SoftBank Partnership Brings Rare Victory for Refugee in Japan

Morrison Foerster lawyers successfully helped a pro bono client secure refugee status in Japan. This outcome was the result of a partnership with SoftBank, which suggested in 2021 that the firm join its in-house lawyers in representing a client of the Japan Association for Refugees (JAR), a non-governmental organization that MoFo's Tokyo office has worked with for more than 15 years.

Tokyo partner Takahiro Nonaka led a team of MoFo and SoftBank lawyers in representing PN (whose name has been changed to protect his identity). PN fled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo after facing persecution by the Congolese government because of his human rights activism and to escape oppression based on his membership in the Tutsi ethnic minority.

The Osaka Regional Immigration Services Bureau originally denied PN refugee status in 2019. The team appealed that decision, and a hearing was held in April 2022. Following the hearing, the team also contested the interview summaries prepared by the Osaka Immigration Bureau and added a follow-up submission reiterating the client's claims in July 2022. Seventeen months later, the Osaka Immigration Bureau finally overturned its 2019 decision, and PN received official approval of his refugee status at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau on December 19, 2023. This result is a rare victory, as Japan grants refugee status to only a tiny portion of applicants.

According to Taka, who was present at the Tokyo Immigration Bureau when PN received his certificate, "He was so overcome with emotion that he could not say a single word, thinking of the long fight that he continued for more than four years."

In addition to Taka, MoFo team members included Tokyo associates Kana Kobayashi, Masumi Oyabu, and Rei Suzuki. The team will continue to work with PN to secure his long-term residence status.

Learn more about MoFo's pro bono efforts.