How long satying in japan will give me rights equal or similar to a local japanese citizen ? If not what is the eligibilities for getting the rights of japanese citizenship ?

note from Admin: here is a .pdf link that explains what one must do to become a naturalized Japanese citizen: http://www.sia1.jp/multi/help/HelpEn/Help25-3.pdf

It would be helpful if you could be more specific about what "rights" you are thinking about.

If you are thinking about health insurance or pension, they are related to being employed and paying taxes, not citizenship.

Scott

For example, If we stay for 5 years or so in USA we get green cards and EID. Employee ID. Which further does not require any HI VISA extensions and etc,

What are the similar privileges we get in japan ?

I don't think there is anything equivalent in Japan.
One's immigration status in Japan is simply according to one's satisfying the requirements of one of the many types of visas.

The most common ones usually referred to here are related to being employed by a "sponsor". If it's an organization/company that is the sponsor, they have to make some kind of case as to why the alien is needed for a particular job instead of a Japanese. Same thing if it's an individual doing the sponsoring, as is usually the case for people working as childcare givers. And in that case, there can be some kind of "qualifying" of the sponsoring person. Not just anyone can sponsor a domestic helper.

Furthermore, meeting the requirements of one's visa must be reconfirmed periodically. There is nothing like qualifying for the simple reason of having it for a period of time.

When you use the words "rights" or "privileges" in connection with being an alien in Japan, it sounds like an oxymoron.

Also, notice in the various postings here and on other sites related to this subject, that Japanese Immigration is not at all subject to the kind of legal challenges that can be brought in the U.S. They (Japan) are able to be quite inconsistent and/or arbitrary in their decisions and you have little recourse. (Although you can also find quotes in the past of people fighting decisions.)

I hope this is helpful, if not optimitistic. And if anyone else might disagree wtih me, please chime in.

FWIW, Scott

By Scott Hancock on Wednesday, August 4, 2004 - 3:10 pm:
I should amend what I said some. There is something called Permanent Residence status (different meaning for Immigration and Tax Office) which one can apply for after - I THINK - ten years. But, the rules about proving one's continuing eligibility are not clear to me.

However, if it were easy, there would not be the number of domestic helpers around who continue to go from sponsor to sponsor for many years.

After five years in Japan on a valid visa or even before (?) you can apply for Japanese citizenship. This is actually easier than getting permanent residence, except for one thing, you need to pass a Japanese Language exam. Also (this is not difficult, but some people balk at it), you must change your name to a Japanese name. From that you then get your very own Koseki, etc.

Once you become a Japanese citizen, you will have all the rights of a Japanese citizen. I have met several Chinese and Taiwanese who started here on student visas and fairly quickly became Japanese citizens.

10:26am OK. you can submit the application before the 5 year period is up, but the citizenship is awarded only after the 5 years. There is some information in English... but I think the translation is lacking:
http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/information/na-01.html
and that the information is far from complete.

Here's a good one, even if the child is a Japanese citizen with a Japanese mother... there are cases where it can't get a Japanese passport.

This is another clear example of the ineptitudes caused by the "Koseki" system and ancient Civil laws that don't reflect reality.

Oh yeah, and it is easier to make a special exception than to actually revise the Civil Code itself.
____________________________
Friday, May 25, 2007
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070525b1.html
Passports due for kids caught up in 300-day rule
Kyodo News

Under a ministry ordinance in the Passport Law to be revised June 1, the government will begin issuing passports next month to children who were not registered at birth because they were born within 300 days of their parents' divorce and would have to take the family name of the divorced husband, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

However, despite the directive aimed at easing public criticism of the so-called 300-day provision, the passports cannot be issued under the surname of the mothers or their real fathers.

The Passport Division asked the public for opinions earlier this month about revising an outdated Civil Code provision that stipulates children born within 300 days of a woman's divorce should be considered the offspring of the former husband.

Of the 1,300 or so opinions sent to the ministry, 1,220 backed the use of the surname of the mother or biological father in the children's passports.

But a division official said the ministry has no choice but to use the family names of the former husbands, as stated in the Civil Code, in the absence of clear legal relationships between unregistered children and their biological fathers.

The Justice Ministry has recently told municipalities to start accepting registration applications for some children left unregistered because of the provision.

Lack of a birth certificate bars a baby from being put into the family registry and from being registered as a resident. Such registrations are necessary to obtain official government documents, including passports.

Since Japanese citizens must submit copies of their family register to the government in order to get a passport, unregistered children have been unable to obtain one.

In April, Foreign Minister Taro Aso told officials to make an exception for unregistered children as public pressure mounted for the Civil Code to be revised amid an increase in school excursions abroad.

What you get if you take Japanese nationality (Papers without which you can not live):
Required documents to get passport, get married, get loan, etc., etc.
Koseki (�ː�) - family registry
Jyuminhyo (�Z���[�j- legal statement of current address

others that I don't understand yet
Fuhyo (���[)�@�@
Fuhyo of Koseki (�ːЂ̕��[)