Obtaining Permanent Residence for Foreign Nationals Who Are Adopted Children

The “10 Years of Residence as a General Rule” Requirement

To obtain Permanent Residence, as a general rule, the applicant must have resided continuously in Japan for 10 years or more (and during this period, must have resided continuously for 5 years or more on a work-related or status-based Status of Residence). However, there are exceptions to this “10 years of residence as a general rule” requirement, and when the foreign national applying for Permanent Residence is the biological child of a Japanese national, this requirement is satisfied by residing for just 1 year or more.

One case in which a foreign national acquires the status of a Japanese national’s child is through adoption, where the Japanese national becomes the adoptive parent. When the foreign national applying for Permanent Residence is the adopted child of a Japanese national, what happens to the “10 years of residence as a general rule”?
This page explains the obtaining of Permanent Residence when the foreign national applying is the adopted child of a Japanese national.

In the Case of Ordinary Adoption

Ordinary adoption refers to the creation of a legal parent-child relationship with the adoptive parents while leaving the relationship with the biological parents intact. In other words, the adopted child remains the biological child of their biological parents, and no biological parent-child relationship is formed between the adopted child and the adoptive parents.

Therefore, even if a foreign national enters into an ordinary adoption with a Japanese national as the adoptive parent, that foreign national does not become the “biological child of a Japanese national,” and so the exception to the “10 years of residence as a general rule” does not apply. As a general rule, residence of 10 years or more is required.

However, as explained below, if the Long-Term Resident Status of Residence can be obtained, a different exception applies, and the period-of-stay requirement can be satisfied with residence of 5 years or more.

How an Ordinary Adopted Child Can Obtain Permanent Residence

For a foreign national who is an ordinary adopted child to obtain Permanent Residence, they normally need to obtain some kind of Status of Residence on their own, such as Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services, in order to reside in Japan.

However, there are Statuses of Residence that may be obtainable specifically because the foreign national is an ordinary adopted child of a Japanese national. By residing in Japan on such a Status of Residence and satisfying the Permanent Residence requirements described below, a Permanent Residence application becomes possible.

The two Statuses of Residence that may be obtainable on the basis of being an ordinary adopted child are as follows.

(1) Long-Term Resident

When a foreign national who is an ordinary adopted child seeks to obtain the Long-Term Resident Status of Residence, the foreign national must be under 6 years of age and must be supported by the adoptive parent. That said, when the foreign national to be adopted is a child brought into the marriage by a foreign national who married a Japanese national, the Long-Term Resident status can be obtained even if the child is 6 years of age or older, provided they are a minor and unmarried.

And in the case of Long-Term Resident, another exception to “10 years of residence as a general rule” applies, and the period-of-stay requirement is satisfied with 5 years of residence.

(2) Dependent

When a foreign national who is an ordinary adopted child seeks to obtain the Dependent Status of Residence, the foreign national may be 6 years of age or older, but must be supported by the adoptive parent.

Various other requirements beyond those of the adopted-child side must also be met in order to obtain the Statuses of Residence in (1) and (2) above, so we recommend consulting a specialist to determine whether the Status of Residence is likely obtainable.

In the Case of Special Adoption

Unlike ordinary adoption, special adoption refers to an adoption in which the parent-child relationship with the biological parents is severed and a biological parent-child relationship is formed with the adoptive parents. In this case, the adopted foreign national becomes the biological child of the adoptive parents.

Therefore, since they are treated as the “biological child of a Japanese national,” the exception to “10 years of residence as a general rule” mentioned above applies, and the period-of-stay requirement can be satisfied with 1 year of residence.

However, unlike ordinary adoption, please note that special adoption has high hurdles for validly establishing the adoption itself. The Status of Residence under which one resides in Japan on the basis of being a specially adopted child is, in principle, “Spouse or Child of Japanese National.”

Requirements for Obtaining Permanent Residence

The general requirements for obtaining Permanent Residence are as follows.

The details of each requirement are explained on a separate page (Regarding the Requirements for Permanent Residence), so please refer to it.

The “having resided continuously in Japan for 10 years or more, as a general rule” portion of the above requirements becomes:

In addition, when the applicant is supported by their parents, matters such as livelihood are assessed based on the supporting parents’ situation.

Summary: Obtaining Permanent Residence for Foreign Nationals Who Are Adopted Children