12-year-old Filipina, other so-called ‘visa overstayers’ tell of life in legal limbo in Japan

Whenever 12-year-old Jezreel Ann Balbuena comes down with a cold, her parents rush to a nearby pharmacy to get hold of nonprescription drugs and take turns tending to her. Going to see a doctor is not an option because the family has no health insurance.

Daily necessities, such as rice, clothes and stationery items, are hard to come by, too, with Jezreel Ann unable to wear anything other than her mother’s hand-me-down clothes.