Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
## 4 Enhancement of the Convenience of Foreign Nationals Who Legally Reside in Japan

Based on the new residence control management system to be built which will enable the Ministry of Justice to precisely monitor the residence of foreign nationals, immigration control administration measures to enhance the convenience of foreign nationals who legally reside in Japan should also be considered. Such measures include: (i) measures to extend the maximum period of stay (for a certain status of residence, raise the upper limit of the period of stay, such as from three years in general to five years or so); (ii) review of the reentry permit system (for those who have been sent a registration card along with permission for a landing permit or renewal of the period of stay, apart from these kinds of permission, allow reentry during a certain period without having to be granted permission); (iii) simplification of application procedures for renewing the period of stay, etc. to be filed by a receiving organization where a foreign national is employed.

Along with introduction of the new residence management system, the following may be expected in areas other than immigration control administration: (i) smooth provision of various services in education, medicine, welfare, etc. based on the register system for foreign nationals who legally reside in Japan, (ii) promotion of various policies to support foreign nationals as ordinary citizens including creating local communities where foreign nationals will be able to live comfortably, such as improving Japanese language courses, and provision of information/services in foreign languages; and better education for foreign children by encouraging their attendance at school.

## Section 3 ☐ Study on the Register System for Foreign Nationals Who Legally Reside in Japan

As mentioned in the previous section, the Report titled “The Proposals Concerning the New Residence Management System” by the Discussion Meeting on Immigration Control Policy intends that the new system should help create a society of cohabitation between Japanese and foreign nationals through the new residence management system and improvement of the register system for foreign residents who legally reside in Japan, which is a system to be improved by the municipalities. The Report states that the register system for foreign residents who legally reside in Japan needs to be improved by referring to the Basic Residents’ Register System so that accurate records of foreign residents can be made by the municipalities. It requests the Ministry of Justice to provide information required by the municipalities from among the information it holds under the new residence management, thereby helping them to improve and operate the register system based on accurate information.
With reference to the register system for foreign residents who legally reside in Japan, the Three-Year Plan for Promotion of Regulatory Reform, which was decided by the Cabinet on June 22, 2007, stated, "The current alien registration system will be reorganized into a register system for foreign residents who legally reside in Japan, by referring to the Basic Residents' Register System. This reorganization of the system is intended to prepare the legal ground for municipalities to hold accurate information on foreign nationals as their residents and to ascertain their residential status while alleviating the financial burden on the State and local public bodies."

Furthermore, the Three-Year Plan for Promotion of Regulatory Reform (Revised), which was decided by the Cabinet on March 25, 2008, stated that the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications and the Ministry of Justice should prepare and make public the basic scheme for such register system in coordination with the Cabinet Secretariat (measures for 2007) and that both Ministries should introduce such a register system properly and steadily, giving full consideration to the opinions of local public bodies (the related bill will be submitted in the Ordinary Session of the Diet in 2009 at the latest).

Recognizing that the register system for foreign residents who legally reside in Japan is closely connected to the new residence management system, the Ministry of Justice prepared “The Basic Scheme of the Register System for Foreign Residents Who Legally Reside in Japan” jointly with the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications in March 2008, and will continue to jointly work on measures for which it has been requested to submit a bill in the Ordinary Session of the Diet in 2009 at the latest. The contents of the scheme are available on the website of the Ministry of Justice. (http://www.moj.go.jp/NYUKAN/nyukan71.pdf)

## Section 4 ◆ Measures to Ensure Accurate Registration

While a certain period is required for enforcing the new residence management system and the register system for foreign residents who legally reside in Japan, it is important to ensure in the meantime that accurate registration is practiced under the current alien registration system. The Immigration Bureau has decided on a series of measures for this purpose.

Specifically, during 2007, (i) posters in various languages were posted at the counters, etc. of municipal offices all over Japan and Regional Immigration Inspectors’ Offices, calling on foreign residents to accurately apply for registration and (ii) additional measures were implemented to ensure prompt notification of departure to the municipalities concerned of foreign nationals whose data is registered in the municipalities in case they leave Japan without having a reentry permit issued.

Further, a Team for Enhancement of Accuracy and Improvement of Operations was set up in
the registration controllers’ office of the Immigration Bureau in April 2008. This team was set up to enhance accuracy and to improve the operations of the Immigration Bureau through various new measures including: (i) quick acceptance of inquiries from municipalities, such as setting up an exclusive e-mail address for inquiries, (ii) tentative provision of departure and landing information based on the granting of a reentry permit and (iii) sending of registration cards which are considered to be out of date to the Ministry of Justice and promoting their management.

The Immigration Bureau intends to enhance accuracy and improve operations based on the opinions of the municipalities expressed at the Meeting of Representative Staff of the Municipalities for Alien Registration Services.
# Chapter 3 Efforts to Halve the Number of Illegal Foreign Residents

## Section 1 ☐ Action Plan for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime

Aiming at restoring Japan to the position of “the safest nation in the world” and taking active, comprehensive measures to recover public safety, the Ministerial Meeting Concerning Measures against Crime formulated the “Action Plan for the Realization of a Society Resistant to Crime” on December 18, 2003.

According to this Action Plan, the government will aim at halving the number of illegal foreign residents, some of whom are potential criminals, in the next five years up until 2008 to ensure public safety. Also with a view to eliminating unreasonable suspicion toward the many foreign nationals who are staying in Japan peacefully and legally, the Immigration Bureau will promote various measures such as “tightening monitoring and controls at the border”, “taking measures against foreign nationals who illegally enter and stay in Japan”, and “reinforcing cooperation with foreign counterparts”. Namely, the Immigration Bureau will actively strive to implement stricter examination of the status of residence on entry, strengthen detection of illegal residents and increase efficiency in the deportation procedures, and will request foreign countries to exercise stricter control over their nationals who have been deported from Japan. Aiming at reinforcement of the immigration control procedures and a significant reduction in the number of illegal foreign residents, the Immigration Bureau will also promote measures to reinforce the immigration control system by increasing the number of immigration control officers and immigration inspectors and by upgrading the facilities for detention, devices and equipment.

## Section 2 ☐ Promoting Comprehensive Efforts to Halve the Number of Illegal Residents

As Japan has a higher income level than its neighboring nations, many foreign nationals have been entering Japan from these neighboring nations, intending to work illegally in Japan. The number of overstayers has been decreasing since 1993, but the number is still some 150,000 as of January 1, 2008, still remaining at a high level. Therefore, the Immigration Bureau aims to halve the number of the abovementioned illegal foreign residents including overstayers and
those residing secretly in Japan after entering with the help of brokers, namely stowaways, in the five-year period from 2004 to 2008. In order to prevent illegal foreign residents from "staying in Japan", the Immigration Bureau has been working closely with the police and other agencies concerned to jointly detect illegal foreign residents, and has been making efforts to promptly deport illegal foreign residents through active negotiations with the countries of origin on deportation and passport issuance. To prevent illegal foreign workers from "coming to Japan", the Immigration Bureau strictly examines foreign nationals applying for a status of residence, and also requests foreign countries to effectively prevent its nationals from leaving for Japan if many of the nationals of that country are working illegally in Japan. To counter those foreign nationals intending to illegally stay in Japan who pass themselves off as tourists, the Immigration Bureau has been tightening landing examinations and reinforcing the examination of forged or altered passports in order to prevent these fake tourists from "landing in Japan". To meet the recent strong social needs for restoring public safety, the bureau has been working with the agencies concerned to address the problem of illegal immigrants in accordance with the three principles: preventing illegal immigrants from "coming to", "landing in" and "staying in" Japan.
# Strengthened Countermeasures at the Border and IT-Based Control

# Section 1 ◆ Promotion of Counter-Terrorist Measures

## 1 Implementing Strict Immigration Control

To protect the lives and safety of the general public, it is extremely important to deny entry at the border when terrorists pretend to be tourists or businesspersons etc. in an attempt to enter Japan. Since the terrorist attacks upon the United States in 2001, the Immigration Bureau has been continuously implementing strict immigration examinations in order to exclude such terrorists at the border.

In concrete terms, to prevent terrorists from entering Japan and conducting terrorist activities, the Immigration Bureau has been working closely with other related agencies in collecting information on the modes of behavior of international terrorists and other related information. Based on such information, the Immigration Bureau prepares a list of suspect persons and screens terrorists by checking them against this list.

As terrorists are likely to use forged or altered passports, the Immigration Bureau has established document examination offices and installed new high-performance forged or altered document examination devices at major airports in order to improve document examination techniques for detection of forged or altered documents (see Section 2 below).

In addition, foreign nationals wishing to enter Japan from November 2007 are required to submit personal identification information (fingerprints and a facial image). Further strict immigration examination is being implemented in order to prevent terrorists from entering Japan (see Chapter 1 above).

A large number of illegal immigrants leave their country of origin with genuine passports, then obtain forged or altered passports from brokers in the transit area of Narita Airport, etc., and attempt to illegally enter the United States or other countries using such forged or altered passports. To prevent such behavior, the Immigration Bureau has been reinforcing patrol in the transit areas.

## 2 Introducing New Measures

The Immigration Bureau is making efforts to smoothly accept foreign nationals to Japan while reinforcing border measures by implementing strict immigration examinations and introducing
and carrying out new measures as follows in order to prevent terrorists from entering Japan: introduction of a secondary examination system to carefully examine foreign nationals who intend to enter Japan for questionable purposes, dispatch of liaison officers for the purpose of preventing illegal immigrants who use forged or altered passports, and introduction of a pre-clearance system to prevent foreign nationals who intend to illegally enter Japan through an advance check at the place of departure.

Moreover, the Act for Partial Amendment of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act is in force which includes the introduction of (i) regulations requiring foreign nationals (excluding special permanent residents) to provide fingerprints and other personal identification information at the landing examination, (ii) regulations regarding the grounds for deportation of foreign terrorists, and (iii) regulations requiring the captain of ships and other vessels entering Japan to report in advance information regarding crewmembers and passengers.

## Section 2 ☐ Reinforcing Measures against Forged or Altered Documents

## Overview of the Use of Forged or Altered Documents

There is an increasing trend of foreign nationals entering Japan using forged or altered passports, and Japan cannot ignore the fact that forged or altered passports and other documents may be used by international organized crime groups as a means of working behind the scenes for the purpose of trafficking in persons or terrorist acts.

Also, in recent years, forged or altered documents used in immigration procedures have become increasingly more elaborate and sophisticated. In some cases foreign nationals have obtained passports under another person's name through legitimate procedures using false documents, or have tried to enter Japan using a genuine passport where the holder had a similar face. Entry examinations using biometrics were introduced in November 20, 2007 and will be effective for the latter case, and the Immigration Bureau is continuously giving training sessions on how to use the latest technology to examine forged or altered documents, and to collect, analyze and use related information.

While most foreign nationals who intend to enter Japan using such forged or altered documents or dishonest means aim to work illegally in Japan, and some of such cases may have been exploited by terrorists or international organized crime groups. From the point of view of ensuring public security, it is urgently required in immigration control to establish a strong and solid system to detect such forgery or alteration of documents at the border and to prevent suspect persons, without fail, from coming into Japan. (Table 40)
Table 40 Changes in the number of cases of detection of forged or altered documents

(Cases)

Number of Detections	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Landing	Passport	1,561	1,011	834	647	539
Others	1,856	1,547	1,622	1,369	824
Total	3,417	2,558	2,456	2,016	1,363
Departure	Passport	142	77	92	70	71
Others	101	53	74	43	25
Total	243	130	166	113	96
Total	Passport	1,703	1,088	926	717	610
Others	1,957	1,600	1,696	1,412	849
Total	3,660	2,688	2,622	2,129	1,459
# Efforts to Smoothly Accept Foreign Nationals

## Section 1 ◆ Measures to Promote Tourism in Japan

## 1 Measures for Smoother but Stricter Immigration Examination

It is necessary for the Immigration Bureau to provide smoother immigration procedures for the great majority of trouble-free foreign visitors who come to Japan, while imposing stricter immigration control procedures to prevent foreign visitors from entering Japan if they intend illegal activities such as illegal labor. Since more and more foreign nationals will visit Japan in the future as a result of Japan’s efforts to promote tourism, the immigration control authorities must satisfy two seemingly contradictory objectives: smoother but stricter immigration control procedures.

In order to realize this by implementing well-balanced landing examination procedures, the Immigration Bureau introduced the secondary examination system and pre-clearance system in FY 2005 (see Chapter 4, Section 1 (2)), and established an examination support team in Chitose Tomakomai Branch Office and Haneda Airport Branch Office in FY 2006 in order to provide examination support to local airports, etc. more efficiently.

## 2 Revision of the Official Gazette on “Designated Activities” Regarding Working Holidays with Denmark

On June 2, 2007, the Japanese government notified the Danish government, in a verbal note, that it will issue working holiday visas to citizens of Denmark who fulfill certain requirements and will grant permission to stay in Japan for a period of a maximum of one year from the date of entry to citizens of Denmark who have this visa, and that such citizens will be allowed to engage in incidental work during their period of stay to earn supplemental money necessary for the trip with this measure taking effect from October 1, 2007.

Following this notification, the government added Denmark to the list of countries covered by the working holiday system stipulated in the official gazette of designated activities. (Revised September 21, 2007; enforced October 1, 2007)
# Section 2 ☐ Normalizing and Reviewing the Training and Technical Internship Programs

Training and the technical internship programs are designed to train human resources who will assist in the economic progress of various countries through the transfer of technology and skills to trainees and technical interns. Those who enter Japan with a status of training and those who apply to change their status to a technical intern are increasing year by year and are also settling in Japan.

However, some accepting organizations that do not understand the objectives of the programs treat the trainees and interns improperly and pay them low wages, and the trainees and interns end up as victims.

The government must therefore review the programs and work on submitting a bill to the ordinary session of the Diet. To normalize operation of the programs under the current system, in 2007 the authorities revised the shishin, (the guidelines) for organizations which accept trainees and interns, specifying items that accepting organizations must observe. The authorities looked into the situation, found a case of unfair conduct, and took measures to suspend the organization involved for three years.

## Formulation of Guidelines on Entry and Residential Control of Trainees and Technical Interns (Revised in 2007)

The Immigration Bureau has made efforts to properly operate training and internship programs, such as formulating guidelines on entry and residential control of trainees and technical interns first drawn up in 1999 (revised in 2007). However, based on the training and technical internship state during the eight years following the initial guidelines, the Ministry reviewed the contents and revised them on December 26, 2007, clarifying matters to be observed by receiving organizations as well as acts that fall under “unfair conduct.”

To strengthen the protection of trainees and interns, the revised guidelines prohibit receiving organizations from conducting inappropriate management, such as requiring trainees and interns to hand over their passports and alien registration cards, prohibiting them from leaving the dormitories, and clarifying acts that fall under “unfair conduct”. Specific examples are given in the guidelines.

## 2 Recognizing “unfair conduct” among receiving organizations

Under the provisions of the ministerial ordinance of the Ministry of Justice, the Immigration Bureau may make a finding of “unfair conduct” with regard to organizations that have acted
inappropriately regarding training and technical internship and suspend such organizations from accepting trainees and technical interns for three years. A record-high of 449 organizations were subject to a finding of “unfair conduct” during 2007, almost double the 229 organizations in 2006.

## 3 Review of the Programs

The objective of training and technical internship is international contribution through technical transfer. However, some organizations have no understanding of this objective and merely treat trainees and interns as low-wage workers. Various parties have made reports and suggestions that the programs themselves should be reviewed.

In the Three-Year Plan for Promotion of Regulatory Reform (decided by the Cabinet Meeting on June 22, 2007) and the Three-Year Plan for Promotion of Regulatory Reform (revised) (decided by the Cabinet Meeting on March 25, 2008) it was proposed and adopted that related bills be submitted to the ordinary session of the Diet in 2009 at the latest concerning the legal protection of trainees now receiving on-the-job training or improvement of the status of residence for technical internships. In accordance with these decisions of the Cabinet Meeting and based on various proposals, a draft amendment of the related law will be prepared in consultation with the authorities.

## Section 3 ☐ Promoting Academic, Cultural and Youth Exchange, and Smooth and Appropriate Acceptance of Foreign Students

## Ensuring More Stringent Examination of Applicants for the Statuses of Residence of “College Student” and “Pre-college Student”

Since 1983, following the 100,000 Foreign Students Plan, the Japanese government has been actively promoting the acceptance of students from abroad as its basic policy.

However, the number of foreign students overstaying in Japan has been increasing in recent years (Chart 19, Table 41), and crimes committed by foreign students have become a serious social problem. Furthermore, illegal workers are entering Japan pretending to be a student, and many foreign students are engaging in activities not permitted by their status of residence. Due to such changes in circumstances concerning foreign students, in November 2003, the Immigration Bureau started to carefully check whether or not applicants for the status of “College Student” or the status of “Pre-college Student” have the intention or ability to study and the capability to pay the expenses required for study, and has been aiming at examining applicants much more stringently.