•The Residence Card is automatically collected at the airport exit immigration counter. No advance visit to immigration or the city office is required
•If you leave Japan with a re-entry permit (including a deemed re-entry permit), your residence card stays valid and is not surrendered. If you leave without one, the card becomes invalid at that moment (Immigration Act art. 19-14(iii)) and is surrendered at the port of departure
•If you leave without returning your card (e.g., due to loss), you must return it or report to the immigration office at a later date
•Permanent residents are no exception: leaving without a re-entry permit (including a deemed one) invalidates the residence card. Even for a short trip, always secure a deemed or regular re-entry permit before departing
•If the cardholder dies, a relative or housemate must return the card within 14 days of the death (or of finding the card, if it turns up later)
•If you had your residence card reissued after losing it and later find the old card, you must return the old one within 14 days of finding it
•Failing to return the card by the deadline can result in a fine. You can hand it in at the regional immigration office for your area, or send it by post with the reference form for returning a residence card and a document evidencing the reason (a death certificate or family register extract, for example). Post it to: Odaiba Branch, Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau, 9F Tokyo Port Joint Government Building, 2-7-11 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, marking the envelope with the Japanese for 'return of residence card'
•Even if you left under a re-entry permit (including a deemed one), the card lapses if you do not re-enter within its validity (Immigration Act art. 19-14(iv)), and must be returned within 14 days of that (art. 19-15(1)). Deemed re-entry permission lasts one year from departure, or until your period of stay ends if that comes first