Japan will from the end of June wind down the issuance of special residence permits to those who are unable to go back home due to COVID-19 border restrictions imposed by their home countries, the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) said Tuesday.

When the COVID-19 situation escalated in 2020, many countries closed their borders, meaning foreign students, foreign technical interns and other non-Japanese planning to return home from Japan could no longer do so.

The temporary measure, which has been in place since the start of the pandemic, grants a six-month “designated activities” residence status to foreign students who have graduated from their schools, allowing them to work up to 28 hours a week. For technical interns who have finished their program, there is no cap on working hours with the permit.

For people who have been in Japan on a 90-day short-term residential permit for business or visiting family members but were not able to go back to their home countries, the government has allowed them to be renewed.

Foreign students who had dropped out of school and were stuck in Japan were not granted the same residence permits until October 2020, meaning they were not able to work until then.

As more foreign residents who had been stuck in Japan are starting to return to their home countries as border restrictions are eased globally, the government has decided to end the measures at the end of June.

As of the end of April, there were 79,600 foreign residents with such permits, including 16,400 former foreign students and 29,100 former technical interns. The figure has fallen from 87,500 at the end of February.

Vietnamese make up the largest group, with about 49,200 people, followed by some 10,700 Chinese and about 3,300 Nepalese.

For those whose permit expires on June 30 or beyond but still wish to stay longer in Japan, the ISA will allow a one-time extension of the residential status as follows:

  • A four-month “designated activities” permit for those who currently have that residence status.

  • A 90-day visa for those who currently have the short-term permit for business or visiting family members.

They will be allowed to continue working until the renewed permit expires, but the residence status will not be extended after that, the ISA said.