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Vietnamese man given permission to stay in Japan, despite conviction+
(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)KOBE, Feb. 8_(Kyodo) _ The Justice Ministry has granted a special permit giving a Vietnamese refugee the right to remain in Japan after he lost his resident status for being convicted of theft, a refugee support group said Wednesday.
Nguyen Van Chuyen, 38, who arrived in Japan in 1984 as a Vietnamese refugee, applied for the permit in November last year, according to the Osaka-based Rights of Immigrants Network in Kansai.
The Foreign Ministry made a rare request to the Justice Ministry to grant the permit on humanitarian grounds given that Vietnamese refugees do not hold Vietnamese passports and have nowhere to go if they are deported.
Nguyen was transferred to an immigration facility in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, in January 2004 after he was released from prison.
He was temporarily released in September 2004, and has since lived with his wife and three children in Hyogo Prefecture.
Without the permit, Nguyen would not have been able to return to Japan once he had left the country.
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