In reversal, Filipino family facing deportation allowed to stay

The Justice Ministry has given a Filipino family targeted for deportation special permission to stay in Japan, the family's lawyer said Friday.

The family in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, was ordered to leave in October 2008 for overstaying their visas.

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba gave them permission to stay on Thursday, enabling the 44-year-old father, 41-year-old mother and three children born in Japan and aged between 6 and 11 to remain in the country.

The government rarely issues special residency permission to families with children of elementary school age or younger because it believes they can easily adjust to life in their mother country.

The family filed suit with the Tokyo District Court last December seeking to have the deportation order nullified.

It is believed the ministry's change of heart is linked to a review of the family's case following recent changes to Immigration Bureau guidelines.

The revisions, made in July, make it easier for a family with children in elementary or junior high school to get special permission to stay.

According to the family's lawyer, the father and mother entered Japan on entertainment visas in the 1990s.