Overstay Problems in Japan

QUESTION

Dear Atty. Miyoshi,

Hello, Good Day to you Sir. I had read your article from Philippine Digest Magazine and would like to ask your help regarding my problems.

Last year, my husband and I visited Japan for almost two weeks on a tourist visa at that time I was 7 months pregnant. Under these circumstances, someone who is at this stage of pregnancy won’t be allowed to travel, but because my stomach was not that big I was able to pass through this restriction. Truth be told, we planned to travel to Japan in order to find work and plan to stay beyond the tourist visa expiration.

During my stay here in Japan, I went to a nearby hospital in Nagoya wherein a doctor told me that I cannot travel anymore and because of my high blood pressure, my life and that of the baby’s is at risk. The doctor insisted that I have an operation as soon as possible, so even though we didn’t have money or health insurance the hospital agreed to do the operation.

The operation was a success and I was able to deliver my healthy baby. I stayed in the hospital for a couple more days as they monitored me and my medical condition. The problem soon arose when the hospital bill came to us and we didn’t have any money to pay for our hospital bills. We decided to go to the Immigration Bureau to have our visa extended so we can pay for our hospital bills and settle our debt. The Immigration office only gave us 3 months extension, which is not enough time for us to come up with the money for our debt, we asked them to reconsider for another time but they denied our application.

This is when we decided to stay here beyond our visa due date. It is hard to find a decent job with our overstay status and can only do odd jobs or arubaito. We make ends meet by staying at our friend’s house.

The point of my letter is due to a friend’s suggestion about getting a long term visa with the help of lawyer. We have no money to pay for attorney’s fees at the moment that is why we are not sure if we could have this course of action. My question is if it’s possible for us to acquire a long term visa given our situation that we have overstayed here in Japan. I hope you can answer my inquiries and would like to commend you for being a great help to us Filipinos here in Japan.

ANSWER

There are a lot of difference in culture, customs and habits between the Philippines and Japan, but I think that generally there are a few principles that are similar wherever one may be. Let me give you an example which can relate to your situation:

You could always visit your friend’s house and you would always be welcome, specially if you ask for permission. In your case, you asked the owner of the house if you could visit and then give birth at his house, the owner may agree on given the situation. However, don’t you think there would be a problem that after “visiting and giving birth” at that friend’s house you continue to stay at that house without the owner’s consent and permission? Then after all of this you would expect the owner to give you work at that house even though they don’t need your work there and only for the reason that your child was born at that house?

I thinks this would be a great example of your situation, treat Japan as the house in the sample and you would understand why you have not been given an extension of visa.

In addition to this, it is performing various immigration control and residents management under the law called “Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law”.In your case, you can come into and land in this country since you’ve got the “Temporary Stay” visa, which can reside in short term, such as sightseeing and a family visit, from the Japanese Embassy or consulate in the Philippines for the first time. Then, you were issued the Immigration status “Temporary Stay” from the Immigration Inspectors who are working for the Immigration Bureau whereabouts the airport, such as Narita Airport, Kansai airport etc., based on the Immigration law. That is, on the legislation of Japan, those who acquired the visa in Japanese diplomatic missions abroad are not automatically issued the Immigration status from the Immigration Inspector at the airport. It means that the visa is not guarantee to be granted the landing permit.

Therefore, even if those who acquired a visa arrived at the airport in Japan, there are so many people who are refused landing and ordered to return quickly to his/her home country, because he/she does not fulfill the criteria of landing permission. You were able to be granted the Immigration status “Temporary Stay” from the Inspector fortunately – however, you finally chose unlawful stay because of your giving birth and other financial situation.

In this case, the Immigration authority is supposed to carry out one of two disposal roughly in the performing the deportation procedure. One of them is deportation (forced repatriation) and the other one is grant of special permission for residence. As you quite understand, most of person who carried out the deportation procedure are deportation (forced repatriation), the part of these cases are granting the lawful residents in Japan after they appealed to the Minister of Justice.

It seems that you do want to obtain this “Special permission for residence” from the Minister of Justice for that purpose, if so, you must have a “special situation” and fulfill the criteria of it.

What is the “special reason”?

It is so hard to explain you about the interpretation of Japanese Immigration Law because they cannot cover all since they differ for every case. For example, one case is an accomplishing the legal marriage with Japanese, living together in actual condition, and carrying out mutual help, and the other case is giving birth a child among Japanese and taking care of and bringing up this child under your custody after the Japanese father recognized this child.

Actually, you gave birth your child in Japan, however this child by birth is from 2 foreigners (Filipinos) and is unrelated to a Japanese national. So, it is not taken into consideration as a “Special situation” in the law. Moreover, according to your explanation, there is no room to be given the “Special permission for residence” since the “Special situation” does not exist in your case at all. Then, it will be mostly deported to your home country by force without exception.

Please go to the Philippine Embassy in Japan regarding your problem (visa and financial) as they are the ones who help Filipinos here. For example, financial problem, legal aid, passport control domestic violence and so on. That is to say, your government has the obligation and duties to protect and help citizens like you. Your decision, to choose overstay in Japan, is the worst one and you have no way to excuse this matter. I hope you quite understand and choose the best way this time.

---

Office name: Miyoshi International Legal Counsel Office

Telephone/Fax (Japanese/English): 042-339-8013(office), 090-14360-4107(Mobile phone)

E-mail: miyoshi@ipcworld.co.jp or joshua-galasha@mvg.biglobe.ne.jp (Japanese/English) OR p-digest@ipcworld.co.jp(English/Tagalog)

Website: www.phildigest.jp

Nearest station: Keio Nagayama by Keio line or Odakyu Nagayama by Odakyu line in Tama-city, Tokyo

Working hour/day: 09:00-18:00/Monday-Saturday (except holidays)