We held negotiations with the Ministry of Justice.

On Wednesday, December 15, 2010, APFS held negotiations with the Ministry of Justice. Three representatives from APFS, including Representative Director Kato, and three representatives from the Ministry of Justice, including Chief of the Trial Division Kuniaki Ishioka, attended the meeting. These negotiations were made possible with the cooperation of the office of House of Representatives member Ryoichi Hattori.

APFS revised the "Guidelines for Special Permission to Stay" in July 2009.
We requested the following three points, emphasizing the need for appropriate and flexible implementation:

(1) Please grant residency to undocumented immigrant families with children of elementary school age or older.
(2) Please grant residency to the entire family (do not separate parents and children).
(3) Please grant special permission to stay to family members of foreigners who entered the country illegally.

Regarding (2) above,
"The Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice will not force foreigners to separate their children from their parents."
We received the response, "The decision to approve or deny it will ultimately be made by the entire family."
However, there are also cases where parents and children are forced to be separated.
Based on these negotiations, APFS will now seek to secure residency for the entire family.

Furthermore, there were issues with how the Tokyo Immigration Bureau staff treated foreigners.
APFS stated that they would obtain responses from the Ministry of Justice regarding the issues raised.

APFS will continue to hold regular negotiation meetings.
We will advocate for the proper and flexible application of special permission to stay in Japan.