Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
## (2) Measures to be introduced under the New System of Residence Management

The new system of residence management is expected to facilitate the following processes for foreign nationals residing in Japan for a medium to long term: (i) issuance of a residence card after obtaining a permit, such as landing permission, permission for extension of period of stay, and permission for changes of status of residence; (ii) report of changes by foreign nationals to the Minister of Justice during the period of their stay; and (iii) provision of information about foreign nationals to the Minister of Justice from organizations, to which they belong such as a school at which they study. This will enable the Minister of Justice to precisely and continuously keep information related to the residence conditions of foreign nationals. Information about the situation of foreign nationals residing in Japan for a medium to long term will be precisely kept under the system and will be reflected in the Basic Residents' Registration for Foreign Nationals in municipalities, which will be newly established in accordance with the Act for Partial Amendment of the Basic Residents' Registration Act. As a result, foreign residents will be able to receive enhanced administrative services.

Along with the introduction of the system to keep precise information necessary for residence management, provisions to enhance convenience, including extension of the maximum period of stay and review of the re-entry permit system, will be established.

The detailed provisions are as shown below. Measures under the new system of residence management shall be implemented from the date designated by the cabinet order within three years from the date of promulgation (specifically, it is expected to be enforced in July 2012).

### A. Measures for Establishing a System that Enables the Minister of Justice to Keep Necessary Information Continuously

(A) The Minister of Justice shall grant a residence card specifying basic matters for identification, status of residence, period of stay, etc., to foreign nationals residing in Japan with the status of residence under the Immigration Control Act as medium to long-term residents (hereinafter referred to as “medium to long-term residents”), except those who fall under any of the following: (i) those whose period of stay for three months or less has been approved; (ii) those whose status of residence as “Temporary Visitor” has been approved; (iii) those whose status of residence as “Diplomat” or “Official” has been approved; or (iv) those who are stipulated as equivalent to the above foreign nationals by the Ordinance of the Ministry of Justice.

(B) Medium to long-term residents shall inform the Minister of Justice of the addresses of the main residence in Japan where they decide to reside after landing through the head of the municipality where they live, within a certain period of time (The place of residence will be included on their residence cards).

(C) Medium to long-term residents shall inform the Minister of Justice of any change in not only the matters contained in their residence cards (change of place of residence will be
informed through the municipal head), but also the organizations to which they belong and their personal status or position, according to their status of residence.

(D) The Minister of Justice shall be allowed to obtain information about medium to long-term residents from the organizations to which they belong.

(E) The Minister of Justice shall be allowed to conduct surveys to confirm matters notified, if necessary, in order to continuously keep information about medium to long-term residents.

(F) Registration of a false place of residence and failure to continue to engage in activities as a spouse while residing in Japan for six months or more in spite of residing under the status of residence as a spouse without due reason, shall be added to the causes for revocation of status of residence.

(G) With regard to forgery of residence cards, penal provisions and reasons for deportation shall be established. Penalty related to illegal employment shall be revised.

### B. Measures for Enhancing Convenience of Foreign Nationals Legally Residing in Japan

(A) The maximum period of stay shall be extended from three years to five years.

(B) The validity period of re-entry permits shall be extended. In principle, foreign nationals who have valid passports and residence cards and who re-enter Japan within one year from their departure shall not need to apply for re-entry permits.

## (3) Measures for Special Permanent Residents

Along with the introduction of the new system of residence management, the special permanent resident system was reviewed.

As there has been no particular problem with the special permanent resident system, the system was overhauled to enhance convenience, practically maintaining the status quo, as follows (the overhauled system is expected to be enforced in July 2012, as is the new system of residence management):

A. The Minister of Justice shall grant a special permanent resident certificate that certifies legal status as a special permanent resident.

B. Special permanent residents shall be allowed to extend the valid period of re-entry. In principle, special permanent residents who have valid passports and special permanent resident certificates and who re-enter Japan within two years from their departure shall not need to apply for re-entry permits.
## 2 Basic Residents' Register System for Foreign Residents

Under the new system of residence management, the Alien Registration Act was eliminated, while foreign residents became subject to the Basic Residents' Registration Act and other appropriate regulations. The date when the amended Basic Residents' Registration Act was enforced was the same as the date when the amended Immigration Control Act and relevant regulations were enforced.

## (1) Issuance of Residence Cards for Foreign Nationals

Residence cards will be issued for foreign nationals with proper status of residence for medium to long-term residents and special permanent residents designated by the Special Act on Immigration Control, provided that both categories of foreign nationals shall continuously reside in the addresses in the relevant municipalities.

## (2) Matters Contained in Residence Cards for Foreign Residents

Residence cards for foreign residents include the description of not only basic matters for identification, including name and address, as with Japanese nationals, but also matters concerning national health insurance and national pension as insured persons, and matters specific to foreign residents, such as nationality or region, status of residence, and period of stay.

## (3) Notifications Regarding Foreign Residents

Foreign residents who change their address shall submit notifications on moving in/out in accordance with the Basic Residents' Registration Act, as with Japanese nationals. Although the provisions of the amended Immigration Control Act stipulate that foreign nationals should submit notifications of their address to the Minister of Justice, they shall be considered to have submitted the relevant notifications to the heads of their municipalities.

## (4) Notice from the Minister of Justice

When a foreign resident submits a notification of change of name, etc., to a regional immigration bureau, or obtains permission for change of status of residence, extension of period of stay, etc., the description in his/her residence card needs to be modified. Therefore, the Ministry of Justice shall notify such changes to the municipality exercising jurisdiction over the place of the relevant foreign resident's address, and the municipality shall modify the description in the residence card based on the notification. This process aims to alleviate the notification burden on foreign residents and ensure the accuracy of records.

## Section 2 ☐ Progress in Efforts toward Introduction of The System

## 1 Smooth Transition to the New System of Residence Management

The revised provision involved in the new system of residence management shall be enforced
in registration cards, it is important to enhance the accuracy of the registration cards under the existing system in order to ensure a smooth transition. Therefore, the Immigration Bureau is taking a series of measures.

Specifically, in FY 2007, posters in various languages were posted at the counters, etc., of municipal offices and regional immigration offices all over the country, to call on foreign residents to apply for registration with accurate details. Further, the Team for Enhancement of Accuracy and Improvement of Operations was set up in the Registration Division of the Immigration Bureau in April 2008. This team instructs municipalities on operations including regular inspection of registration cards. If any registration card is to be terminated due to some reasons including departure from Japan, the bureau actively promotes the relevant municipalities to confirm that the relevant registration card is terminated. In addition, as a trial, ahead of data provision to every municipality, supposed to be implemented approximately six months before the enforcement of the amended Immigration Control Act, the bureau implemented a model operation in Hamamatsu in Shizuoka and Suginami-ku in Tokyo in 2010. Based on the result of the operation, the bureau intends to improve the accuracy of data provision.
## Chapter 3 Smooth and Strict Implementation of Immigration Examination

It is necessary to promote smooth immigration examination for the great majority of trouble-free foreign nationals who come to Japan, while ensuring strict immigration examination for foreign nationals who intend to work illegally in order to prevent them, without fail, from entering Japan.

In order to increase the number of foreign nationals visiting Japan as a part of efforts to achieve a tourism-oriented country, it is very important to prevent terrorists who are disguised as tourists from entering the country at the border. It is also necessary to satisfy two seemingly contradictory objectives: smooth but strict implementation of immigration examination.

The Immigration Bureau is making efforts to implement flexible examination on a case-by-case basis to achieve such objectives.

## Section 1 ◆ Efforts for Promoting a Tourism-Oriented Country

## 1 Efforts to Reduce the Waiting Time for Examination

Japan is now making government-wide efforts for promoting a tourism-oriented country, and needs to enhance international cooperation and exchange that will contribute to realization of a tourism-oriented country through smooth immigration examination.

The Immigration Bureau has already been making efforts to ensure smooth landing examination procedures at each airport and seaport, and now is promoting the secondary examination system introduced in FY 2005. The Bureau also set up an examination support team in the Chitose-Tomakomai Branch Office and the Haneda Airport Branch Office (at that time) in FY 2006, and in the Fukuoka Regional Immigration Bureau in FY 2009, for the purpose of providing more efficient examination support to local ports, etc.

In addition, the bureau arranges booth concierges to guide passengers to a vacant booth as well as confirm ED cards, instruct how to enter the cards, and instruct/assist in the procedure of biological terminals, in order to prevent operations from being stagnated and confused around immigration examination counters and to realize smoother immigration examination procedures by utilizing the limited capacity of each counter as efficiently as possible.

## 2 Automatic Gates

Smooth and strict examinations have been further assisted by installation of automatic gates, which allow Japanese nationals who have registered themselves as a user of automatic gates, or foreign nationals who meet certain requirements such as having been issued with a

Automatic Gates
re-entry permit, to go through immigration procedures without undergoing immigration examination at an ordinary immigration booth. Specifically, new automatic gates were installed at Narita Airport in November 2007. In September 2009, new gates were installed at Chubu Airport and Kansai Airport. Additional gates were installed at Haneda Airport in October 2010.

Applications for user registration of automatic gates were first accepted at the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau and the Narita Airport District Immigration Office in November 2007, followed by the Nagoya Regional Immigration Bureau, the Chubu Airport District Immigration Office, the Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau and the Kansai Airport District Immigration Office in September 2009, the Haneda Airport District Immigration Office of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau in October 2010, and the Takamatsu Regional Immigration Bureau in March 2011.

[Topic: Promotion of efforts for realizing a tourism-oriented country]

The “New Growth Strategy” (decided by the Cabinet on June 18, 2010),

presenting a strategy to bring about a “strong economy”, stipulates that the number of foreign visitors should be increased to 25 million by the beginning of the year 2020 and to 30 million people in the not-so-distant future. The Immigration Bureau is working on further shortening of the time required for immigration examination procedures

## Section 2 ☐ Strengthened Countermeasures at the Border

To protect the lives and safety of the general public, it is extremely important to unfailingly prevent terrorists, etc., who are disguised as tourists, from entering the country. Since the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, the Immigration Bureau has been continuously implementing strict immigration examination in order to turn back such terrorists as they attempt to enter the country.

## 1 Implementation of Immigration Examination through the Use of Personal Identification Information

Since November 20, 2007, foreign nationals who intend to enter Japan have been required to submit personal identification information (fingerprints and a facial photograph). This enables us to accurately and promptly confirm that an applicant for landing permission is identical to the passport holder, and to check the applicant against the blacklist maintained by the Immigration Bureau. In addition, it has become possible to detect, without fail, those who have previously been displaced and again try to enter the country illegally using forged or altered passports or others' passports by checking them against data on fingerprints and facial photographs of those displaced in the past, which is maintained by the Immigration Bureau.

On the other hand, after the implementation of immigration examination through the use of personal identification information, there have been many cases of illegal immigrants who try to
enter the country illegally with fake fingerprints by damaging them directly or going through a surgical procedure, or with altered passports, in order to avoid detection of their displacement in the past. If such fake fingerprint cases occur, the Immigration Bureau should not only adopt procedures for displacement, but also cause them to be subject to strict punishment, including criminal punishment. Therefore, the bureau makes a report and accusation of illegal entry to investigative authorities, and is striving to detect fake fingerprints by upgrading devices

Immigration Examination through the Use of Personal Identification Information

Countermeasures against forging or alteration of documents

## 2 Use of the ICPO’s Database on Lost and Stolen Passports

The “Action Plan for the Prevention of the Terrorism” (decided by the Headquarters for the Promotion of Measures against Transnational Organized Crime (TOC), Other Related Issues and International Terrorism on December 10, 2004) stipulated that a system to use the ICPO’s Database on Lost and Stolen Passports in the process of immigration examination should be introduced and operated as “Preventive Measures to be Taken Immediately to Fight Terrorism”. To that end, it was decided that examination procedures using the said database were put into effect in August 2009.

## 3 Immigration Examination through the Use of APIS

The Immigration Bureau is working to track international terrorists, etc., and collect information related to them in close cooperation with relevant organizations to prevent them from entering Japan and committing terrorist acts. In the process of landing examination, the bureau is trying to detect terrorists, etc., by unfailingly checking foreign nationals against the blacklist based on such information.

Since February 1, 2007, all vessels and aircrafts calling at a port in Japan have been required to submit, in advance, a list of passengers containing their identification data. Since February 21, 2010, it became possible to receive advance passenger information about aircraft calling at an airport through the Air-NACCS (Nippon Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System) operated by the Nippon Automated Cargo And Port Consolidated System, Inc., and a new air cargo advance passenger information system was launched.
## 3 Responses to the APEC

Regarding the Japan APEC Meetings in 2010, of which the host country is Japan, the Immigration Bureau established a system to implement the prompt immigration procedure for APEC officials by setting up preparatory offices for Japan APEC Meetings in the Ministry of Justice and regional immigration bureaus. On the other hand, the Immigration Bureau implemented strict immigration examination in order to eliminate domestic activities by terrorists and overseas anti-globalize groups, by utilizing personal identification information, in close cooperation with relevant organizations. There were no outstanding obstructive actions against smooth proceedings of meetings during the meeting period until the summit held in November 14, 2010, and Japan APEC Meetings in 2010 ended up without any problems.
## Chapter 4 The Launch of the New Technical Intern Training Programs

## Section 1 ☐ Outline of the System

Training and intern training programs are intended to develop human resources who are responsible for economic development of their countries of origin through the transfer of technology and skills to technical interns etc. However, recently, an increasing number of accepting organizations that do not understand the objectives of the programs treat the trainees and interns improperly and pay them low wages. In addition, it has been pointed out that some accepting organizations do not provide adequate guidance and supervision for their umbrella organizations, and there are brokers who obtain unfair profits from intermediary services for trainees.

In order to respond to the present situation, the new technical intern training programs were launched in July 2010. As a result, intern training are required to involve activities to acquire skills under the contract of employment, in principle, so that interns can be protected in accordance with the relevant Labor Standards Act and other labor-related laws and regulations, including the Minimum Wage Act. In the case of acceptance under the supervision of organizations, accepting organizations had previously supervised technical internships only in the first year. After the revision, such organizations are required to implement technical intern training in the second year or later under their responsibility and supervision.

The new programs require accepting organizations to receive lectures on information necessary for legal protection of technical interns, which will be given by an expert. In order to reinforce the instruction, supervision and support system of supervising organizations, it also stipulates the requirements of supervising organizations as follows: (i) the staff of supervising organizations shall visit the facility where programs are conducted at least once a month to confirm the situation of technical intern training programs and give directions; (ii) board members of supervising organizations shall conduct an audit at least once every three months, and report the results to the relevant regional immigration bureau; (iii) supervising organizations shall provide counseling staff who give advice to technical interns.

## Section 2 ☐ Response to Cases of Inappropriate Acceptance

Under the provisions including the ordinance of the Ministry of Justice, the Immigration Bureau may make a finding of “misconduct” with regard to organizations that have acted inappropriately regarding training and technical intern training programs and suspend such organizations from accepting trainees and technical interns for one, three or five years depending on types of misconduct, as the ministerial ordinance stipulates. The number of organizations that were recognized to engage in “misconduct” during the year 2010 was 163.

According to the type of receiving arrangement, there were three organizations (1.8%) accepting trainees under the company-arranged scheme and 160 organizations (98.2%) accepting trainees under
the association-supervised scheme.

According to the type of receiving organization, there were 17 organizations (10.6%) as primary receiving organizations (entities like cooperative associations), and 143 organizations (89.4%) as secondary receiving organizations (entities like membership companies). (Table 49)

Three major categories of misconduct in descending order are “violation against labor-related regulations” committed by organizations which have technical interns work in violation of labor-related regulations, including unpaid wages, “work in excess of statutory working hours” committed by organizations which have trainees work other than training hours or holidays when they are prohibited to work, and “name lending” committed by organizations which allow other organizations that had not applied for acceptance to accept trainees and technical interns. These three categories account for 71.7% of all misconduct. (Table 50)

Table 49: Changes in the number of organizations subject to a finding of misconduct by type of receiving arrangement

Organizations subject to a finding	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Type of receiving arrangement
Company-arranged scheme	11	9	7	2	3
Association-supervised scheme	Primary receiving organization	28	36	29	34	17
Secondary receiving organization	190	404	416	324	143
Total	229	449	452	360	163

Table 50: Number of findings of misconduct by category (2010)

(Cases)

Findings	Company-arranged scheme (3 organizations)	Association-supervised scheme	Total (163 organizations)
Category	Primary (17 organizations)	Secondary (143 organizations)
1st Category ①	Dual contract	0	1	0	1
②	Variance compared with Trainee and Technical Intern Training plan	1	5	12	18
③	Name lending	0	1	30	31
④	In addition to the foregoing, preparation and use of fraudulent documents	0	8	3	11
2nd Category	Work in excess of statutory working hours	2	2	44	48
3rd Category	Malicious acts of infringement of human rights, etc.	3	4	18	25
4th Category	Failure to report serious cases, etc.	0	0	0	0
5th Category	Employment of illegal foreign workers	1	1	3	5
Violation against labor-related regulations	0	1	77	78
6th Category	Recurrence of similar acts	0	2	0	2
Total	7	25	187	219

(*1) If one accepting organization is recognized as having committed “misconduct” of more than one category, it is listed for the respective categories, and as such, the number of accepting organizations is not identical to the number of recognized cases by category.

$ ^{*2} $ Since July 2010, illegal actions have been identified in accordance with ministerial ordinances concerning landing criteria. The numbers of illegal actions are calculated in tunewith the types categorized in the Guidelines Concerning Entry and Residence Management of Technical Intern Trainees (revised in 2007).