Overstaying in Japan: Five Things to Check Before You Report Yourself to Immigration

People still living in Japan after their period of stay has expired often ask the same question: “I am thinking of going to the immigration office and reporting myself. Is it safe to just walk in?” Going to a regional immigration services bureau on your own initiative and declaring that you have overstayed, known in Japanese practice as shuttō shinkoku (出頭申告, voluntary self-reporting), is in many cases the choice that works in your favour. But walking up to the counter with no preparation is not advisable. The procedure starts moving on the day you report, and which road it takes afterwards is largely decided by facts that already existed before you went. Below are five things to confirm first, with the governing provisions.

Why do I need to check anything before reporting myself to immigration

Not to decide whether you may go, but to see in advance which procedure you will enter. Overstaying is a ground for deportation under Article 24, item (iv)(b) (24条4号ロ) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (Immigration Control Act), and at the same time a criminal offence under Article 70, paragraph (1), item (v), carrying a kōkinkei (custodial sentence) of up to three years, or a fine of up to 3,000,000 yen, or both. Once you report, the deportation procedure and the criminal procedure begin to move almost simultaneously. Whether you can use a departure order (出国命令, Article 24-3), which does not presuppose detention and lets you leave within a short period, or whether you must instead seek special permission to stay (在留特別許可, Article 50) inside the deportation procedure, is decided almost entirely by your own history and by the documents you already hold.

Have you ever been deported, or left Japan under a departure order

Never having been deported from Japan, and never having left under a departure order issued pursuant to Article 55-85, paragraph (1), is one of the requirements for a departure order (Article 24-3, item (iv)). One such record closes that route, leaving the deportation procedure, which may involve detention.

It also decides when you may next enter Japan. A deported person with no earlier record of deportation or departure order is barred for five years from the date of departure (Article 5, paragraph (1), item (ix)(c)); where such a record exists, ten years (item (ix)(d)). If your memory of an earlier stay is unclear, look for entry and exit stamps in your passport and any papers you received then. It is not unusual for someone to have believed for years that what happened was not a deportation, when the record shows that it was.

Have you ever received a criminal disposition

Your record affects three things at once: whether a departure order is available, the framework under which special permission to stay is assessed, and the length of the bar on landing. Include cases that ended in a fine or with a fully suspended sentence.

Article 24-3, item (iii) requires that, after entering Japan, the person has not been sentenced to a kōkinkei for breaking and entering; counterfeiting of currency, documents, securities or electromagnetic records for payment cards; gambling; homicide; injury; unlawful capture and confinement; kidnapping and abduction; theft and robbery; fraud and extortion; or handling of stolen goods (Penal Code, Part II, Chapters 12, 16 to 19, 23, 26, 27, 31, 33, 36, 37 and 39), or under Articles 1, 1-2 and 1-3 of the Act on Punishment of Physical Violence, the Act on Prevention of Larceny, Articles 15 and 16 of the Act on Prohibition of Possession of Special Picking Tools, Articles 2 and 6, paragraph (1) of the Act on Punishment of Acts Inflicting Death or Injury on Others by Driving a Motor Vehicle, or Article 22 of the Act on Prevention of Disposal of Stolen Specified Metal Articles. Item (ii) further requires that the person fall under none of Article 24, items (iii) to (iii)-5, or item (iv), sub-items ハ through ヨ.

A conviction under narcotics-related legislation is a ground for deportation under Article 24, item (iv)(h) (24条4号チ) even if the sentence was only a fine and even if it was fully suspended, and Article 5, paragraph (1), item (v) sets no time limit on the bar, so it does not expire on its own.

A person sentenced to life imprisonment or to a kōkinkei exceeding one year (excluding a person given a full suspension of execution, and a person given a partial suspension where the unsuspended part is one year or less) falls under Article 24, item (iv)(i) (24条4号リ). The proviso to Article 50, paragraph (1) then adds a heightened requirement for special permission to stay: it may be granted only where there are special circumstances such that refusing permission to stay in Japan would be lacking in humanitarian consideration. Conversely, a case of overstaying alone (Article 24, item (iv)(b)) does not fall under that proviso, which is an important point in your favour. Where a criminal case runs in parallel, reducing the criminal disposition and securing permission to stay must therefore be designed together from the first step.

Can you prove, with documents, why you want to remain in Japan

Article 50, paragraph (5) lists what is taken into account: the reasons for wishing to stay, family relationships, conduct, the circumstances in which the person came to Japan, the length of stay and the legal status held during it, the facts constituting the ground for deportation, and the need for humanitarian consideration, together with domestic and international circumstances, the effect on unlawful residents in Japan, and other factors.

These are examined as facts, not as feelings. A Japanese spouse or children means official records of marriage, birth and acknowledgement of paternity. Continuity of life here means documents on housing, household finances and your children's schooling. Continuing treatment means a statement from the medical institution. If you start gathering only after you report, papers that must come from your home country often arrive too late.

Note also that under Article 50, paragraph (2) an application for special permission to stay is made by a foreign national detained under a written detention order or granted a supervision measure decision; before that stage you can only press for the discretion to be exercised. Under Article 50, paragraph (3), once a written deportation order has been issued, no application can be made. Time is limited.

Have you worked out what you would lose by returning home

This is necessary whether you intend to fight to stay or to accept departure. Because Article 50, paragraph (5) lists the need for humanitarian consideration, concrete disadvantages such as a child losing access to schooling, a person losing necessary medical care, or a family being separated can be framed as arguments rather than wishes. Where such disadvantages are thin, designing a clean route back to Japan with a proper status of residence may serve you better than straining to remain.

For that you need the map of the bars on landing. A person who leaves under a departure order is barred for one year from the date of departure (Article 5, paragraph (1), item (ix)(e)). But a person who expressed the intention to leave only after the violation investigation had begun (Article 24-3, item (i)(b)) and then left under a departure order is barred for five years if he or she later seeks to engage in activities as a temporary visitor (item (ix)(f)). A deported person with no earlier record is barred five years (item (ix)(c)), with such a record ten years (item (ix)(d)). A person deported but who received a decision under Article 52, paragraph (5) and left voluntarily within the deadline is barred one year, except where the purpose is a temporary visit (item (ix)(b)). A person deported on a ground under Article 24, item (iv), sub-items オ through ヨ faces no fixed period at all (Article 5, paragraph (1), item (x)). The same act of leaving Japan can mean anything from one year to an indefinite bar.

Do you know your family members' residence status accurately

The last checkpoint concerns your family. The nationality of your spouse and children, whether they hold a status of residence and which one, their periods of stay, whether births and acknowledgements of paternity are registered, and where the children go to school all feed directly into the family relationships and humanitarian considerations under Article 50, paragraph (5).

Take particular care where another member of the household has also overstayed. Once you report, the situation of everyone living with you becomes visible. If one person acts alone without the family settling who reports and when, the others can be drawn into the procedure unprepared. The reverse is also true: a family presented as one coherent case stands in a much stronger position. Before you report, gather and check passports, residence cards, certificates of residence and school documents for every member of the household.

What difference does it make to come forward before you are caught

These five checks matter precisely because they come before reporting. Article 24-3, item (i) distinguishes between (a) a person who, before a violation investigation under Article 27 has begun, appears at a regional immigration services bureau of his or her own accord intending to leave Japan promptly, and (b) a person who, after the investigation has begun but before receiving the notice under Article 47, paragraph (3), tells an immigration inspector or immigration control officer that he or she intends to leave promptly. That distinction carries straight into the bar on landing. Under (a), leaving under a departure order means one year (Article 5, paragraph (1), item (ix)(e)). Under (b), a later attempt to enter as a temporary visitor means five years (item (ix)(f)). If enforcement action removes the requirements for a departure order altogether, deportation follows, at five years (item (ix)(c)) or ten years (item (ix)(d)).

The Guidelines on Special Permission to Stay (revised March 2024, in force 10 June 2024) treat special permission as an exceptional and discretionary measure for a foreign national who ought to be deported, while expressly listing as a positive factor that “the foreign national appeared at a regional immigration services bureau of his or her own accord in order to report the unlawful residence”. Prolonged unlawful residence, by contrast, is a negative factor. These checks are not a reason to postpone reporting; they are how you prepare intensively within a short window.

About our office

Funado International Law Office (Fuse Building Main Wing 3F, 3-4-10 Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo) concentrates on criminal defence for foreign nationals and on immigration procedures, mainly for clients of Chinese nationality. Daisuke Matsumura, attorney at law (Dai-ichi Tokyo Bar Association), handles every stage personally, from the first consultation or detention visit through to the close of trial, without delegating the work to clerks or junior lawyers. For Chinese, a dedicated interpreter experienced in cases involving foreign nationals is on staff, so you can use an interpreter working for you rather than only the one appointed by the investigating authorities; for other languages, we arrange an interpreter according to the circumstances of the case. Renewal or change of status of residence after the criminal procedure ends is handled together with an affiliated administrative scrivener.

Two examples. A client who had entered 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 filings were initially refused; we negotiated from a constitutional standpoint, secured both, gathered favourable evidence although almost no official documents were available from his country of nationality, analysed past cases in which permission had been granted, and obtained special permission to stay in a single procedure.

In another case, a woman wrongly accused of promoting unlawful employment faced deportation. Against the established practice that a ground for deportation requires neither intent nor negligence, we brought proceedings testing the reach of the principle of individual culpability and litigated through 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 case. Please contact us while you are still deciding whether to report, or while even one of these five points remains unconfirmed.

Closing

Reporting yourself takes courage, and whether that decision delivers its full value depends on what you confirm beforehand: any past deportation or departure order, any criminal disposition, the reasons you wish to stay and the documents proving them, what you would lose by returning home, and your family's residence status. Sort these five out before you go to the counter.

This article is a general explanation. For your own case, please consult a lawyer directly. The past results described above rest on the particular circumstances of each case and do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Author

Daisuke Matsumura, Attorney at Law

Dai-ichi Tokyo Bar Association (registration number 59077, admitted 2019)

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

Concentrates on criminal defence for foreign nationals and immigration procedures, mainly for clients of Chinese nationality.

Past results include an acquittal in a case 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 difficult.

Contact

Funado International Law Office

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

WeChat ID: matsumura1119

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