①A foreign national residing in Japan may, without changing their existing status of residence, have their period of stay extended.

②A foreign national who seeks to have their period of stay extended pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph must file an application to the Minister of Justice for an extension of that period in accordance with the procedures provided for by Ministry of Justice Order.

③If the application set forth in the preceding paragraph has been filed, the Minister of Justice may grant permission only if the Minister finds that there are reasonable grounds to grant the extension of the period of stay based on the documents submitted by the foreign national.

④The provisions of Article 20, paragraph (4) and paragraph (5) apply mutatis mutandis to the permission granted pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, and the provisions of the same Article, paragraph (6) apply mutatis mutandis to an application filed pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2), respectively. In these cases, "new status of residence and period of stay" in items (ii) and (iii) is deemed to be replaced with "status of residence and new period of stay".