Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
Therefore, the plaintiff’s claim to seek nullification of the notice in this case is unlawful, because it seeks nullification of what cannot be suitable in nullification litigation.

[Tokyo District Court judgment on November 29, 2011]

## Court case 2 [Discretion to render a disposition of revocation of the status of residence]

The disposition of revocation of the status of residence in this case is lawful as it meets the grounds prescribed in Article 22-4, paragraph (1) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and no procedural illegality can be found. However, when taking into consideration the purport and the wording of this paragraph, it is construed that the Minister of Justice is vested with the discretion to decide whether or not to revoke the status of residence in accordance with the prescribed procedures even in the case where the grounds specified in each item of said paragraph are found. Accordingly, if the Minister of Justice has rendered a disposition of revocation of the status of residence and it is found to fall under the case where he/she has gone beyond the scope of or has abused his/her discretion, there is a room that said disposition may be found to be illegal. Therefore, we will examine this point, just to be certain.

Falling under the grounds prescribed in Article 22-4, paragraph (1), item (ii) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, the plaintiff filed the application for the change of the status of residence in this case, by such means as intentionally submitting documents, such as the written employment agreement in this case, that contained false statements, with the cooperation of an illegal business operator “A,” with the intention to obtain the status of residence qualifying him/her to work, and thereby obtained the permission for the change in this case. Therefore, the plaintiff lacks the inclination to observe the purport of laws and regulations and his/her manner of conduct is highly malicious. The consequence should also be regarded as very serious in light of its adverse effects on the order of immigration control.

Given these circumstances, even taking into consideration the fact that the plaintiff had stayed in Japan legally over nine years and has a child born in Japan (aged 7 when the disposition was rendered), it cannot be concluded that the Director of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau has gone beyond the scope of or has abused his/her discretion in rendering the disposition of revocation of the status of residence in this case.

[Tokyo District Court Judgment on May 12, 2011]

## Court case 3 [Discretion to revoke a determination to the effect that a filling of an objection lacks grounds and the legality of mandamus action to seek special permission to stay in Japan]

It is reasonable to construe that the part of mandamus action to revoke the determination in this case (determination to the effect that a filling of an objection based on Article 49, paragraph (1) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act lacks grounds) is so-called mandamus action without applications (Article 3, paragraph (6), item (i) of the Administrative Case Litigation Act).
bly found to lack the inclination to observe laws and regulations. (The plaintiff alleges that he/she considers it all right that foreign nationals with the statuses of residence for study or employment work at the restaurant in this case as part-timers and had not clearly recognized that it would constitute a violation to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. However, the plaintiff is obliged, as a business manager who intends to employ foreign nationals residing in Japan, to confirm the scope of activities legally permitted for the relevant foreign nationals in Japan. Therefore, even if the plaintiff had not clearly recognized that his act would constitute a violation of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act as he/she alleges, this would not be a circumstance that would reduce the illegality or wrongfulness of his/her furtherance of illegal work.) In light of the fact that Japan’s residence status system originally incorporated restrictions on foreign nationals’ engagement in work as its basis, as well as the current situation where an increasing number of foreign nationals are being engaged in illegal work and the control thereof has been strengthened, such act by the plaintiff is likely to uproot the foundation of Japan’s immigration control order and his/her manner of residing in Japan is found to be malicious.

[Tokyo District Court Judgment on February 7, 2012]
## Data Section 5 Organizational Expansion and Staff Enhancement

Owing to significant changes in the circumstances affecting immigration control in recent years, in response to an increase in the quantity and in the complexity of immigration duties, measures have been taken to improve and expand the organization and staff for immigration control.

At the end of FY 2011, immigration control administration work was carried out by about 3,800 officials at the Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice and other immigration control offices. Due to a wide range of problems in immigration control, further improvement and expansion of the organization and staff are still necessary.

## Section 1 ◆ Organizations

## 1 Outline of the Immigration Control Organization

The organization that is responsible for immigration control duties is the Immigration Bureau, which is designated as an internal bureau of the Ministry of Justice. There are eight regional blocks, each of which has a regional immigration bureau as a local branch office of the Ministry of Justice. Each regional immigration bureau manages the district immigration offices and branch offices (including branch offices within the district immigration offices) under its jurisdiction. The Ministry of Justice also maintains three immigration centers as detention facilities. The organization as a whole performs various duties associated with immigration control such as immigration examinations, residence examinations, deportation procedures, and refugee recognition procedures in accordance with relevant laws and ordinances.

The Immigration Bureau, regional immigration bureaus, district immigration offices, branch offices, and immigration centers are collectively referred to as the “immigration control offices”. (Charts 22 and 23)
Chart 22 Immigration Bureau organizational chart

(As of April 1, 2012)

(Detention facilities)

Higashi-Nihon Immigration Center

Immigration Centers

Regional Immigration

3

Nishi-Nihon Immigration Center

Bureaus

8

District Immigration

Omura Immigration Center

Offices 7

Branch Offices 61

(Regional Immigration Bureau and District Immigration Offices)

Sapporo Regional Immigration Bureau

5 Branch Offices

Sendai Regional Immigration Bureau

6 Branch Offices

Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau

11 Branch Offices

Narita Airport District Immigration Office

Haneda Airport District Immigration Office

Immigration Bureau,

Ministry of Justice

Yokohama District Immigration Office

Nagoya Regional Immigration Bureau

1 Branch Office

Chubu Airport District Immigration Office

8 Branch Offices

Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau

5 Branch Offices

Kansai Airport District Immigration Office

Kobe District Immigration Office

1 Branch Office

Hiroshima Regional Immigration Bureau

7 Branch Offices

Takamatsu Regional Immigration Bureau

3 Branch Offices

Fukuoka Regional Immigration Bureau

-10 Branch Offices

Naha District Immigration Office

4 Branch Offices
Chart 23: Responsibilities of the Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice

Organization and management of the regional immigration bureaus

Preparation of bills concerning immigration control

Recognition of refugee status and revocation of refugee status

Issuance of refugee travel documents and return of refugee travel documents

Hearings and objections concerning the landing and deportation of foreign nationals

Execution of detention orders and deportation orders
scrap branch offices at seaports to respond to the foregoing change in administrative needs, and made efforts to re-allocate branch offices by establishing them at local airports where many international flights arrive, places where prefectural offices are located, and other major cities. (Table 52)

Table 52: Reorganization, abolition or establishment of branch offices of regional immigration bureaus (actual performance)

(As of April 1, 2012)

Division Fiscal Year	Abolition	Establishment
Name	Location	Name	Location
2000	Amagasaki Port Branch Office	Amagasaki City	Saga Branch Office	Saga City
Kure Port Branch Office	Kure City
Karatsu Port Branch Office	Karatsu City
Imari Port Branch Office	Imari City
2001	Yokosuka Port Branch Office	Yokosuka City	Shizuoka Branch Office	Shizuoka City
Kagoshima Airport Branch Office	Mizobe-cho Aira-gun
Shimizu Port Branch Office	Shimizu City
Tagonoura Port Branch Office	Fuji City
2002	Iwakuni Port Branch Office	Iwakuni City	Kofu Branch Office	Kofu City
Yatsushiro Port Branch Office	Yatsushiro City	Gifu Branch Office	Gifu City
Hitachi Port Branch Office	Hitachi City	Otsu Branch Office	Otsu City
Kashima Port Branch Office	Kamisu-cho Kashima-gun	Mito Branch Office	Mito City
2003	Tokyo Port Branch Office	Koto-ku Tokyo	Shinjyu-ku Tokyo Branch Office	Shinjyu-ku Tokyo
Shibuya Branch Office	Shibuya-ku Tokyo	Morioka Branch Office
Muroran Port Branch Office	Muroran City
Miyako Port Branch Office	Miyako City
Ofunato Port Branch Office	Ofunato City
Ishinomaki Port Branch Office	Ishinomaki City
Sasebo Port Branch Office	Sasebo City
Naha Port Branch Office	Naha City
2004	Aomori Port Branch Office	Aomori City	Aomori Branch Office	Aomori City
Hachinohe Port Branch Office	Hachinohe City
Yokohama Port Branch Office	Yokohama City
Nagoya Port Branch Office	Nagoya City
Sakai Port Branch Office	Toyoyama-cho Nishikasugai-gun Aichi
Kobe Port Branch Office	Sakai City
Mizushima Port Branch Office	Kobe City
Shibushi Branch Office	Kurashiki City
Shibushi-cho Soo-gun Kagoshima
2005	Naoetsu Port Branch Office	Joetsu City
2007	Osaka Port Branch Office	Osaka City	Tobu Branch Office	Edogawa-ku Tokyo
Tennoji Branch Office	Osaka City
2009	Fukuyama Port Branch Office	Fukuyama City	Fukuyama Branch Office	Fukuyama City
2010	Haneda Airport Branch Office	Ota-ku Tokyo
2011	Kochi Port Branch Office	Kochi City	Kochi Branch Office	Kochi City

(*) The abolition of Haneda Airport Branch Office in FY2010 is due to the establishment of Haneda Airport District Immigration Office

As a result, the number of branch offices established in the country through reorganization of regional immigration offices into regional immigration bureaus, which was 103 as of April 1, 1981, is 61 as of April 1, 2011. The establishment of at least one regional immigration bureau or office in each prefecture has achieved, while branch offices have decreased by about 40% from 1981.

Those branch offices should not only improve convenience of foreign nationals who come for submission of various applications or reports but also enhance close cooperation with related local organizations, such as police, in collecting information on illegal and disguised residents. With a view to
enhancing cooperation with local authorities and related organizations which accept foreign nationals who intend to reside in Japan for a medium and long term, it is necessary to continue rationalizing and streamlining the organizational structure, with the aim of ensuring smooth and proper processing, including immigration examination, residence examination, and collection of information on offenders against the Immigration Control Act, and establishing a more comprehensive framework for branch offices. In FY 2011, one supervising inspector was posted in each of seven branches, where immigration inspectors equal to or of a higher level than supervising inspectors had not been posted as the branch directors.

# Section 2 ◆ Staff

## 1 Immigration Control Staff

In immigration centers and regional immigration bureaus, immigration inspectors and immigration control officers are assigned as staff who are engaged in immigration control duties. In addition, officers of legal affairs engage in general administrative duties and specialists of legal affairs, including doctors, are also assigned.

Immigration inspectors are responsible for (i) examination and hearings on landing and deportation, (ii) issuance of written detention orders and

Immigration Control Staff

written deportation orders, (iii) provisional release, and (iv) investigation of recognition of refugees and statuses of residence. They are also engaged in examining statuses of residence as assistants for the Minister of Justice.

Immigration control officers are responsible for (i) investigation of violations concerning entry, landing or residence in Japan, (ii) detention, transportation and deportation of foreign nationals in order to execute written detention orders or written deportation orders, and (iii) treatment of inmates in immigration centers and detention facilities and guards of these detention facilities. They fall under police personnel in terms of the National Civil Service Law, while falling under public security service staff in terms of the Law Concerning Salaries for General Service Personnel, because they are often involved in dangerous tasks.

Immigration control officers are divided into seven ranks (Superintendent Supervisor, Chief Superintendent, Superintendent, Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, and Officer, in order of descending superiority) in order to clarify the chain of command for group operations for detection.

Individual immigration inspectors and immigration control officers perform their duties independently as specialists in immigration control and therefore, the specialist system was introduced. These officials are required to have legal knowledge necessary for their duties as well as a balanced point of view from an international perspective and the ability to interact with foreign nationals flexibly while giving consideration to their diverse cultures, customs and religions and their human rights.
## 2 Staff Increase

The number of immigration control staff was 3,881 in FY 2012, up about 19% (613) from FY 2007 (3,268), five years ago. During this period, the number of cases handled by immigration control offices remained at a high level, and the immigration control duties have been getting more complicated and difficult due to the necessity of implementing stricter immigration examinations to prevent terrorism and illegal entry, coping with forged or altered documents that have become increasingly more sophisticated, strengthening residence management related to foreign residents after entry, enforcing strengthened detection of illegal foreign residents, some of whom are potential criminals, and implementing measures against foreign residents disguised as legal residents. (Chart 24, Table 53)

Chart 24: Changes in the number of immigration control office personnel
(People)

Table 53: Changes in the number of immigration control office personnel

Division Fiscal Year	Secretaries in the Ministry of Justice	Regional Immigration Bureaus	Total
Secretaries	Inspector	Control officer	Others	Sub-Total
1985	169	155	703	658	55	1,571	1,740
1990	166	154	777	673	46	1,650	1,816
1995	163	165	1,152	869	38	2,224	2,387
2000	157	164	1,196	998	26	2,384	2,541
2001	156	155	1,211	1,017	26	2,409	2,565
2002	154	146	1,268	1,070	25	2,509	2,663
2003	152	144	1,272	1,101	24	2,541	2,693
2004	142	142	1,343	1,183	23	2,691	2,833
2005	131	122	1,433	1,266	20	2,841	2,972
2006	129	122	1,494	1,367	8	2,991	3,120
2007	128	121	1,580	1,431	8	3,140	3,268
2008	127	129	1,626	1,523	8	3,286	3,413
2009	126	130	1,737	1,564	8	3,439	3,565
2010	126	135	1,881	1,564	8	3,588	3,714
2011	126	139	1,979	1,571	8	3,697	3,823
2012	126	135	2,050	1,562	8	3,755	3,881

In FY 2012, 118 persons were additionally assigned as immigration inspectors and immigration control officers. An outline of the staff increase is as follows:

## (1) Strengthened Immigration Examination System of the Regional Immigration Bureaus such as the Kansai Airport District Immigration Office of the Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau

The “Basic Act for Promoting a Tourism-Oriented Country” was put into force in January 2007 and the “Basic Plan for Promoting a Tourism-Oriented Country” was decided by the Cabinet in June of said year, 2007. In June 2010, “the New Growth Strategy” aiming to “increase the number of foreign tourists visiting Japan to 25 million by 2020” was determined by the Cabinet. In the “New Growth Strategy and Plans”, “Efforts to increase Chinese visitors” and “The reduction of waiting time required for immigration examination”, and other objectives were specified. Under such circumstances, the number of foreign nationals entering Japan, which decreased temporarily due to global economic recession and other influences in Japan, tended toward recovery due to economic recovery in Asian regions and the easing of visa requirements for Chinese tourists. As a result, the number of non-Japanese visitors entering the nation reached a record number of approximately 9.44 million in 2010. In 2011, due to the influence of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, the number decreased temporarily, but recovered to around 90% of the level a year ago in the fourth quarter of the year. It is necessary to make efforts to shorten the waiting time for examination at individual airports and seaports, including Kansai Airport where the terminal exclusively for LCC newly opened, in order to promote the implementation of a tourism-oriented country, and at the same time, to implement strict immigration examination as countermeasures against terrorism and illegal foreign residents.

For this purpose, 89 additional immigration inspectors were allocated to individual bureaus and branch offices, mainly focused on the Kansai Airport District Immigration Office.
Control and Refugee Recognition Act, out of requests for inspection and disclosure of alien registration records, which used to be filed to municipalities under the alien registration system based on the provisions of the Alien Registration Act, those concerning the information that cannot be ascertained in the Basic Resident Registration are to be filed to the Ministry of Justice, where the information concerning residence of foreign nationals is managed integrally. As it is highly likely that the annual number of such requests will increase significantly, 9 immigration control officers were additionally posted in the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau as staff necessary for enhancing and strengthening its system to provide information.

## 3 Training

As the number of foreign nationals entering and departing from Japan has been increasing year by year and the types of residence have diversified, the volume of services has increased and the contents of routine duties to be performed by immigration inspectors and immigration control officers have become more complicated and difficult. It is therefore indispensable to enhance the skills and abilities of the officers of the Immigration Bureau, and so we are in the process of enriching and reinforcing our training program targeted for those officers.

In addition to systematic training for newly employed persons, middle-level persons and managers implemented by the Research and Training Institute of the Ministry of Justice, which is a training organization of the Ministry of Justice, the Immigration Bureau implements various kinds of training programs by not only the staff with specialized knowledge but also outside experts invited to give a lecture for the purpose of enhancing the professional knowledge of staff, e.g. training for persons engaged in the detection of document forgery, training for persons engaged in entry and residence examination work, training for persons engaged in refugee recognition work, training for persons engaged in information system operation, and training for human rights and mental health.

Also, as the work of the Immigration Bureau is mainly concerned with foreigners, it makes efforts to improve language skills necessary for the work by organizing language seminars in English and other languages for staff at professional language schools, etc.

Training
## Data Section 6 Budget

## Section 1 ◆ Budgets

Chart 25 shows the trends in budgets for immigration control administration. Despite severe fiscal and administrative limitations in recent years, the fiscal authorities approved the Immigration Bureau’s expenses necessary for taking various measures and implementing the new residency management system also for FY2012.

For the budget related to disaster prevention measures in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake, the cost for strengthening the disaster prevention and security system at detention facilities of immigration control offices was approved in the general account supplementary budget for FY 2011 (the third) and the budget for Special Account for Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake for FY2012. (Charts 25 and 26)

Chart 25: Changes in the budget for immigration control administration

$ ^{*} $ The amount of budget is the initial amount of budget.

• Items were reorganized in the FY 2008 budget, and the calculation method for the budget on and after said fiscal year was changed as follows:

•The ministry proper of the Ministry of Justice(Immigration Bureau) is the total amount of (item) common expenses for the ministry proper of the Ministry of Justice and (item) partial expense of planning, adjustment, and promotion expenses for immigration control.

• alien registration administration expenses and (item) residency management administration expenses are the partial expense of (item) planning, adjustment and promotion expense for immigration control.

$ ^{*} $ Equal to (item) alien registration administration expenses before FY 2007.

• Regional Immigration Bureaus are the total amount of (item) common expenses for Regional Immigration Bureaus, and the partial expense of (item) administration expenses for immigration control.

• escort and detention expenses are the partial expense of (item) administration expenses for immigration control.

• In addition to the general account budget above, the Government of Japan allocated 149,053,000 yen as a FY 2012 special account budget for recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Chart 26: Changes in the major computer-related budget amount

## Section 2 ◆ Facilities

As of March 31, 2012, eight regional immigration bureaus in the nation are housed in an independent office building of the Ministry of Justice (Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka), a joint office building of the MOJ (Sendai, Hiroshima, and Takamatsu), joint office building with other national government authorities (Sapporo), and a private facility (Fukuoka) respectively.

All of the district immigration offices and the branch offices of regional immigration bureau are housed either in independent office buildings of the MOJ, in office buildings joint with branch offices of port-related national government authorities, in office building joint with other national government authorities, or in civil facilities.

All three detention centers for foreigners in the country were completed after the year 1993, which are maintained as independent offices of the MOJ (Omura) and the general office of the MOJ (East Japan, West Japan).
2012 Immigration Control

November 2012

December 2012 2nd Print

Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice, Japan

$ \bar{\tau} $ 100-8977 1-1-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
## 2012 Immigration Control
第 1 - 2 - 9 図 完全失業率 水準と前年同期差

(備考) 1. 総務省「労働力調査」より作成。

2．地域区分はC。
平成22年12月24日

## 平成 23 年度の財務省の定員について

既存の業務を見直すこと等により▲1,353人の定員を削減する一方、財務省全体として、1,366人増員し、差引で13人の増員となりました。

## 《23 年度》

本省 1,843 (+5)

財務局 4,705(+1)

税関 8, 799 (+5)

国税厅 56, 263 (+2)

合計 71,610 (+13)

納税環境整備に関する事務体制の整備等

国有財産の有効活用を図るた

めの体制強化等

成田空港の発着枠拡大等によ

る事務量増に伴う体制整備等

所得税不正還付事案の調査の

充実等

※括弧内は対前年度増減

(問い合わせ先)

財務省大臣官房文書課 片山

TEL 03-3581-4111 内線 2090