How to obtain the “Special Permission for Residence”?
QUESTION:
I have been granting the permission of a permanent resident. However, this permission from the Minister of Justice was issued to me based on the false documents and reports, which my husband and I created or made up. That is, if I summarize it, I separated from my Filipino husband, who I got and gave birth to one child with him, because of the disagreement of our character 16 years ago. Then, I visited Japan for my Filipino friend in this country with a sightseeing visa and was engaged with Japanese people ten years ago while carrying out illegal employment. I was finally deported back to my native country since I surrendered to the Immigration and notified my overstay. My fingerprints were taken at that time.
Although I could not re-enter into Japan from the first in accordance with the Japanese Immigration Law, I decided to re-enter into Japan using an assumed name because I wanted to precede my marriage life with my Japanese husband. Then, after we requested the Philippines broker in Manila to acquire the marriage certificate, passport, and the Japanese visa of the assumed name, I came into Japan.
Though my passport is a forged one, I went out and re-entered Japan without problem until November 20, 2017, when the Fingerprint Identification System was introduced into the examination at the airport. However, I could not leave from Japan henceforth since I am so scared that my illegal entry by a false passport will be exposed by this system. The term of validity of my passport has already passed, however I could not renew my passport since the presentation of the Residence Card issued from the Japanese Immigration is an indispensable condition according to the homepage of the Philippines embassy in Tokyo.
On the other hand, I received a notice from the Immigration Bureau the other day. According to this notice, it was indicated that “It must have submitted your effective passport at that time when you applied to renew your permanent resident status.” So, I am just worrying about the state of “No way of getting out of its present fix”.
Could you comment or answer how I should correspond it from now on?
Ms. Anonymous
Answer:
Your case is surely a complicated issue, which includes many legal problems. Then, let me explain the solutions in order how you should correspond and carry them out from now on.
1.Marriage annulment.
What you should accomplish first is taking the measure of marriage annulment. As you know quite very well about the Philippines Law (= Philippines family law), there exists a system of “Marriage Annulment”, but not the “Divorce”.
Under this situation, you must first annul your marriage record with your ex-Filipino husband in order to form marriage with a Japanese husband. According to the notification announced from NSO, those who would like to annul one’s marriage must plead his/her petition to the Regional Trial Court (abbreviation: “RTC”) in order to annul his/her marriage and obtain the decision of it from RTC. Surely, this procedure is always required to be performed at RTC by a Filipino lawyer in the Philippines, but not Japan. As far as I know, it is usually required about six months – one year and six months by the decision from filing the petition.
Here, the most important thing that your cautions are required is not grasping a forged document after you are deceived by the honeyed words of the dishonest trader who is performing recommendation business in the neighborhood of the Philippines embassy in Tokyo, or a Filipino shyster in the Philippines. In fact, it will be cleared whether it is the genuine one or not since the Japanese Immigration Bureau is always making sure to PSA whether it is forgery or not via the Japanese embassy in the Philippines. If RTC makes a decision, the judgment concerning this determination is supposed to be notified to PSA via LCR, and the marriage record currently kept in LCR and PSA is also supposed to be corrected by each.
Then, when you would request your record of marriage to PSA, you are supposed to be delivered the document entitled “Advisory on marriages” in which you can find the fact of marriage annulment with the former husband there, and it proves that you are made an “unmarried person” by this notice.
2. The required documents for surrender and reporting your illegal entry to the Immigration Bureau
Your case is “Illegal Entry” specified to Article-24, paragraph 1 of the Immigration Law without any doubt. On the present Immigration Law, there are the 46 items of the deportation reason, which carries out the deportation from Japan, stipulated in the law so far, and the “Illegal Entry” has been positioned on the top of this article since the Immigration Law was legislated. It means that the “Illegal Entry” is the most vicious case in the deportation.
Therefore, under this reason, those who come under the “Illegal Entry” are, “as a rule”, supposed to be deported to his/her home country by force. However, even if he/she come under the case of “Illegal Entry”, there also exist those who can be granted the resident permission without carrying out deportation. Now, what and how should you do in order to reside in Japan lawfully with your present Japanese husband without being deported by force? The only way is that you would be granted the “Special Permission for Residence” from the Minister of Justice after you surrender and declare your situation/background. Yes, you surely have to prove yourself that you are the person who comes under such requirements and conditions based on the Law, of course. Then, let me explain the important thing about how you should do it in detail.
1) Creation and making up the documents
It is absolutely necessary creating and making up the documents which you do want to substantiate and prove before you would surrender to the Immigration. There are so many cases, which any documents are not prepared before the surrender either, but I never recommended to my client to do so. Because all deportation cases are always progressing at the pace of an officer of the Immigration Bureau, and there is a possibility that the advantageous information for you may not be fully taken into consideration. Then, you may ask for a fair and proper decision that should be performed by the officer in charge based on the written documents, which you must put the advantageous information for you beforehand. The officer in charge will create and make up the “Written Statement”, which your situation/background must be filled in, at least 3 times or more after he/she would investigate, examine and hear from you. In that case, an official will quote the contents of your written document if you have already submitted it, which you substantiated and proved beforehand. This becomes advantageous to you, as you know. For your information, these documents consist of “Written Declaration” specified by the Immigration Bureau, “Written Statement”, “Petition” and others. Our office always incorporates “School career”, “Work experience”, “Marriage history”, “Entry/departure history”, “Criminal record”, “Deportation history”, “Family status”, “Special situation that should be considered” and etc. from the time when you were born into these documents.
2) A lawyer’s role
Don’t you regard the lawyer as being almighty? No, he/she does not. The lawyer can do that he/she is able to understand you and your family, and can create and make up the documents, which are for substantiating and proving that you have a sufficient condition to be granted the “Special Permission for Residence”. Moreover, this work is his/her subject. So, it is just “soothing” that he/she follows you to the Immigration Bureau together or encourages you.
That is, according to the Immigration Law, no one has the right to be with you at the Immigration Bureau. Therefore, no one will admit entering the room or sit together with you by the authority while the Immigration Bureau is executing your deportation procedure since persons other than you (Ex. lawyer etc.) are exactly “fifth wheels”. Some people including you may think that the lawyers who stand by outside of a room or follow the Immigration Bureau together with you are secure. However, such action is the purpose to obtain “remuneration” from you and it has no role for you in the deportation procedure. In other words, a good lawyer who is helpful to you must always be as follows. He/she quite understands you and your family deeply, and he/she can create, draw and make up the written documents, which is
possible to persuade and understand the authority for obtaining your “Special Permission for Residence” from legal and technical viewpoints. I often see the childish contents in the written documents made by lawyers, which do not make any sense at all. Therefore, you have to choose and determine after hearing his/her career etc., confirming whether he/she makes a contract, and the contents of the contract when you will commission to a lawyer. Therefore, you should refuse the consignment to a lawyer who does not draw up a contract. Anyway, you yourself have to choose, discern and determine whether it is commissioned or not.
May I repeat it again?
It is not a problem whether a lawyer follows the Immigration Bureau together with you or not.
3. Surrender and declaration to the Immigration Bureau
As you are anxious about it, the officials of the Immigration Bureau can search and detect easily the fact that you entered a country illegally. For example, if the fingerprint identification is carried out at an airport, it will become clear immediately, and when you would be arrested by the police in accidents, such as a violation of traffic regulations, and are handed over to the Immigration Bureau, the official will become clear by fingerprint identification easily.
Besides, the correspondence and measure by the Immigration Bureau naturally differs from the case where the fact which becomes clear your illegal entry after being caught, and the case where the fact which becomes clear by you surrender. If possible, you had better independently surrender to the Immigration Bureau by yourself. Especially, the point I want you to care about is that the deportation procedure is an administration procedure, but not a trial. Therefore, you who entered a country illegally have to prove and explain by yourself, and a lawyer is impossible to be you and cannot enact it instead of you.
For your information, the officials of the Immigration Bureau will investigate, examine, and hear all things focusing on the investigation of the fact that you entered a country illegally. In the investigation / examination process, the official sometimes requests you to carry out the “Statement for the Correction of Family Register” at the Family Court in order to make legal relations with the present Japanese husband.
That is, it is a legislative action, which corrects the name and birth date indicated under the assumed name on the Japanese husband’s family register. The Family Court can originally receive it, but it may not receive it sometimes by the Family Court since it has very vicious contents like your case. And the Court instructs you that the priority may certainly be given to the investigation and examination by the Immigration Bureau. So, you must follow and correspond to the directions by the Family Court and the Immigration Bureau.
In addition to this, the officials of the Immigration Bureau will report to the Minister of Justice (or Regional Immigration Bureau chief) based on the proofs collected and accumulated by leading through the investigation, examination and hearing. After judgment, the Minister of Justice (or Regional Immigration Bureau chief) will inform the decision in the light of an administration precedent and a judicial precedent in about two weeks after he would have finished the determination whether the “Special Permission for Residence” should be given or not to you.
4. Acquisition of passport, which indicated your real name
When you would be granted the “Special Permission for Residence”, the “Residence Card” is supposed to be delivered from the Minister of Justice (or Immigration Bureau chief). Then, you can apply for passport issuance to the Philippines embassy in Tokyo attaching this Residence Card issued from the Immigration and obtain your passport with your real name.
5. Correction of family register
Except for those who corrected the family register in the process of deportation procedure, those who unfinished the correction of family register must state the family register correction to the Family Court with the required documents, such as a husband’s family register, your passport, and a resident’s card. If this statement would be accepted, the assumed name described in your husband’s family register will be corrected to the real name.
In this way, you can reside in Japan as a lawful resident’s person.
6. “Business Trust Contract”
The flow chart of the procedure after concluding the “Business Trust Contract” with our office is almost as follows.
1Acquisition of the marriage certificates from PSA
↓
2Petition to a Regional Trial Court in the Philippines
↓ * You must file the petition of marriage annulment to RTC through
a Philippine lawyer in your country.
3Decision of petition at RTC
↓ * If the court decides your petition, the court issues the decision document.
You are supposed to submit this decision issued from the court to LCR.
4Correction of your file at LCR
↓ * Then, LCR corrects your marital status to single, and reports it to NSO.
5Correction of your file at PSA
↓ * PSA also corrects your marital status in the file upon report from LCR.
Then, you would be recognized as a singleness officially.
6Acquisition of “Advisory on Marriages (=singleness)” from NSO
↓
7Marriage report to the municipal office & Embassy in Japan
↓
8Creation of documents for Immigration formalities
↓ * I will create and draw up whole documents required to surrender.
9 Surrender
↓
10Investigation/Inspection/Hearing by the Immigration Bureau
↓ * While I will guide and inform about all processes, I will create/make up
the documents required from the Immigration.
11Special Permission to Stay
Office name: Miyoshi International Legal Counsel Office
Telephone/Fax (Japanese/English): 0463-61-
E-mail: joshua.miyoshi@gmail.com
Website: www.phildigest.jp
Address: Kanagawa-ken, Naka-gun, Oiso-cho, Higashikoiso 716-2
Nearest station: Oiso station by Tokado Line
Working hour/day: 09:00-18:00/Monday-