If the father is older than 20 he can't have dual US-Japan citizenship. He has to pick one. Japanese immigration laws are very focused on people of Japanese descent so she should have no trouble moving in with her Japanese grandmother and getting citizenship without losing her US citizenship (until she is 20 and chooses). She should have no trouble getting healthcare, schooling etc. or working for her grandmother in a family business. Legal working age is 15, but family businesses commonly have the children helping out with no particular regulation as long as they are also attending school. It will be compulsory for her to attend school.
Compulsory school education is questionable for foreign resident children. Some school boards, for example in Mie Prefecture, have told Japanese-Brazilian foreign residents that compulsory education doesn't apply to their children, and did not provide them with education. (Many students left school after junior high anyway, because of problems with language, bullying, etc.).
If the father has Japanese citizenship, his daughter should also qualify, though there have certainly been cases where the government made it hard for children of a Japanese citizen and someone staying illegally in Japan, though I don't know how much of that is racism as well, as both cases I've read about involved a Filipina mother. If neither parent does, her application will of course be much harder.
It will have no effect on her U.S. Citizenship, unless Japan forces her to renounce at some point. Renouncing one's citizenship is a whole major procedure, so it's impossible to do accidentally or without knowing what you're doing.
If it's before 2001 this might be possible, but after 2001 there is a great deal more cooperation between governments - he won't be able to get on a plane with one passport and off with another one, and if he's a US citizen he would be making it extremely difficult for himself to be entering the US on any other passport.
I happen to be sitting in the same room with someone with extensive experience with US-Japan immigration matters.
"The easiest thing is for the girl to have been born in Japan to a Japanese mother. If she was born in the US, having US citizenship, she has to come in on a special family visa which is a serious pain in the butt to get." Yes, she can help out in the family business, as another respondent said, that's not a problem and indeed is usual, and she would do that besides going to school.
From my own observation, given the implied wealth level of the family, as the father is in the multinational executive class, she would be more likely to end up in a boarding school than at her grandmother's in Japan if she is a US citizen.
So what I think I could do is make it so that she was born in Japan and her family moved to the US when she was little? Maybe her mother was still a Japanese legal citizen but lived in the US on a family visa? I don't know. I have a lot more research to do I guess. Thanks!
1. Her dad could not be a dual citizen. He'd have to choose one or the other. 2. She could live in Japan on a Family Stay visa ( http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/long/visa9.html ). I'm not sure if her father would for visa purposes have to register his residence at the grandmother's house as well (even if he didn't live there full-time -- also, the father would also need a visa if he is a US citizen). It sounds like he's rich and works for a big company: they must employ a visa specialist who can arrange things. Most people I know start out on a 1 year visa, renew annually for 3-5 years, and then are finally issued a 3-year visa. 3. Junior high school students don't work. Most high school students do not work. Students typically don't have part-time jobs until university. Most schools have rules prohibiting students from working. Foreign university students are permitted to work for a very limited number of hours if they file the
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I'm also not so certain that it would be easy for her to obtain Japanese citizenship so easily ( http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2011/12/27/news/many-angles-to-acquiring-japanese-citizenship/ ). There were special visas for Japanese-South American workers in the 90s, but I've never heard of that for Japanese-Americans.
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"The easiest thing is for the girl to have been born in Japan to a Japanese mother. If she was born in the US, having US citizenship, she has to come in on a special family visa which is a serious pain in the butt to get." Yes, she can help out in the family business, as another respondent said, that's not a problem and indeed is usual, and she would do that besides going to school.
From my own observation, given the implied wealth level of the family, as the father is in the multinational executive class, she would be more likely to end up in a boarding school than at her grandmother's in Japan if she is a US citizen.
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2. She could live in Japan on a Family Stay visa ( http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/long/visa9.html ). I'm not sure if her father would for visa purposes have to register his residence at the grandmother's house as well (even if he didn't live there full-time -- also, the father would also need a visa if he is a US citizen). It sounds like he's rich and works for a big company: they must employ a visa specialist who can arrange things. Most people I know start out on a 1 year visa, renew annually for 3-5 years, and then are finally issued a 3-year visa.
3. Junior high school students don't work. Most high school students do not work. Students typically don't have part-time jobs until university. Most schools have rules prohibiting students from working. Foreign university students are permitted to work for a very limited number of hours if they file the ( ... )
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