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The Japanese government is gearing up to overhaul its immigration policies, making it tougher for foreigners to gain citizenship. The proposed changes include increasing the required residency period and introducing a Japanese language proficiency mandate.
Currently, Japan’s Nationality Law outlines the basic criteria for obtaining citizenship. Applicants must reside in Japan for at least five years, be over 18, prove their financial independence, and have a clean legal record.
Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s administration plans to extend the minimum residency requirement to ten years and introduce a basic Japanese language proficiency criterion. These adjustments are set to be implemented without altering the existing Nationality Law.
Because these new stipulations are administrative rather than legislative changes, the government retains the flexibility to grant exceptions. For instance, individuals who have made significant contributions, like athletes representing Japan, might qualify for such exemptions.
A senior official from the Justice Ministry clarified to The Asahi Shimbun on Monday, “The Nationality Law only establishes the minimum requirements. It’s not as if citizenship has always been guaranteed with just five years of residence.”
The changes to the law were advocated by the Japan Innovation Party (commonly known as “Ishin,” which means “renewal”) in a September 2025 policy paper.
Ishin is a fairly young party that quickly grew into the third-largest party in the Japanese legislature, the National Diet, in part by attracting disgruntled voters from the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Ishin, which is more fiscally conservative and reformist than the LDP but agrees with many of the older party’s positions, became a key player in the 2025 election for prime minister, stepping in to become LDP’s coalition partner after its longtime ally Komeito bolted. With Ishin’s help, the LDP was able to elect Takaichi as Japan’s first female prime minister.
Komeito disagreed with LDP’s tough stance against mass migration and LDP lost some voters to an upstart party that takes an even tougher stance against immigration than LDP does, the Sanseito party. Ishin is tougher on immigration than Komeito, but a bit softer than LDP.
Ishin’s policy paper in September pointed out that under the Nationality Law, naturalization only requires five years of residency — but obtaining permanent residency takes ten years.
Ishin argued this was illogical and naturalization should require at least as long to obtain as permanent residency. Ishin also suggested creating a mechanism for revoking nationality after judicial review “in cases where serious falsifications of applications or antisocial behavior are discovered.”
Takaichi stirred up some controversy during her run for office by criticizing bad behavior from foreign tourists — specifically their alleged habit of abusing the beloved deer at a public park in her hometown of Nara. This burnished Takaichi’s reputation for hostility to immigration, which was a net plus for her politically because the Japanese public was concerned about rumors that large numbers of workers from Africa would be imported to make up for Japan’s demographic decline.
Since becoming prime minister, Takaichi has said she wants to “draw a line between xenophobia” and reasonable restrictions on immigration. According to Asahi Shimbun’s report, the LDP is preparing to release its own policy proposals for immigration in January, and a final package of proposed rule changes will probably be ready for Takaichi’s signature by the end of the month.
