Foreign Students Plan", to the Minister of Justice in January 2009.

• Based on the report, the Immigration Bureau made it possible for foreign students graduating from a college, etc., to engage in job-finding activity for one year at the longest, and took measures to integrate the status of residence of “College Student” and “Pre-college Student” together with other measures by amending the Immigration Control Act.

## ○ Promoting comprehensive efforts to halve the number of illegal residents

In an attempt to decrease illegal residents to half in five years by the year 2008 and in line with the “Action Plan for the Realization of a Crime-Resistant Society” decided in December 2003, the Immigration Bureau actively tackled the problem of illegal residents by coordinating closely with concerned agencies, under the three principles of “not permitting foreigners intending to stay illegally to come to Japan”, “not permitting them to enter Japan” and “not permitting them to stay in Japan”. This was done by means of strict pre-entry examination relating to the application for issuance of the Certificate of Eligibility, strict landing examination, better identification of fraudulent/altered documents, effective detection and so on. As a result, illegal residents decreased by 106,346 persons (48.5% decrease) in five years.

## ○ Action Plan for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime

In December 2008, the “Action Plan for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime 2008” was formulated at the Council of Ministers for Measures against Crime, as it is necessary to take continuous and more fundamental measures against crime to revive “the world’s safest country, Japan” in the true meaning of the words.

Under the said action plan, response to globalization and countermeasures to the threat of terrorism are listed with other items as crucial tasks required to deal with the crime situation, and the Immigration Bureau is required to make efforts from the position of being responsible for immigration control administration.

## ☐ Daily life Support for Foreign Nationals through the Establishment of Comprehensive Consultation Counters

Under the “Action Plan for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime 2008”, it was decided to provide foreigners with daily life support by establishing comprehensive consultation counters to maintain a social infrastructure that enables multicultural coexistence. Furthermore, in cooperation with local authorities etc. in the region where many foreign settlers live, the Immigration Bureau decided to establish a “One-stop General Information Center for Foreign Nationals”, which offers one-stop services, including administrative procedures for entry, immigration, etc., counseling on daily life, and provision of information. It was established in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture on April 1, 2009, and is planned to be established in Tokyo and Saitama Prefectures during the year.

## ☐ Addressing the Global Community

• The Immigration Bureau held the Seminar on Immigration Control in December 2008 by inviting executive officers, etc., of immigration control administration authorities of Southeast Asian countries (regions), and exchanged views on “introduction of biometrics into entry and departure and residence management for immigration control”, “difficulties and countermeasures regarding repatriation/deportation”, and “cooperative relationship with related foreign authorities”.

• The Immigration Bureau held the Seminar on Document Examination in February 2009 by inviting experts in the examination of forged or altered documents from Southeast Asian countries (regions), introduced techniques for examining forged or altered documents that Japan has accumulated, and promotes effective technology transfer and information exchange in cooperation with other countries such as the U.S. and Canada.

• The Immigration Bureau actively participated in negotiations for concluding EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) with various countries.

## ☐ Introduction of Resettlement to a Third Country

The Government reached a Cabinet understanding on the introduction of resettlement to a third country (“Concerning the Implementation of Pilot Cases relating to the Acceptance of Refugees by Resettlement to a Third Country” on December 16, 2008) to cope with various problems relating to refugees that were prevalent in the Asian region.

From now on, the Immigration Bureau will proceed to accept refugees by resettlement to a third country and offer support for resettlement as pilot cases as from FY 2010 with the cooperation of concerned administrative agencies in accordance with the content of the said Cabinet understanding and “Detailed Measures for Implementing Pilot Cases relating to the Acceptance of Refugees by Resettlement to a Third Country” (Decision by the Liaison and Coordination Conference for Countermeasures for Refugees on December 19, 2008).

## ○ Improvement of Administrative Services

• The Immigration Bureau will make efforts to alleviate congestion at the time of immigration examination by taking measures such as flexible allocation of immigration inspectors. Also, the Immigration Bureau will make efforts to accelerate procedures, and improve administrative services by taking measures such as establishment of priority lanes for elderly persons, persons with disability, pregnant women or other needy persons.

• The Immigration Bureau is tackling the “Comfortable Administrative Services Campaign” for the purpose of realizing a friendly and caring administration. Regional immigration bureaus will also make continuous efforts to improve the attitude of staff toward administrative services, and improve their reception manner by holding seminars to cultivate a humanitarian approach, and upgrading the environment of the reception counter or using ingenuity in providing various kinds of guide services friendly to users.