nippon
So You're Thinking of Overstaying Your Visa

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CHAPTERS

[ Introduction to Visas & Immigration(s) | "Horror" Stories | Gin's Story | Fact or Fiction? ]

Gin's Story (the exile; the return and 1st denial; 2nd denial and lawyer; conclusion?)

       I went to renew my visa on September 14th, 2005, at the main Immigration Office in Shinagawa, Tokyo. If you ever need to go there yourself, just get off at Shinagawa Station, walk to the Minato/East Exit, and signs for Immigration will be posted all over the place.

Now, my visa expired July 29th, 2005. I have excuses/reasons why I let it get expired, why I forgot to renew it...and I will write them if only to help myself appear less stupid. My computer had been stolen a few days prior and I was involved with police trying to find it, my family and friends were also in Japan at that time and I was semi responsible for them, plus the fact that one year prior, visa overstay was remedied with a letter of apology and my school had failed to make renewing this thing seem important (eventually, these things will be played out in their own comics ;D)

Is this stuff any excuse? No, I was a complete stupid moronic dumbass to not take care of myself and my own precious visa. I failed myself and I ruined my own plans for the immediate future all by myself. If I had seen an article such as this one I am writing now, or been given correct information about what happens about an expired visa (I had been told "They might yell at you, but that's about it... no way you will be sent away,"...this is an quote from some staff at Tokyo International University), I would have been on that visa renewal like a kitten on a dangly string. I failed to do the research myself. I failed miserably, and the government was about to make me pay dearly for it, although I had no idea that morning I went to Shinagawa.

First I went to the Foreign Student window, where I was made to wait an hour while they all went to lunch, before the staff there examined my visa, a letter from the school proving I was enrolled and currently studying (classes had begun two weeks prior) at Tokyo International U., and my Alien Registration Card. It was all in perfect order, except for this part.

I honestly had been told, and thus thought, I would merely have to apologize for this "bit of forgetfulness", this "little oopsie". Nope. I was taken up to the *doom doom doom* Sixth Floor, Third Investigation Department. The waiting room was full of people who looked full of despair, but I was still feeling bright. I was going to go in, apologize, and leave with a new visa. The sad part is, one year prior, my way of thinking would have been correct.

The law had changed. Why? To me it seems pretty simple... Japan's economy was down and its crime rate was up. Folks living in Tokyo tend to blame the crime rate on...gaijin. Why? They were told it is so! My intelligent, college educated Japanese friends from TIU answered, when asked "Why has Japan become dangerous?", with "Because of the foreigners... especially the Blacks." This is a real quote, folks. It's not completely wrong. Illegal Chinese/Korean/Asians in Japan are statistically responsible for plenty of crime.. my American buddy who's race happens to be Chinese got stopped all the time by police and questioned, just for walking around Japan. I was never stopped once (at that point). I mentioned my computer being stolen up there. It was stolen by an Australian! And that bit about "Blacks" stems from the lot of mostly Jamaicans who roam Roppongi, Harajuku, and other areas, trying to convince people from the streets into their clothing/apparel/sex/whatever they sell stores. I was accosted a few times... annoying, but not criminal. A store the actual Pyon worked at was robbed by some kind of foreign Asian gang. So yes, gaijin have been a little, or a lot, intimidating. However, although it sounds like scary gaijin are a-plenty in Tokyo, it is NOT ENTIRELY THE FAULT OF GAIJIN THAT THE CRIME RATE IS UP. American students from my school were attacked, one brutally, by gangs of Japanese. One girl riding her bike home was shoved off the road by a car, the driver of which climbed out, took her things, and sped away. A boy was walking home from karaoke when two Japanese leapt out, and one beat his face in while the other held tight. Guess what? Japanese can commit crimes too. So while it is understandable that the government was/is cracking down on foreigners, there is a point where it simply becomes racist. I know where I think that point is, some others feel I am being too harsh, so it is up to you what you think about this. Google Japan's crime and gaigin issues sometime.

Anyway, take this stuff into mind, plus anti-gaijin politicians like Ishihara (mentioned in "Horror" Stories), and it paints a pretty clear, yet scary, picture of why the crackdown on gaijin became very severe, according to research by Pyon, sometime in December of 2003. Although I agree people living in Japan illegally and committing crimes or negatively affecting the lives of Japan should be treated harshly, forgetful tourists, foreign students, teachers and other workers, have been swept up into the same pile as the Chinese mafia. This is where I think Japan screwed up.

Back we go to the waiting room of despair on the Sixth Floor Third Investigation Department. I was taken back into the Investigation Department itself, where I was seated at a desk and spoken to by a Japanese Immigration Officer. To make a long story short, the following happened:

-I was told I was fucked. I was told this very quickly and without delay. I spent roughly two to three hours trying to explain I COULDN'T be fucked, I was studying and the school was sponsoring my visa renewal. No, little crying girl, you are fucked. And you fucked yourself all by yourself. This was made clear as day. I was also told many times "If you'd renewed in time it would have been okay." No, you think? Thank you so much for your brilliant and useful information. I had no idea. Please, remind me again.

-I was given two choices: Exodus/Exile in America for one year, after which I could return to Japan. Or, I could apply for deportation: after waiting six months to two years for a judgment on my situation, I would either be allowed to stay, or kicked out. Kicked out for FIVE TO TEN YEARS. I discovered reasons I might be (MIGHT BE!!) allowed to stay were marriage, many many children, or an injury so terrible I could physically not leave without dying. None of these were options I was going to take, but I pleaded in my momentary insanity for more information at least on the marriage bit. I got laughed at and mocked so loudly the folks next to me stared. Nice, immigration, real nice.

-I was provided with no translator or English speaking assistance and forced to try to understand government level Japanese even some Japanese people do not understand. The officer occasionally tried to write things down in English to make what he was saying easier to understand. This only made it worse, because he would say simple things in broken English, and difficult things in Japanese, and in the end if he'd spoken in only Japanese I would have understood more. I later found out not being given an English Speaking officer was mistreatment. I had no proper explanation of many things, one of the bigger ones being I had no idea how much time I had to decide, but he had seemed to tell me I had three weeks to get out of the country. Thus I left not understanding a lot, and that lack of understanding almost squashed my sorry ass into creamy chocolate fudge.

I left the room one time halfway through, calling Pyon and completely scaring him to hell with my insane crying and babbling, and also calling my university and crying for help, of which I could receive none, but I sure panicked them to hell as well. They had no idea this was possible. In fact, the Immigration Officer told me in a moment of rare clarity, "Do not listen to your university. They don't know Japanese law. Never trust them with anything about Japanese Law. They do not understand it." I thought he was bluffing, but it turned out to be very very true.

I returned to the room for one last shot, trying to use my patheticness to my advantage. Look, Mister Immigration Officer, I'm a foreign student. I'm here to learn Japanese, and I'm finally at that point where I am almost fluent, but not quite, and to leave Japan now would be a fatal blow to my expensive language skills. Look Mister, I just got an apartment with my boyfriend, we are going to live together and finally stop being long-distance. I'm going to be taking entrance examinations in January and enrolling as a full time, full fledged University Student and get on my way to graduation and fluency, here in Japan. I'm enrolled in classes right now. I've never committed a crime. I want to be here to help this country. I want to fully understand Japan, for world peace, Mister. Oh god, I wrote that on one of the papers. "For World Peace", sekai no heiwa no tame ni. I was crying my eyes out. The last thing I had ever wanted to do was go back to America at this moment. Not now when I was finally settling in. I was returned with a stone cold glare... but really, I don't know why I ever expected anything else. At some point during my final attempt at self defense, I noticed the people next to me. The woman was ready-to-burst pregnant, with two small boys and a husband. She looked Filipino to me. She was crying and begging, not unlike myself, and getting back the same stone cold glare that it is an officer's job to perfect. It was then I sort of realized, I really was fucked.

They had me sign things saying I was a horrible person for overstaying my visa, bla bla bla. They took mug shots and fingerprints. I left. I left more upset than I've ever felt in my life. This is a bad mixture of self hatred and confusion and the stinging, stinging smack of what I feel to this day was carefully legalized racism. I spent the next week and a half learning to deal with my new status. My blog turned from stories of a new apartment and how I was thinking of getting a ferret into my angry rants when I found more out about my situation, and even angrier rants when some readers decided to mirror the Officer and bitch me out for complaining when it was my own fault for overstaying the visa in my first place, as if I had no idea, as if I didn't already feel angry enough. I can say one thing about this kind of life altering situation... you find out who your real friends are. Those people I can no longer call friends (or readers for that matter, haha).

I started to get creeping suspicions about how things had gone, however, when even my Japanese friends grew outraged at the racism of their own government and the system in the Immigration Office. My school had sent things off to the Immigration Office, letters pleading once more to let me continue my study, copies of my grades, and my financial information, and asked for a reply. They told me to sit and wait for that reply, go to class, and I listened to them, although the Officer's warning of "do not listen to your school" throbbed in my ears. When Pyon heard this, he jumped up and went researching. An English speaker looking for visa overstay info can find various articles and horror stories, but nothing too helpful. A Japanese speaker can pull up a copy of the exact place in the Japanese Law that states a gaijin's rights. Pyon did just that, printing out, highlighting, and memorizing over thirty to forty pages of Japanese Law during one weekend I had gone to Kansai where Pyon lives to sort out my business that dealt with him specifically. Saturday night he looked up from his studying and announced he was going to return to Tokyo with me and we were going to Immigration together. This meant spending a lot of money he'd been saving for a new Mac, but he went and immediately bought a bus ticket regardless, giving it up. Something was that important to him. I felt cared about, but worried about going back when I had been told not to.

We arrived in Tokyo on Monday morning, after a night on different buses (my bus was sold out when he'd decided to get a ticket). We stopped at the school for copies of my info, and I was told, forcefully, to not go back to Immigration and go to class. Pyon stepped up and explained I had been mistreated, not given proper translations or explanations, and he was going to go with me and get the entire story for himself, Japanese person to Japanese person. I was told again I should wait for that reply, go to class, but I of course went back to Immigration. Pyon continued to memorize the Law Concerning Gaijin on the trains and bus, wanting to be able to shoot off his knowledge at any time. He wrote a list of questions he needed to ask, like Why wasn't she given a translator? It's written she should have been provided translation. Why did you refuse to meet with the college officials when they offered to come to Immigration to discuss Gin's situation? and other things that went into complicated, technical Japanese. He was furious is what I understood - and worried as well, that he would not be allowed in with me. The school had indeed offered to come fight for me, and was told they would not be allowed in, that Immigration only speaks to people it summons directly.

In spite of that, we entered the waiting room, which was full of people despairing, a sign board with Now Being Helped number displayed on it (it didn't change once while I was in there), and basically I was certain we'd be waiting for hours. I gave the secretary my information, she took my passport and rushed off. Within five minutes I was taken back, and Pyon was allowed inside with me, his notes rustling in his knapsack. Amazing. We were then taken into a private office, not the long table full of crying people I had been put at last time. An officer joined us shortly and the interrogation began. We found out this interesting information:

-I was mistreated the first time I visited Immigration and was APOLOGIZED to for it. I should have been given translations, for one thing. I should not have been mocked when I began to cry. Seems my last officer got some trouble for what he did.

-The Officer gave me and Pyon flow charts explaining the Deportation Process, in English and Japanese respectively. I quickly mumbled to Pyon (I let him do 100% of the talking) that we didn't need this, I wasn't going to enter the Deportation Process. Pyon brought this up and we learned it was too late, I was ALREADY in the Deportation Process, thanks to the steps my school had taken. Great SCOTT, Batman! Was this how in the dark I had been kept?! Pyon immediately ordered the Process to be stopped. If I had done as the school had told me and waited for a reply, I would have been thrown out for five years. Once that reply comes, you no longer can choose Exodus for one year. You have been judged and I would have been turned down. My school almost fried my ass and served it up. This is perhaps why Pyon had felt such a sudden, urgent need  to go to Immigration immediately.

-I had one month to decide what I was going to do, and then three weeks to leave the country. This was special treatment, a sort of present it seems, that you get if you TURN YOURSELF IN (which I unknowingly did by trying to renew my visa). Pyon helped this whole process along with his fancy talking and deep understanding of the Law Concerning Gaijin. In fact, the Officer was shocked by his knowledge of the law - apparently nobody has ever come in having studied it so hard, unless they return with a lawyer who's job it is to understand.

In case of any problems, Pyon recorded the entire conversation to tape (which means we have proof the Deportation Process was stopped and that I had one month to get my shit together), and got the Officer's name. We returned to Saitama, to my host family and school, and Pyon spent hours explaining the story I have just written to everyone who had been dealing with these troubles together with me. We set my return date at October 16th, 2005. Making my return to Japan October 16th, 2006.

We bought a ticket. And then we went back to Immigration with it. And they said "You're supposed to confirm the date with us first. Get rid of this non-refundable ticket, your new return date is November 6th, 2005". With travel agent magic, I did change it, and visited Immigration for the final time to sign some more papers and get some more papers that would serve as an Illegal Immigrant Allowance License until my flight (in case I got caught). I was sentance too house/city arrest and if for some reason I had been pulled aside by the police at any point for a routine check, there was a possibility I would be sent through all of this again and kicked out for 10 years.

....thanks, guys, no really, thanks.

With that it was done. I flew back to America to wait out my exile.

       So did I survive my exile, get back to Japan, etc? I did, because I was lucky. I flew back on November 7th, 2006, one year and one day after I had left everything behind in Saitama. I had to fill out Immigration forms, which ask "Have you ever been deported/exiled from the country of Japan", and I had to check yes. Waiting in the line at Immigration after landing was one of the scariest moments in my entire life, but I was certain they'd know what to do with me, surely many people returned from exile at these stations and they had a procedure. The officer got me all ready to go through, then did a small double-take, blinked, and eyed my paperwork.

"/You made a mistake... you wrote that you've been deported before./"

"/I was. One year ago./" I answered in Japanese I had spent the entire year in America polishing with self-study.

"/.........wait a moment please,/" He replied in a PANIC! and I was suddenly ushered into a little white room. Oh, God. A man asked me a bunch of questions in government level Japanese and this time I WAS READY. I replied without the fumbling of my first interogation but nearly fluent ease. I had delibrately prepared for this moment! He wanted to know why I was back in Japan. To take entrance examinations. Did I have proof? No, but call my school, I'm already done the application process. He actually DID go and DID call my school, came back, and LAUGHED!

"/You surprised me..... you came back exactly one year later.... usually they never come back./"

Usually they never come back. There was my explanation for the panic I had been greeted with. They DIDN'T know what to do with me. USUALLY WE NEVER COME BACK.  

That could have been the end of this lovely little trip down Immigration lane, but the truth is, every single time I enter the country of Japan, I will need to check "yes" on that piece of paper they hand out. Hell, I might get a panic every single time, I realized. I can't say anything about it either, because it truely is my own damn fault.

With my shiny, brand new and quite legal visa I earned by passing my examinations, hopefully it will go a little better. ...this is what I thought, anyway.

I applied for my new visa in early December, right after I got word that I had passed my entrance examinations and had been accepted to TIU as a full time University Student! This meant four years in all Japanese college ending in a degree - finally! It would be so easy from this point on, even with the classes being 100% in my second language, I knew this was my chance to attain true fluency once and for all (plus you get 10 years to aquire all the credits needed for graduation, although 4 years is more desirable, of course).

To make a long, boring story short, time passed, my 90-day visa was up. I flew back to America to await my visa. which would SURELY come! Meanwhile all the other foreign students (comprised of mostly Chinese kids and some Korean/Asian etc. kids) got their 4 year visas to study. Hurray for them? April rolled around and I had to go back because school was starting. Thus it begin again - the jumping from 90-day visa to 90-day visa.

Why did it begin again? Basically, sometime in May (halfway through my first semester) I was called to the "office". Sat down. Told "Unfortunately...." and that was all I needed to hear.

DENIED!

Yes, I was SO denied I forgot to laugh! The reasons were listed as "Problems in the past (my visa overstay)" and "Reason to believe applicant has ulterior motive for being in Japan (in other words, they didn't believe I was coming to study, but to traffic drugs, sex, or something else that sucks to do)". The man who'd sat me down to tell me how unfortunate this was had a very "well, better quit school and pack your stuff" attitude. Another lady came running in, told me to dry my tears and that we would go to Immigration and fight fight fight!

Believing this meant something, I went home, cried and snotted over Pyon for hours, and prepared myself for the good battle. A week later, Pyon, the lady (who is the school's "expert" on Immigration) and I trekked it to Shinagawa and again there I sat in Immigration, scared crapless just by the desolate building itself.

We sat in a room across from a grizzled old guy who looked madder than a hippo with a hernia. He introduced himself as a guy who'd followed my case for a while. What the heck was there to follow, anyway? We asked why I'd been denied. He repeated what the paper had said and also that "she's applied over and over and over for a visa.." and we were like, no dude, no I haven't. This is the first time if you don't count the visa I originally had and overstayed. He was like "Oh".

Then he said I was denied because of how suspicious it was I had overstayed at all, why did I overstay again? Drugs....? He actually started leading me into a sentance that would indicate I'd overstayed due to illegal activity. I straightened up and explained I'd overstayed because my family had been in Japan at the time and I was playing guide to them, and it had never been stressed to me how important it was (I decided not to take the opputunity to say AND MY SCHOOL HAD A RESPONSIBILTY TO ME seeing as how a school representive was next to me to defend me), so it was in the back of my mind. I also expressed how sorry I was. He grumbled some stuff about "prove it".

Lady springs into action about how I am a model student who goes to class everyday and it was in nobody's wildest dreams that I'd be denied my visa! The guy grumbled some stuff about how he doesn't know about that, but he does  know Immigration's problem right now was with Asians, not Americans.

And here he LAUNCHED into a tirade about Asians being a huge problem. How "this isn't racism, but man those Koreans and Chinese!" Yes, he really said "this isn't racism, but". Over and over again he said how Americans are good people, and how he admired me and Pyon for sticking it out and not just applying for a marriage visa to keep me in the country, how that's how Americans are, marrying for love, not visas. Not like those Asians, they'll marry anything for a visa, do anything for a visa, what a trouble they are! Americans are good folks!

My tongue was burning to scream at him "Actually, that IS racism" and "If Americans are so good, why was I denied my visa?"

In the end he told us the school's paperwork had been missing too much information (we all heard him say this, even School Lady, but later the school would refuse to take any responsibilty for anything that happened to me ever). He told us to resubmit the paperwork including grades and proof of attendance and stuff to prove I was really here for school, and also proof that my family had been in Japan around the time I should have been renewing my visa.

We left. I felt downhearted, but apparently Pyon and Lady were ecstatic, patting my back, going yay! yay! You're gonna get your visa, he said! I said, no, he did not say that. They say he didn't SAY it, but he SAID it. He can't SAY it outloud, but he implied it over and over! Ah, Reading the Air again. Whatever. It made me feel better.

We did lots of work and got the new application ready within 2 weeks. Off it went! But it took with it my confidence about getting a visa as well.


       This story is getting long winded so let me just say a few months later I got an email - denied. "I am so sorry" was the message. At this point everyone at the school who'd fought for me was done. I was as good as gone from that college, and they were done with me. Their attitude was one of "Sayonara", and so Pyon and I took matters into our own hands.

Like, hiring a laywer famous for getting visas for foreign bums like me!

We consulted over the phone. He laughed when he heard about my school taking no responsibility and basically fucking everything up (as well-meaning as some of them were...). He sounded relieved I was American and not Chinese/Korean. He was shocked Pyon can't speak a lick o' English. "Very rare," said Lawyer.

$4000 raised by my parents, Pyon's parents, and my friend's list on LiveJournal later (I am NOT kidding here), we had the lawyer on OUR side. He got to work and set us tasks to complete, gathering tons of paperwork for the new visa (which would be a special visa, not a Student Visa). The whole process took about a month and the packet of paperwork we ended up with was about an inch and a half thick. Oh, did I mention we went with the "middle level difficulty" package? Asians are automatically forced to pay the extra $1500 or so for the "high level difficulty" package. God Bless America?

At one point I stood up and looked him in the eye. "Look, Lawyer, you are Japanese, I am American. I know how you Japanese work, not telling anybody anything the way it is. Well, you have to tell me things straight. Tell me how it really is - are you going to get me my damn visa?"

He smiled and replied, looking me right back in the eyes, "With me working for you, you cannot fail."

Well! That was straight enough for me.

The paperwork was mostly a lot of proof that I am not a crook, and Pyon is not a bum (yes - turns out one of the reasons I was denied was because I live with a worthless scum of Japanese society, AKA a muscian. Thanks Japan!). We got letters from our families written, bank statements, birth certificates, lots of fun things!

Well, after all this was done I headed to Immigration, Lawyer at my side. When we arrived, a bunch of other foreigners who's asses he'd saved were like "YO! Sup, Lawyer who saved my ass?". As we sat and waited for my stuff to be processed, I asked Lawyer how long I'd have to pack up and move back to American if I was denied (even four grand later, my optimism was long dead). He kept laughing and gave me a 99.9% chance I'd get the thing.

We got called up - they gave me a postcard which Lawyer filled out with my name and address. They took it back and shooed us off. Lawyer said if that postcard came back to me, I got my visa. If it didn't come back, I hadn't gotten it. But wait! Then who will tell me if I don't get it? He just said "I wouldn't worry about that" and zoomed away into Lawyer land. That's when I called my school and they told me I owed them an extra $1500 a semester because only people with Student Visas have come to Japan from far away and are struggling in a new country, and everyone else must pay up. I was no longer a foreign student according to TIFuckin'U - thanks, assholes!

A month and a half of biting my nails to sleep later, the postcard was there. And we went to Immigration. And I got a new visa pasted into my passport.

Gotta love lawyers, really.

       The point of writing this all out is simple.
DO NOT OVERSTAY YOUR VISA.

I am not an especially stupid person, and neither was anybody else I've met or read about who overstayed - anyone can do it, it only takes one day of foregetfullness, unexpected plans, delayed trains, you name it. Go to immigration a month or two months early. Get it done.

Once you have overstayed you will have to go through every nasty thing I wrote about here, no exceptions, nothing.

SO JUST DON'T DO IT. And if for some reason you did do it? Take a CLOSE LOOK at what I wrote and DO NOT BE FOOLED by the tricks. You deserve a translator, you deserve fair treatement, and you deserve clear explanations and choices. They will tell you you are criminal, YOU ARE NOT A CRIMINAL.
 

You are just someone who did something really, really dumb.