Twenty-six foreigners who have overstayed their visas jointly filed petitions Wednesday with immigration authorities to remain in Japan.

The 26, comprising an individual and seven families with 13 children, are the third group of overstayers to apply for special residence permits from the justice minister via the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, after groups petitioning in September and December last year.

There are no set guidelines for granting special permission to stay in Japan and decisions are at the justice minister's discretion.

The latest group comprises two families from Iran and one each from the Philippines, Peru, Myanmar, Colombia and China, plus a Bangladeshi, according to the Asian People's Friendship Society, a support group for undocumented migrant workers in Japan.

The fathers of the families have all lived and worked in Japan for about 10 years. They said they decided to petition for normalized status to enable their children to continue studying in schools here.

The Justice Ministry granted special residence permits to a total of five families, comprising 20 people, from the first two groups of overstayers to apply.

The fathers of those five families have all lived in Japan for about 10 years and their children have progressed through the Japanese education system to junior high school level.

Justice Ministry officials said that "cases in which the children would have trouble studying or living in their home countries" were considered when granting permission to stay.

The first group of petitioners comprised five families with a total of 21 members, while the second comprised five families with a total of 17 members.