Naturalization in 2022

@jojo (guest)

Hi,

Of course, your being single and young must be the reason why the process is quicker for you. I was reading somewhere that for young people, itfs relatively faster because there isn't much to verify. And you are right; having a gold driving license and no trips abroad in the past 8 years must have helped as well. Not to mention N1 and graduating from Japanese university.

Aside from the age and travel aspects, my case is similar to yours.
Let's see whatfs in store for me....

Again, congratulations for becoming Japanese.

I got a call for interview and my caseworker said that it may need about 2 hours for the interview.
They are going to interview me and my wife.
Is that usual 2 hours interview?
Is there anyone else with same experience?
My wife is not fluent in Japanese.
How they going to interview her? Who will interpret?

I am a single guy living in japan for 17 years, my interview was almost 1.5 hrs, so 2 hrs for two people isnft long.
If the intention is to check your wifefs Japanese language skills, they are not going to have an interpreter.

I received i call from for interview. Anyone recently went for a interview? Little nervous, they said they will take test.
tokyo/Chiyoda

Sharing my experience here too if it helps!

Document submission: mid-March 2024
Interview: August 2024
Call: end of November 2024
Still waiting for final result but hopefully should be soon since I just got the call last week!
Place: Chiyoda, Tokyo

Married to a PR holder, but only applying to naturalization for myself. Been in Japan for 6 years, passed N1 couple years ago.

They told me the interview will take 2 hours but ended up being about 30minutes in total for both me and my husband. No Japanese test at all. Home visit on the same day, lasted for only 5 minutes. Good luck to everyone!

@lin (guest)

Thank you for sharing.

Submitted documents - end of june

IAbout home visit.

My home is more far about 1 hour by car.

Thank you everyone for this discussion forum. Was really helpful for me while waiting for my results. My timeline is as below:

Submission: late Dec, 2023
Interview: July 2024
Call: early Oct, 2024
Results: late Nov, 2024 (I left Japan after the call, so they published once I returned)

Additional info: I have been living in JP for 10 years, 4 years of school + 6 years working. I have N2 but had a Japanese test during the interview which was very easy (90% hiragana-katakana). No accident history but had some delayed payments for credit card and phone bills back in school days which apparently is not an issue as long as you have paid it back.

Good luck to everyone applying, just takes a lot of patience and the process can be super tedious but eventually the result will come out.

Is there a specific dress code for the final naturalization interview? I (male) have an interview next week and would appreciate your advice and suggestions.
Thank you!

—Mrtial

There is no specified dress code but since this is Japan and they are checking how sincere you are about getting the nationality, its better to be dressed well. Therefore, I suggest wear a suit.
Interview isn't difficult, test is also simple. They just want to know you more therefore will reconfirm almost everything that you have mentioned in the submitted documents.

My application timeline is as follows (Chiyoda/Tokyo):

1- Document submission: Late February 2024
2- Interview : Early November 2024

Still waiting for the call.
I wonder why there was a long time between my document submission and interview as other people who applied in Chiyoda/Tokyo were waiting almost 4-6 months.

The interview was simple and just like reconfirming any document I submitted.
It lasted 40 min for me and my wife (She is foreigner too). No Japanese test, although in the initial session I was told I will have a test. Probably they skipped it as I have a university degree in Japan.

So basically after interview almost 3 months is needed until they call again?
Do they ask you to withdraw your original nationality then?

@hm guest


Usually, they call within 3 to 4 months.
For some countries, you are required to renounce your nationality before naturalization, but for many others, renunciation can be done within 1-2 years after becoming naturalized.