Extension of the Valid Period on the Residence Card for Permanent Resident (PR)

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I don’t know whether I left Japan with a “Special re-entry permit” or a “Re-entry permit.”
On sending a passport by post
Acting on behalf of the renewal of the validity period of the residence card
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YOKOYAMA

The handling of this case has been terminated as it is now post-Covid. Please note that we do not accept new cases.

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Question:
I am a permanent resident but my resident card has expired. I am currently not in Japan and not able to get back due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Is it possible for an Immigration Lawyer (Gyosei-Shoshi) to represent me and renew the resident card?

Answer:

Normally, permanent residents are required to renew the residence card two months before the expiration date. If they didn’t do so and still remain in Japan, they would be either imprisoned for one year or less or fined 200,000 JPY or less based on the article 71.2 in Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, residence cards expired within the past 3 months can be renewed at the Immigration Bureau, the same as usual without any restrictions at the moment.

If your resident card has expired while you are outside of Japan, you can still renew it as long as you visit the Immigration Bureau immediately after entering Japan. However, resident cards expired sometimes cannot be renewed at the Japanese embassies overseas. If that’s the case for you, Immigration Lawyers (Gyosei-Shoshi) can represent you for the residence card renewal.

As mentioned above, the Valid date on the Residence Card (在留カードの有効期間) and Valid date of Re-Entry Permit (再入国許可の有効期間) are completely different. You cannot re-enter Japan past the Valid date of Re-Entry Permit as that means your visa has expired. But you can still get back into Japan past the Valid date on the Residence Card with no problem.

Thus, we’re afraid we cannot represent you for renewal if your Valid date of Re-Entry has expired already.

<Required Documents>

Valid Passport (Original)
Current Resident Card (Zairyu Card), valid or invalid
Photograph of the applicant (taken within the past 3 months and 3cm x 4cm)
Application for change of status of residence with signed by applicants
Statement of facts (only if the resident card has expired)

I don’t know whether I left Japan with a “Special re-entry permit” or a “Re-entry permit.”

What if you don’t remember whether you left Japan with a “Special re-entry permit” or a “Re-entry permit”?

There are two ways to check.

One is to confirm that does your passport have a “Re-Entry Permit” sticker on it?

-> If you have a sticker, you left Japan with a re-entry permit. If there is no seal, you would have left Japan with a “Special” re-entry permit.

And secondly, is there a stamp in the ED card (Embarkation Disembarkation Card) stapled to the passport that says ‘Departing with Special Re-Entry Permit’?

-> If there is a stamp, you have left Japan with a ‘special’ re-entry permit. Departures with a “Re-entry permit” are not stamped.

These methods can be confirmed.

ED Card

If you see a re-entry permit sticker and it is about to expire, please contact your local Japanese embassy or consulate to apply for an extension of the re-entry permit expiry date.If there are reasonable grounds for not being able to re-enter the country within the period of validity of the re-entry permit, it can only be extended once and for one year only. Please note that the ‘MULTIPLE’ re-entry permit will no longer be granted and will be replaced by a ‘SINGLE’ re-entry permit, but this should not be a hindrance. Please make sure to come to Japan within the extended period and re-obtain a ‘re-entry permit’ before leaving Japan.

We are unable to assist with the process of extending the re-entry permit expiry date as this cannot be done in Japan.

After entering Japan, you can apply for a ‘re-entry permit’ at the Immigration Bureau on your behalf.

On sending a passport by post

You can send your passport by post using EMS (Express Mail Service) or a transport service such as DHL, FedEx, or UPS. However, laws and regulations differ depending on the country/region of destination, so please contact the local post office or shipping company for more information.

We recommend that you also send your passport to our office by EMS, DHL or FedEx, and never by regular mail. For shipments from China, some customers use SF International (顺丰国际) (not handled by our office).

Although we have not had any cases of loss due to transport accidents, the possibility is not zero.

There have also been cases of significant transport delays due to the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown and the war in Ukraine.

Please note that the office is not responsible for any transport problems.

In principle, the returns from our firm will be sent by EMS or DHL. The customer will be separately responsible for transport and shipping costs (to be quoted).

Please note that we cannot ship to countries and regions not accepted by DHL, such as Iran, Cuba, Syria and the Crimea.

If you are concerned, we will send the package to a relative or other address in Japan.

Acting on behalf of the renewal of the validity period of the residence card

YOKOYAMA

The handling of this case has been terminated as it is now post-Covid. Please note that we do not accept new cases.

Our firm is looking forward to representing you for the resident card renewal.

Examples we can represent you for the resident card renewal are below:

You’re currently not in Japan and not able to return for a while
Your resident card has expired.
Although your resident card hasn’t expired yet, you’re planning to leave Japan and wish to renew it beforehand.