Residence Card Expired While Your Extension Is Pending? You Are Not Overstaying: The Two-Month Grace Period Under Article 20(6)

You filed an application to extend your period of stay, the examination is still going on, and the expiry date printed on your residence card has already passed. Many people in this position lie awake wondering whether they have become an overstayer and whether they can keep going to work. Here is the answer. If you filed your extension (or change of status) application on or before the last day of your period of stay, and no decision has yet been made on it, you are not staying illegally. Article 20, paragraph (6) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (Immigration Control Act) gives you a period during which you may lawfully remain. In practice it is called the grace period, or tokurei kikan.

If my residence card expires while my extension application is pending, am I an overstayer?

No. Article 20, paragraph (6) provides that a foreign national who applied in time may continue to reside in Japan under the same status of residence even after the period of stay has expired. For applications to extend the period of stay, Article 21, paragraph (4) applies Article 20, paragraph (6) mutatis mutandis, so the treatment is identical. Two conditions must be met:

• the application to extend the period of stay, or to change the status of residence, was filed on or before the last day of your period of stay; and
• no disposition (a grant or a refusal) had been made on that application by that day.

As long as both are satisfied, your presence in Japan is lawful. Conversely, if you applied only after the expiry date had passed, the grace period does not apply at all. That is the single most important dividing line here.

How long does the grace period last?

Article 20, paragraph (6) fixes the end of the grace period as whichever comes first of (1) the day the disposition on your application is made, and (2) the day two months have passed from the expiry date of your previous period of stay. If your period of stay expired on 31 March, the grace period ends no later than 31 May; if a grant or refusal is issued before then, it ends on the day of that decision. The common belief that "as long as I have applied, I can wait indefinitely" is therefore not accurate. There is a ceiling, and it is two months.

Why is it not a crime to remain during the grace period?

The answer is written into the penal provision itself. Article 70, paragraph (1), item (v) punishes "a person who remains in Japan beyond the period of stay (including the period during which the person may reside in Japan under the provisions of Article 20, paragraph (6)) without receiving an extension or change of the period of stay." The grace period is expressly counted as part of the period of stay for the purposes of that offence, so a person inside it does not fall within the definition at all.

What is at stake is worth knowing. The penalty under Article 70, paragraph (1) is kōkinkei (custodial sentence) of up to three years, or a fine of up to 3,000,000 yen, or both. Overstaying is not merely an administrative matter: it is a criminal offence, and it is at the same time a ground for deportation under Article 24, item (iv)(b). That is why it matters to know which side of the line you are on.

Can I keep working or attending school during the grace period?

Article 20, paragraph (6) says you "may continue to reside in Japan under that status of residence." Because the existing status continues, the activities it permits may also continue: work at the same employer under a work-related status, or attendance at your school under the Student status.

Part-time work under a permission to engage in activities other than those permitted by your status is a separate matter, so check the content and limits of that permission. Working beyond what was permitted raises a different issue under Article 70, paragraph (1), item (iv) and Article 24, item (iv)(a). The practical difficulty most people meet is a human resources officer or a municipal clerk saying, "your residence card has expired." Keep the receipt issued when your application was accepted and be ready to show it; having a document to point to makes a considerable difference.

What if I applied only after my period of stay had already expired?

Then there is no grace period. From the day your period of stay expired you fall within Article 70, paragraph (1), item (v) as an overstayer, and at the same time within Article 24, item (iv)(b) as a person subject to deportation. The assumption that filing late still protects you is, regrettably, wrong.

That does not mean nothing can be done. Article 50, paragraph (1) allows the Minister of Justice to grant special permission to stay even to a person subject to deportation, and item (v) of that paragraph covers cases "where the Minister of Justice finds other grounds warranting special permission to stay." Most overstay cases are decided under it. How the deadline came to be missed, the reality of your life in Japan, your family relationships and your conduct are assessed directly as factors listed in Article 50, paragraph (5). What matters is not to leave the situation untouched: the longer you wait, the longer the unlawful residence becomes and the more unfavourable factors accumulate.

If my extension is refused, from what date am I overstaying?

Article 20, paragraph (6) sets the end of the grace period at the day the disposition is made, so a refusal ends it on that day. Remaining after that raises the issues under Article 70, paragraph (1), item (v) and Article 24, item (iv)(b). What can be done after a refusal notice depends on the facts of the case, so please do not decide on your own reading of the notice. Consult a lawyer as soon as you receive it; at that stage there are often still choices available.

What should I do if two months have passed and there is still no decision?

As a matter of statutory text, the period during which you may reside under Article 20, paragraph (6) ends two months after the expiry of your previous period of stay. The absence of a decision does not extend that ceiling. As that date approaches, do not simply keep waiting: contact the regional immigration services bureau where you filed and ask about the status of the examination. Sometimes the cause is no more than a request for additional documents that never reached you, or a notice sent to an old address. If it is difficult to make that enquiry yourself, speak to a lawyer.

Why it matters to come forward before you are detected

If the grace period has ended, or if your application was filed late in the first place, what you do next will change how many years must pass before you can return to Japan. This is written in the statute, not a matter of attitude.

Article 24-3 provides for the departure order system, which, unlike deportation, does not presuppose detention: the supervising immigration inspector orders departure and fixes a deadline within a period not exceeding 15 days (Article 55-85, paragraph (1)). All five requirements must be met: the person came forward voluntarily before a violation investigation began (Article 24-3, item (i)(a)) or stated an intention to leave promptly after it began but before receiving the notice under Article 47, paragraph (3) (item (i)(b)); the person does not fall under Article 24, items (iii) to (iii)-5, (iv)(c) to (iv)(y), (viii) or (ix); the person has not been sentenced to kōkinkei (custodial sentence) after entry for certain listed offences such as breaking into a residence, forgery of documents, theft, fraud or injury; the person has never been deported or left under a departure order before; and prompt departure is reliably expected.

The period during which landing is denied then differs sharply. Coming forward before a violation investigation began and leaving under a departure order means one year from the date of departure (Article 5, paragraph (1), item (ix)(e)). Expressing the intention to leave only after the investigation had begun (Article 24-3, item (i)(b)), and later seeking to come to Japan for temporary visitor activities, means five years (item (ix)(f)). If detection means the departure order requirements cannot be met and deportation follows, it is five years where there is no previous deportation or departure order (item (ix)(c)), and ten years where there is (item (ix)(d)).

The Guidelines on Special Permission to Stay (revised March 2024, in force from 10 June 2024) state expressly that the fact that the foreign national "appeared voluntarily at a regional immigration services bureau in order to report their own unlawful residence" is treated as a positive factor, while prolonged unlawful residence is assessed as a negative one.

About our office

Funado International Law Office (3F Fuse Building Main Wing, 3-4-10 Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo) concentrates on criminal defence for foreign nationals and on immigration procedures, with a client base centred on Chinese nationals. Daisuke Matsumura, attorney at law (Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association), handles every stage personally, from the first visit at the detention facility to the close of trial; work is not passed to clerical staff or junior lawyers. For Chinese, the office has a dedicated in-house interpreter experienced in cases involving foreign nationals, so that clients have an interpreter working for them, separate from the one appointed by the investigating authorities; for other languages, an interpreter is arranged according to the requirements of the case. Renewal or change of status of residence after the criminal process is handled on a one-stop basis with an affiliated administrative scrivener.

Special permission to stay obtained in a single set of proceedings in a case regarded as very difficult. A client who had come to Japan as a tourist had a child with a Japanese woman, lost his status of residence, and was arrested and prosecuted for unlawful residence. The marriage and acknowledgement of paternity were incomplete and the authorities initially refused the filings. Working from a constitutional standpoint, we negotiated with the authorities, completed both, gathered favourable evidence although almost no official documents from the country of nationality existed, and analysed past permission cases, obtaining special permission to stay in one round of proceedings.

Relief for a woman facing deportation over an allegation of promoting illegal work. Our client was wrongly accused of promoting illegal employment and faced having to leave Japan. Against the established practice that grounds for deportation require neither intent nor negligence, we brought litigation asking how far the principle of individual culpability reaches and pursued it to the appellate stage. Special permission to stay was subsequently granted by the immigration authorities.

The first consultation is free of charge, and fees are quoted according to the circumstances of the case. You are welcome to come even if you cannot tell whether your residence card has actually expired. Bring the card, your passport, the receipt issued when your application was accepted, and any documents sent by the immigration authorities.

In closing

If you applied in time, you remain lawfully in Japan while you wait, and there is no need to act rashly. At the same time, the grace period has a two-month ceiling, it ends on the day a refusal is issued, and it does not apply at all to an application filed after the expiry date. The right course of action differs entirely depending on which situation you are in, which is why confirming your position accurately and early matters more than anything else.

This article is a general explanation. Please consult a lawyer directly about your individual case. Past case results reflect the particular circumstances of each matter and are not a guarantee of a similar outcome.

Author

Daisuke Matsumura, Attorney at Law

Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association (Registration No. 59077, admitted 2019)

Funado International Law Office (3F Fuse Building Main Wing, 3-4-10 Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo)

Concentrates on criminal defence for foreign nationals and immigration procedures, with a client base centred on Chinese nationals.

Case results include an acquittal in a prosecution under the Stimulants Control Act (possession for the purpose of profit), a decision not to prosecute in a specialised fraud case, and special permission to stay obtained in a case regarded as very difficult.

Contact

Funado International Law Office

Website: https://matsumura-lawoffice.jp/

WeChat ID: matsumura1119

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