Renewal of the Residence Card for Permanent Resident (PR)

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Question: “Process to renew my PR card (Permanent Residence)”
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. Or, in some case, due to the reason that your residence card has expired, you may not be allowed to board a flight to Japan at your country’s airport, even if your PR status is valid. 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.

You may receive this Announcement from Immigration.

<Required Documents>

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

We prefer to deliver these documents to us by choosing DHL, FedEx, etc. Sending passport is available by DHL. Please ask us the delivery method, because of your circumstance.

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.

Administration fee: 55,000 JPY