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"Long Term Residency" March 19, 2002

RealAudio

And now we'll bring you information on immigration related issues. Today we will be
featuring issues related to Long Term Residence status. According to Mr. Nakano,
even the Gyosei Syoshi and immigration specialists have the difficulty to know the
exact requirement for the Long Term Residence status, as it is not clearly defined
by the law.

Long Term Residence status, or "Teijusha" in Japanese, is difficult to acquire. It is
the status of residence that is granted only for those who are authorized to reside
in Japan with designation of period of stay by the Minister of Justice in
consideration of special circumstances. In other words, what makes the person
have this status depends on the discretion of the Minister of Justice, by its power
of "Jiyu-Sairyo," meaning free authorization of the Justice Minister. So if the
Minister of Justice sees special reasons of the applicant to justify its needs, the
status will be granted.

There are two types of Long Term Residence status in accordance to the
issuance. One is predetermined as defined by the law, and is called the "Kokuji-
Teijusha," that is, the status is granted for defined persons as published in Official
Gazette of the Minister of Justice to allow entry to Japan. The other type is
granted not entry to Japan but upon special reasons incurred during their stay in
Japan. The defined persons who could be granted the "Kokuji-Teijusha" are the
Indo-Chinese refugees, second or third generation Japanese or Nikkei Nisei, Sansei,
minor and unwed children who are dependents of a holder of spouse or child of
Japanese national status, spouse or child of permanent resident status, Long Term
Residence status, whose period of stay is longer than one year. Also included in
the defined person who could be granted the "Kokuji-Teijusha" are the minor and
unwed children under the support of the spouse of children of a holder of special
permanent residence status, and children of less than six years of age who are
adapted by a Japanese permanent resident, a special permanent resident, or a
Long Term resident, whose period of stay is longer than one year.

To make things clearer, let's go through it one by one. Refugees from Indo-China
areas are basically granted the Kokuji Long Term Residence. However, there is
difficulty to identify whether one is a refugee or not. So there is an uncertainty on
the statistic of refugees in Japan, and the information is kept confidential to the
public.

Now, about the second or third generation Japanese or Nikkei Nisei, Sansei, several
could be classified on this category. There are those who are from South America
like Brazil, Peru or Bolivia, and those who are children of Japanese national left
behind in China in World War II, or the so-called "Zanryu-Koji." There are many
Nikkei too in Philippines since World War II.

Let's consider a case regarding the Nikkei. Suppose that, a Japanese national, let's
call him "A," immigrates to Brazil. If A has a child in Brazil, named "B," the status
of residence of B when he or she enters Japan will be the spouse or child of
Japanese national, or "Nihonjin no Haigusha tou" in Japanese. Then C, a child of
B, or A's grandchild, is going to have the Kokuji Long Term Residence status,
because C is considered a third generation descent of a Japanese. In the case of
A renounces his Japanese nationality and acquires Brazilian nationality, A's status
of residence when he comes to Japan will be the spouse or child of Japanese
national, or "Nihonjin no Haigusha tou," as he is a child of a Japanese national. In
such a case, not only C or A's grandchild will be given the status of Kokuji-Teijusha,
but also B, who is the child of A and is a Japanese decent of second generation.

Now, the spouse of a holder of the resident status, or a spouse or child of
Japanese national or Long Term residence, will be given the Long Term Residence
status. Accordingly, their children will be granted also the Long Term Residence
status, and so do their children of spouse.

How about the children under six years of age, who are adapted by a Japanese
permanent resident, Long Term resident, with more than one year period of stay,
or special permanent resident? Basically, they are granted the Kokuji-Teijusha.

Let's now consider another case. Given that, a foreign national was working in
Japan under the entertainment status and had a baby out of wedlock with a
Japanese national. The father of the Japanese national acknowledges the child,
but the child is under the care of his or her mother of foreign national. Although
the child will be granted the resident status of the spouse or child of Japanese
national, the mother won't receive the same status. So the mother should
maintain her working status to stay in Japan or she might be forced to leave
Japan. In such circumstances, some considerations could be extended to the
concern by the circular made on July 30, 1996.

The circular states that the Long Term Resident status will be granted to a parent
of foreign national who wishes to reside in Japan to take care and support his or
her own minor or unwed child between a Japanese. The status will be granted
provided that the child will be proven to be a real child of the applicant, that his or
her child is still minor and unwed, that the Japanese parent acknowledges the child
to be his own child, that the parent of foreign national has a capacity being a
parent over the child, and that the parent of foreign national will take a custody of
the child.

It's so much about the Kokuji Long Term residence status, how about the other
type of Long Term resident status? As I mentioned earlier, the other type is the
Long Term residency awarded to a foreign national on discretion of the Minister of
Justice.

That's all about issues regarding Long Term residence status. By the way, there
are a number of groups that are giving free consultations for foreign nationals on
immigration related issues. The Osaka prefectural administrators' group provides
free consultations at the Osaka prefectural Gyosei Syosi Kaikan in English, Spanish,
Chinese and Hangul, every second Wednesday of the month, from one to four o'
clock in the afternoon. You can call the Osaka prefectural administrators' group at
0669437501, 0669437501 for details. The Zaidan Hojin Toyonaka Kokusai Koryu
Kyokai of the Toyonaka International Center in cooperation with the Gyosei Syoshi
Nyukan Tetsuzuki Kenkyu Kai also gives free consultation every Friday from one to
four o'clock in the afternoon. Call the Toyonaka International Center at
0668434343, 0668434343 in advance, especially if you would need the service of a
translator. On the first three consecutive days at the beginning of every month,
one can access the free consultation web site at ajisai.sakura.ne.jp, ajisai.sakura.ne.
jp. This web site provides 24-hours service of free consultation. For further
information, send in your email to gyonyuke@nbox2.inet-osaka.or.jp. Or you can call
0722329364, 0722329364. If you have any problems with immigration issues, don't
hesitate to approach the support groups I just mentioned. Their inquiries about
immigration related issues are also welcome to the Tinig Pinoy program. Send
email pinoy@cocolo.co.jp or you can fax them in at 0666157651, 0666157651.

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