Remedies for Japan Residents (Expiration of Re-entry Permit)

Can I return to Japan if my Re-entry permit has expired? (I am NOT PR status)

Note: If you are not in Japan currently, we are unable to apply for the “Re-entry Permit” on behalf of you. Also we cannot extend the “Special (Minashi) Re-entry Permit” for those who have leaved Japan! 

The situation of foreigners who are NOT Permanent residents

Those who are currently outside of Japan as Students, family visa (Dependent) and those with work visas such as Engineer/Specialist in humanities/international services visa or “Highly Skilled Professional” (HSP) visa, if your period of stay expires while the holder of these visas, or “Re-entry Permit”/”Special Re-entry Permit” expires, you must reapply for a Certificate of Eligibility (CoE). However, in principle, you only need to submit Application Form and Reason Letter (specific format) issued by the Japanese sponsor company, school or family members.

Certificate of Eligibility (CoE) must be submitted through a representative of your company school, family member, etc. being in Japan.

Those people can be a proxy, depending on the type of status of residence, please refer to the chart below.

If you do not have any representative in Japan, you can apply for a visa directly at a Japanese embassy or consulate of your country.

The cases of situations where there is no proxy in Japan are;

1. When you have a Business Manager visa, but there are no other employees because the company is owned by you alone;
2. When you have a Spouse or Child of Japanese national/permanent resident visa, but your all family member are not in Japan and have no other relatives living in Japan.

Please note that our Immigration Lawyer cannot accept CoE applications in cases where there is no such proxy under the Immigration Control Law in Japan.

Application for a Certificate of eligibility (CoE) for foreigner whose period of stay expired while outside of Japan

Criteria

1. A foreigner whose application details have not changed from the previous application
2. A foreign national who comes under one of the following:
   • A foreign national whose deadline for entry for his or her re-entry permission is January 1. 2020 or later.
   • A foreign national whose period for entry for his or her re-entry permission is due to expire by the date separately designated by the Agency six months or more after the date on which the entry restrictions relating to preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for the country/region in which the foreign national is staying were lifted. (The re-entry permission period has been extended as above on April 16, 2021.)
   • This applies to foreign nationals who submitted an application by the date separately designated by the Agency six months or more from the date on which the entry restrictions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for the country / region where the applicant is staying were lifted. The “date separately designated by the Agency” is announced on the Agency’s website, etc. approximately three months in advance.

Note 1. This also applies to those foreign nationals who have less than one month until the expiry date of their period of stay and who have no prospect of re-entering Japan by the deadline.

Note 2. This also applies to those under the Special Re-entry Permit System.

Note 3. Those who reside in Japan with the status of residence of “Highly Skilled Professional (ii)” are required to file an application for “Highly Skilled Professional (i)” (a, b, or c) according to their previous activities.

Required Documents

• Application form
• Statement of reasons prepared by the accepting organization, etc.:  Prepare the statement of reasons by referring to the specific format.
• Copy of the previous residence card: Photos are acceptable as long as the information on the card can be read clearly. If you are unable to submit it, please submit a written explanation giving the reason why not (no set format required).

The processing period is 2 weeks. You may be required to submit other materials of proof, where necessary, in cases where there has been a change from the time of the previous permission, in this case, the examination may take more time.

Persons whose re-entry permits have expired

Those whose re-entry permit has expired (including those who have left Japan for more than a year without a re-entry permit), DO NOT enter Japan directly, even though your resident card has not expired!

Airports airline check in counter may let you board the plane because they are not so clear about the Japanese Immigration Law and see that your resident card has not yet expired. However, once you arrive at the airport in Japan, the immigration officer will notice that your re-entry permit (or special re-entry permit) has expired already, which is equivalent to your status of residence (regardless of whether you are a permanent resident) has expired. Therefore, the immigration officer will not let you enter Japan directly,  he/she will ask you why you came back to Japan, what is the necessity to come back to Japan, whether your family member is living in Japan, etc. In the worst case, you will not be allowed to enter Japan and let you fly back to your home country, but at most you will be allowed to enter Japan for a short period of time as “Temporary landing”, and they won’t give you back permanent residence status. It is because from the legal point of view, you do not have a visa and try to enter Japan, give you a short-term entry permit is considered the Japanese state to give you a preferential treatment, let you return directly to the country, you have no right to refute.