doesn't "match" the kanji (or other Japanese characters). Make sense?

Another thing I would be careful of is not to exceed about 13 (?) characters in total on the Japanese side. One of my friends has had seemingly endless problems because some banks don't know how to cope with Japanese names that are too long. Perhaps somebody can remember what the limit is, but my recollection is it's 13 characters. It's an unofficial limit, not anything the ward offices enforce. So if the surname is 中村 then up to 11 characters is fine for his/her given name. (Japan, as you know, doesn't have the concept of middle names. It's just all part of the given name.)

It appears to be legal for a Canadian citizen to enter Canada using a foreign passport, but I don't recommend that for a few reasons.


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## Ricardo Martinez

Thank you very much for the help. 

First thing I'll do is definitely email the Canadian embassy and ask for more information as well as passport info. 

My child will have my surname but yes, at birth will register as Japanese. 

Will go to local SHIAKSHO and register. I'm hoping it all goes smooth but somehow everytime there seems to be little unimportant paperwork that makes the process not so smooth at the SHIAKSHO 


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## BBCWatcher

Ricardo Martinez said:


> My child will have my surname but yes, at birth will register as Japanese.


No, your child won't have your surname in Japan unless your wife already does. (And, if she does, the legal surname is in katakana. The Romanji/Latin alphabet name has no legal force. All Japanese names must be in Japanese characters with no Romanji allowed.) When there's only one Japanese citizen parent the child's surname in Japan must always match that of the Japanese parent. You don't have any choice in that -- it's ironclad civil law in Japan.

Take another look at what I wrote if it's still confusing, and feel free to ask any follow-up questions.


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## Ricardo Martinez

Oh ok. Got it. 

My wife does have my surname, she got it changed almost a year ago. 

Yes, it's in KATAKANA and English is certainly spelled out in ROMAJI. 

Would be disappointing if my kid wouldn't have my surname. 

Thanks a lot for the advice. Really appreciate it. 


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## BBCWatcher

Then everything lines up automatically.

As I recall Japanese passports issued to infants only last 3 years, so if you don't have immediate plans to travel outside Japan you might hold off on getting a Japanese passport until your child gets into the 5 year passport "zone." (Unless there might be an emergency need to travel. Then don't worry about it. Just get the 3 year.) Canada probably issues a 5 year passport to infants, but I can't remember precisely.

Under present law Japan will ask your young adult child at age 20 whether he/she wants to keep Japanese citizenship, and they'll need a response before age 22. But that's a topic for another day -- and the law might change within the next 20 years anyway.


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl

Canada _does_ allow dual citizenship... I'm due in June (in the UK) and am in the process of getting the necessary paperwork together to get my child's certificate of Canadian citizenship paperwork in order so that I can send it in after the birth. You'll need to submit your own Canadian issued birth certificate, the baby's and a few other bits and pieces and it'll take 6-9 months for this to be processed, as it has to go to Nova Scotia for processing. Not sure what the fee is for this ( <CAD $150) 

Do a Google search: registration of a Canadian birth abroad" for more information on how to accomplish this. 

A passport is possible too, but your Aka-chan will need their citizenship certificate in order to apply... the fee for that is about CAD$100

Good luck to you!


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