法務局 is asking for $1385 version of 国籍証明書 Certificate of Citizenship from America
I'm an American applying for my Japanese citizenship in Niigata. I've provided my passport and birth certificate to 法務局, but they are insisting they need some other kind of 国籍証明書 from the US Embassy. If translated directly, they must be referring to the Certificate of Citizenship that you can apply for with the from N-600 which that costs $1385 and takes up to a year to produce. Apparently this is for people who were born outside of the US who have at least one US citizen parent. That doesn't apply to me since I was born in the US to two US citizen parents.
I called 法務局 and tried explaining that I really don't want to spend $1385 and that a birth certificate and passport are proof of US citizenship, but they are being insistent. Has anyone else been asked to provide this $1385 document? If so, did you really have to provide it, or did they finally say that just a passport and birth certificate were sufficient?
This is officially the first of probably many "are you serious" bureaucracy moments so far in the application process!
EDIT: Thanks to the responses of many commenters, it is apparent that they are looking for a document with passport information that is notarized by the US Embassy. https://jp.usembassy.gov/services/notarials/
Many thanks to everyone for the helpful info!
Yes, its true that during the phone call, there was miscommunication, as I am only at an N2 level of Japanese. The US Embassy's website lists 国籍証明書 as the $1385 Certificate of Citizenship document, which is why I thought that's what they were asking for. The staff at the Legal Affairs Bureau and I were both unaware of the notarized passport information process, and at one point, the person on the phone said yes, the expensive certificate must be what is required since it seemed like there was no alternative. But toward the end of the call, we agreed that I should contact the US Embassy to make sure there wasn't some other kind of document. I must came across as a frustrated oaf, so I'll be apologizing at the next meeting. And I should have more thoroughly checked the embassy's website beforehand.
Also, I can see how what I wrote could be interpreted by some as an assertion that at a national level, the Legal Affairs Bureau was definitely requiring this now. Admittedly in a flustered state, I could have been clearer with my original post. What I meant was that it seemed like the office in Niigata was requiring it from me. Since it seemed wrong and I couldn't find any other info, I reached out to reddit while waiting for the response from the embassy since they can be slow.