Special permission issued for over 80% of kids lacking residency to stay in Japan

TOKYO — More than 80% of 252 children under the age of 18 who were born and raised in Japan but do not have resident status due to their parents’ circumstances have been granted special permission to stay in the country at the discretion of the justice minister.

Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi announced the move at a press conference after a Cabinet meeting on Sept. 27. He also revealed that he had granted special permission to some of the families of these children.

In Japan, the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act was revised to address the misuse and abuse of refugee status applications as a means of denying deportation. The revised law, enacted in June 2023, in principle limits the number of refugee status applications for which deportation will be suspended to two.

However, during deliberations on the revised law, concerns were expressed that children who had lived only in Japan and were not at fault would also be subject to deportation. For this reason, then Minister of Justice Ken Saito announced in August 2023 that a one-time relief measure would be implemented.

According to the Immigration Services Agency, 263 children were considered for the relief, and 212, or 84%, of 252 children, excluding 11 who returned home on their own volition, were given special permission. Recognizing that some of the 212 children may not be able to live in Japan on their own, a total of 183 people — 137 parents and 46 siblings — were also permitted to stay.

On the other hand, 40 children, or 16%, were not granted the permission. The main reasons were that they had not reached school age, which meant that they were not fully established in Japan, and that their parents had “unacceptable negative circumstances” such as antisocial offenses, prison sentences exceeding one year without suspension, or multiple convictions, and had no other appropriate guardians to take care of the children.

(Japanese original by Kentaro Mikami, Tokyo City News Department)