## 2 Review of the organizational structure of the Immigration Control Offices

Upon the enforcement of the amended Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act on July 9, 2012, the alien registration system was abolished and the new residency management system was introduced, under which the Minister of Justice has come to integrally manage information on medium to long-term residents. The Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act stipulates that such information should be maintained accurately and updated, and from the necessity for smoothly operating the new residency management system, the post of the Immigration Control Information Manager, which integrally manages information, was newly established in the Immigration Bureau, Ministry of Justice (abolition of the post of the Director of the Registration Division), along with the Status Administrative Affairs Office, which is in charge of affairs concerning the operation of residence cards and the notification system, in the Entry and Status Division (abolition of the Data Processing System Development Office of the General Affairs Division), as the expansion and extension of the organization in FY 2012.

Residence cards are prepared and issued to medium to long-term residents basically at ports of entry or departure at the time of granting landing permission, or at regional immigration bureaus at the time of granting permission to various residence-related applications. Issuance of residence cards at the time of granting landing permission is carried out at four major airports (Narita, Haneda, Chubu, and Kansai). With regard to medium to long-term residents who enter from other ports, residence cards are to be prepared and sent at a future time. Accordingly, clerical duties in relation to the preparation of certificates for special permanent residents, and the entry, correction and development of notified information concerning medium to long-term residents, have arisen. As it is efficient to handle these duties nationwide integrally at one place, the Residence Management Information Department was newly established in the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau. Furthermore, supervising inspectors are deployed in the Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka Regional Immigration Bureaus and the Yokohama District Immigration Office to have them engage in clerical duties in relation to the reissuance of lost residence cards, etc. and the extension of the effective period. Thus, the system was developed in the Immigration Bureau as a whole for properly responding to the introduction of the new residency management system.

Furthermore, upon the opening of the terminal exclusively for LCC for 24 hour operation at Kansai Airport, the Investigation Department was additionally established in the Kansai Airport District Immigration Office, Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau, for the purpose of conducting immigration examination as appropriately as before, as well as for realizing smooth and prompt immigration examination for promoting a tourism-oriented country.

Further, most branch offices (including branch offices of district immigration offices) of regional immigration bureaus were located within the area of seaports, based on the historical background that they were originally established for immigration examination of crew members and passengers on ocean-going vessels. Now, as the primary means of international transportation shifted from vessels to aircraft, immigration examination at airports became the main service, and as foreigners residing in Japan for a long time increased, the Ministry has proceeded to reorganize, integrate or