Maiden name option eyed for passports

Jun 02, 2017 | News On Japan

Jun 02, 2017 (the-japan-news.com) - As part of efforts to promote women's active participation in society, the government is considering allowing them to put their maiden names alongside their married names in passports from around fiscal 2019, according to government sources.

The plan will be included in the government's Intensive Policy to Accelerate the Empowerment of Women 2017, which will be decided in early June.

The Foreign Ministry, which is in charge of passport-related issues, plans to begin making the necessary revisions to laws and regulations after studying cases overseas, among other things.

Under the current system, only a limited number of people are allowed to use their maiden names along with their married ones, such as those who use their maiden names for work or other activities overseas. They are required to submit a document to show their achievements under their maiden names.

There are some exceptions to this requirement, such as when a person hopes to renew a passport that already has both names. But as the system involves cumbersome procedures and is not widely known, less than 1 percent of people who had their passports issued in 2016 chose to list their married and maiden names, including people who are married to non-Japanese nationals.

In response to the new policy, the ministry is going to consider changing the principle of writing down "names that are on the family registry" on passports, which is stated in enforcement regulations of the Passport Law, into a system in which anyone can have both their maiden and married names written on their passports without submitting a certificate.

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