You received a “Notice of Revocation of Status of Residence,” and your visa cancellation is finalized. Many foreign nationals despair here, but immediately filing a lawsuit is often unrealistic in terms of time and cost. The true final line of defense in practice lies within the subsequent “Deportation Procedure.”
1. Not Immediate Deportation: The Internal “3-Step Process”
Even if your visa is revoked and you fall into an illegal stay status, you will not be taken to the airport the next day. The deportation procedure legally guarantees the following “3 steps of examination.”
- Step 1 (Violation Examination): Fact-finding by an Immigration Inspector. Here, you are judged to fall under the grounds for deportation.
- Step 2 (Oral Hearing): If you disagree with the Step 1 finding, you request an oral hearing from a “Special Inquiry Officer” within 3 days.
- Step 3 (Filing an Objection): If you disagree with the Step 2 decision, you file an objection with the “Minister of Justice” within another 3 days.
2. The Ultimate Comeback: “Special Permission to Stay”
This third step, “Filing an Objection with the Minister of Justice,” is the most critical battleground. Here, you don’t just dispute the legal violation itself, but you seek humanitarian consideration, arguing: “There may have been a legal violation, but there are special circumstances why I must remain in Japan.”
If this claim is accepted, “Special Permission to Stay” is granted at the exceptional discretion of the Minister of Justice, allowing you to reside in Japan legally once again. It is a legal route for a miraculous comeback when hanging by a thread.
3. Objective Evidence and Logical Construction to Overturn Despair
Special Permission to Stay is not granted by crying and drawing sympathy. It requires highly sophisticated evidentiary activities: selecting high-probability hypotheses derived from physical facts, rebutting Immigration’s counterarguments, and correcting the logical flow.
You must compile objective evidence supporting your rootedness in Japan and the difficulty of returning home—such as “having family members with Japanese nationality,” “facing life-threatening danger if returned,” or “receiving indispensable medical treatment in Japan”—within a very short period (within 3 days for each step). This is a final defense battle that is impossible without meticulous prior strategy and legal knowledge.