Citizenship

I have a complicated situation. My boyfriend is a Japanese citizen, although he has lived in the US since he was seven years old. His father is still a citizen of Japan, living in the US with a work Visa, and his mother a US citizen. We recently had a son (in the US) and I was wondering if he would be a citizen of Japan as well.

Did your husband apply for a Japanese passport for your child? Did he establish paternity? Did he register the child in his family register in Japan?

What exactly are your concerns? The status of the child's grandparents has no real bearing upon citizenship in either the US or, I think, Japan. Your child has US citizenship, do you want your child to also have Japanese citizenship or is that something you would not prefer?

We wish for our son to be a Japanese citizen as well, as I am hoping that we will have residence there in the future.
My concern is that because our son was born in the US that we will not be able to obtain a Japanese passport for him, as his father has not renewed his Japanese passport for over ten years.
Is there a limitation on citizenship? i.e. his father has not lived there for 21 years and is only half Japanese. He believes that once a citizen always a citizen and that is passed down through the bloodline, so our son, although only a quarter, is a citizen as well. I have no idea what the legalities are for citizenship in Japan.

You might want to find out if your boyfriend still has ''koseki'' (family register) in Japan. If yes, since one of the parents is Japanese, there must be a way for him to enter your son into the family register as his upon him officially acknowledging the child as his (since I take it that you are not married).

There a number of citizen/nationality threads on this question forum. Most if not all of the answers you seek can be found there. Pay attention to the dual nationality threads because those will address your boyfriend's situation.

If your husband is a Japanese citizen he has the "koseki." All you have to do is register your son under your husband's koseki. It's that simple. Your son will have a dual citizen ship until he is 21. He'll then have to choose which citizen ship he wants to keep. I'm a Japanese citizen who has a son who was born in the US. So I know.

One more thing. Don't wait too long. There is a dead line to register your son in Japanese koseki.

I believe the deadline is 3 months. I remember reading somewhere that if you pass this deadline your son can't get citizenship unless he lives in Japan for at least 6 months before adulthood. Your boyfriend better call the consulate.

To summarize, 1. Make sure your boyfriend's Japanese citizenship is not deprived in view of his long absence of 21 years and passport expired a decade ago. I beleive he is holding an American passport by now.

2. Your son was born illegitimate since the parents are not legally married. I wonder if both you and your son can be included in the koseki and take up permanent residence in Japan one day.

If your boyfriend is still registered in Koseki in Japan, he holds Japanese nationality no matter how long he has been living in the US. If you are married to him, that is, the marriage has been registered to that Koseki (you do no have hold Japanese nationality), your child can be registered to the Koseki and get Japanese nationality on registration. The child can maintain dual nationality until 22 years of age. However, if your marriage has not been registered, your boyfriend must first acknowledge the child according to Japanese law, and how to do this is beyond my knowledge. You could consult Japanese consulat, but be aware that your boyfriend may lose Japanese nationality if it is found that he has acknowledged or applied for US citizenship after the age of 22, because Japanese law prohibits dual nationality for adults older than 21 years of age.