Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
On the other hand, these programs are posing such problems as fraudulent acts. In this situation, it is important to clearly stress the objectives of the programs, intensify investigations and give consideration to create a status of residence which combines training with the technical internship program.

It is expected of foreign college and pre-college students that they will increase mutual understanding with foreign countries, but some illegal foreign workers are, in fact, simply passing themselves off as college or pre-college students. In addition to implementing stricter examinations of status of residence, it is important to flexibly consider measures for college and pre-college students if they wish to work in Japan and apply for a change in their status of residence.

## (D) Expanding Cultural Exchange Activities

To keep a proper balance between smooth acceptance of foreign travelers and strict examination, it is important to consider establishing a new system of immigration examination that utilizes biometrics.

It is also important to consider the feasibility of expanding the scope of countries participating in the working holiday program and of creating a new visa to allow prompt immigration procedures for those involved in international exhibitions and other major events.

## (E) Measures for Foreign Nationals Residing in Japan for a Prolonged Period

It is important to consider conducting more proactive PR activities and measures to specify the conditions of permission for the status of residence of "Permanent Resident" in Japan.

From the viewpoint of developing an environment where foreign nationals can live comfortably, it is also necessary to consider measures for the exchange of information with related government agencies and provision of sufficient information to foreign nationals residing in Japan.

### B. Measures against Illegal Immigrants

## (A) Actively Detecting and Smoothly Deporting Foreign Residents

Aiming to halve the number of illegal foreign residents by the year 2008, it is necessary for the relevant agencies to work together to consider measures for actively detecting illegal immigrants and reinforcing detection, detention and deportation programs.
## (B) Paying Due Attention to the Specific Circumstances of the Offenders

It is also necessary to correctly identify the specific circumstances of illegal residents and to properly grant special permission to stay in Japan from humanitarian perspectives when necessary. The Minister of Justice has a wide range of discretion in granting the special permission to stay, but it is necessary to provide ample information on actual examples where special permission to stay was granted, improve transparency in the Minister's decisions and consider drafting guidelines on granting special permission to stay, while paying due attention to prevent illegal residents from overstaying in Japan. In addition, it is important to streamline various procedures making them more convenient to utilize.

With regard to trafficking in persons, being a grave violation of human rights it should not be permitted under any circumstances. It is important for the immigration control administration to consider amendments to applicable laws and provide better protective measures when appropriate.

## (C) Other Major Issues

It is important to properly manage the new refugee recognition schemes, such as the newly established Refugee Examination Counselors system, promote exchange of information with foreign immigration control authorities and provide immigration services more openly to foreign visitors to Japan.

## 2 Hearing Sessions on Immigration Control Administration

Since May 1992 when the Immigration Bureau drew up the First Immigration Control Basic Plan, the regional immigration bureaus have been holding hearing sessions on immigration control administration in order to listen to expert opinions on immigration control operations and related administrative tasks, and to incorporate these expert opinions into actual immigration control administration operations as much as possible. Currently, eight regional immigration bureaus hold this type of hearing session, listen to opinions from experts and organization representatives in local areas, and incorporate these opinions into the immigration control tasks. In preparing the Third Immigration Control Basic Plan, the immigration control administration paid due attention to the expert opinions expressed in these hearing sessions.
## 3 Collecting Public Comments

In drafting the Basic Plan for Immigration Control (3rd Edition), the Ministry of Justice launched its campaign on the MOJ website from February 2 to March 1, 2005 to solicit public opinions on “Major Issues and Future Directions in the Basic Plan for Immigration Control (3rd Edition)”. The Ministry received 266 opinions on a wide variety of immigration control-related topics, ranging from acceptance of foreign workers to countermeasures on overstayers. The outcomes of the campaign are available on the MOJ website.

## 4 “Opinion Survey on Accepting Foreign Workers”

In May 2004, the Cabinet Office conducted the “Opinion Survey on Accepting Foreign Workers” in order to listen to the thoughts of Japanese citizens on accepting foreign workers in Japan.

The survey included a wide variety of questions, such as acceptance of foreign workers and problems related to overstayers. For the question “Do you agree with accepting foreign workers if Japan sees a shortage in its labor force?” 15.3% of the respondents selected the answer option “I strongly agree”, while 45.0% chose, “Accepting foreign workers is unavoidable if Japan sees a shortage in its labor force”. For the question on their awareness of illegal foreign workers, 70.7% selected the answer option “It is not good”, and 24.5% chose the option “It is not a good idea, but we have no choice”.

## Section 2 — Outline of the Basic Plan for Immigration Control (3rd Edition)

As explained earlier, the immigration control administration drafted the Basic Plan for Immigration Control (3rd Edition) after exchanging opinions with experts and related organizations at the Policy Conference and the immigration control hearing sessions, and listening to a wide variety of opinions expressed in the public comment process. The Basic Plan has been designed for the coming five-year period of immigration control administration and consists of two sections: “Salient Points Concerning Foreign Nationals’ Entry and Stay” and “Major Issues and Guidelines on Immigration Control Administration Services”. An outline of the latter section is as follows.
## 1 Open Acceptance of Foreign Nationals Needed in Japanese Society

## (1) Promoting Acceptance of Foreign Workers in Professional and Technical Fields

As accepting a greater number of foreign experts and professionals will most certainly contribute to Japan’s socioeconomic revitalization, the immigration control authorities have been actively accepting these experts and professionals from foreign countries. Further, the authorities intend to actively accept foreign experts and professionals who do not fall under the current status of residence or landing permit criteria by creating additional appropriate statuses of residence and landing permit criteria in line with socioeconomic changes.

The immigration control administration will employ the same approach when discussing the “movements of persons” in negotiations on EPAs (economic partnership agreements) with foreign countries. To attract outstanding foreign nationals who have world-class knowledge and skills and to secure their settlement in Japan, consideration will also be given to extending the maximum period of stay in Japan for foreign nationals (the current maximum period of stay in Japan for a single permission of status of residence is three years).

## (2) Responding to a Population-Declining Society

It is not appropriate to simply make up the supply of Japan’s population by accepting foreign nationals alone. Measures responding to a population-declining society owing to the falling birthrate and aging population should be considered along with measures in various fields. However, the time has also come to consider in detail what appropriate acceptance of foreign workers is in a population-declining society.

Accepting foreign workers in fields that are not valued as professional or technical at present will also be given consideration in light of the decrease in the productive population, while also taking into account the need to maintain Japan’s economic vitality and national living standards, the public consciousness and the existing conditions of the nation’s economy and society. In this respect, consideration should be given not only to new industrial fields, Japanese language aptitude and other conditions for accepting foreign workers, but also to the positive and negative impacts on Japan’s industry and public welfare which stretch over a wide range of factors covering domestic security, the domestic labor market, industrial development and restructuring and social costs.
## (3) Expanding International Exchange Activities through Tourism

The Japanese government is promoting measures to establish Japan as a country built on tourism, setting the goal of doubling the annual number of foreign tourists visiting Japan by the year 2010. The immigration control administration will contribute to realizing a country built on tourism by introducing a secondary examination system and a pre-clearance system to secure strict examination depending on the situation, with one of the goals being to shorten the waiting time for landing examinations for a large number of problem-free foreign nationals.

The immigration control administration will contribute to expanding the range of countries participating in the working holiday programs.

## (4) Appropriate Acceptance of College and Pre-college Students

Since a significant number of foreign nationals have passed themselves off as college or pre-college students, the immigration control administration will work on measures targeting educational institutions. It is also vital to focus on plans for expanding scholarships, developing housing and other factors while varying the strictness of landing examinations to accept those international students who really wish to study in Japan.

## (5) Improving Training and Technical Internship Programs

Since some foreign trainees and technical interns have gone missing or have failed to receive allowances or wages in full, the objectives of the programs will be publicized, while ensuring appropriate running of the programs through strict examinations and reinforcement of investigations. In order to appropriately and smoothly promote technological transfer, consideration will be given to creating a status of residence for technical interns and reviewing legal protection of foreign nationals who are taking part in on-the-job training.

## (6) Measures for Foreign Nationals in Japan for a Prolonged Period

For those foreign residents wishing to stay in Japan permanently, the criteria for the status of residence of “Permanent Resident” will be further specified and clarified, and cooperation with the relevant government agencies will be reinforced to provide better living conditions and to enhance information services for foreign nationals.

The simplification and acceleration of procedures including the development of information technology for use in the application procedures will also be considered.
## 2 Measures for Recovering Public Security through Promotion of Tough Measures and Substantial Reduction of Illegal Foreign Residents

## (1) Promoting Border Measures

Regarding the statuses of residence which account for a large percentage of the status of illegal foreign residents have, stricter landing examinations will be implemented based on analysis of the accepting organizations. The criteria for landing permission will also be reviewed as needed. In addition, the immigration authorities will further enhance their countermeasures on falsified documents and prepare for new legislation that allows the immigration control authorities to take facial portraits and fingerprints in the process of landing examinations, aiming at introducing personal biometrics identification, which will be an effective tool in immigration examination.

## (2) Strict Residence Examination

When examining extension of the period of stay of foreign nationals, the immigration control authorities will actively investigate the existing conditions and conduct stricter residence examination based on such investigation. The status of residence revocation system will be also be aggressively utilized.

## (3) Reinforced Detection Based on Close Information Analysis and Cooperation with Related Agencies

Based on close analysis of information on illegal residents, detection will be reinforced in districts that have a concentrated number of illegal foreign residents. Joint detection with the police and other relevant agencies will be constantly implemented. Detection of dishonest employers and brokers will be aggressively carried out by applying the laws on the offense of encouraging illegal employment.

## (4) Utilizing Detention Facilities and Implementing Prompt Deportation

In order to thoroughly carry out deportation of illegal residents, construction of detention facilities will be continued in order to increase the capacity of the detention facilities. The relevant counties will be strongly requested to facilitate and accelerate the issuance of passports and other documents in order to ensure that the deportees return to their home countries as quickly as possible.
(5) Reviewing the System for Efficient Deportation Procedures and Prevention of Illegal Residents

As well as ensuring that the departure order system is fully utilized to encourage foreign residents to voluntarily appear, efficient deportation will also be undertaken by utilizing Article 65 of the Immigration Control Act promptly shifting from criminal procedures to deportation procedures.

Simplified procedures which do not go into the illegality will be considered for cases where illegal foreign residents have appeared voluntarily and who seek special permission to stay.

Consideration will be given to developing a legal principle to shoulder the costs for illegal residents' return to their home countries and to building frameworks to promote the deportation process, including cooperation with the relevant countries and airlines for prompt issuance of documents and arrangement of flights for their return. Regarding employment of foreign nationals the employer will be asked to verify the identity and status of residence of the foreign nationals, and consideration will also be given to making this into a legal requirement.

## (6) Consideration of the Conditions of Illegal Foreign Residents

Some of the illegal foreign residents deserve humanitarian consideration due to their relationships with Japanese nationals. If an illegal immigrant is the victim of trafficking in persons, which constitutes considerable abuse of his or her human rights, the immigration control administration will take appropriate measures by giving consideration to the rights and wishes of these illegal residents and by implementing legal measures.

## 3 Other Major Issues

To steadily implement this Basic Plan and properly provide immigration control services, the immigration control administration will continue its efforts to develop the current system, and further promote international cooperation and appropriate enforcement of the new refugee recognition system while ensuring appropriate enforcement of the alien registration system.
## Section 3 — Policy Initiatives in Accordance with the Basic Plan for Immigration Control (3rd Edition)

The Immigration Bureau intends to launch new policy initiatives in accordance with the Basic Plan for Immigration Control (3rd Edition). On June 16, 2005, the Diet passed the Bill for Partial Amendment of the Penal Code and Relevant Laws, which was submitted to the 162nd session of the Diet (see next chapter). The bill also amends part of the Immigration Control Act to incorporate countermeasures for trafficking in persons. On March 31, 2005, the immigration control administration disclosed new guidelines on granting a permanent status of residence to foreign nationals who have contributed to Japanese society.
## Chapter 2

## Amendment to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act

On June 16, 2005, the Diet passed the Bill for Partial Amendment of the Penal Code and Relevant Laws, which was submitted to the 162nd session of the Diet, and then promulgated on June 22 (Law No. 66 of 2005). Article 3 of the said Bill also amended the Immigration Control Act. An outline of this amendment is as follows.

## Section 1 — Purpose of the Amendment

In order to deal with trafficking in persons that severely abuses personal liberty, the United Nations adopted the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children supplementing the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the “Protocol on Human Trafficking”). In recent years, trafficking in persons and other similar antisocial behavior is also being carried out in Japan. Recognizing that trafficking in persons severely abuses human rights, the Japanese government has been taking comprehensive actions to prevent and eliminate trafficking in persons and to protect victims. In December 2004, the government developed the “Action Plan against Trafficking in Persons” which describes Japan’s intention to join the Protocol as soon as possible. (See next chapter, Section 1, 1.) The U.N. also adopted the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air supplementing the U.N. Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the “Smuggling Protocol”), which criminalizes the production of fraudulent travel certificates to enable attempts at illegal immigration. In this context, Japan needs to have proper domestic laws in place in accordance with the UN protocol. In December 2004, the Japanese government developed the Action Plan on Preventing Terrorism, which recommends the immigration control administration intensify its actions to prevent terrorists from entering Japan. (See next chapter, Section 2, 1.)

The amendment of the Immigration Control Act taking the above into consideration, established provisions in line with these UN protocols.

The amended Act was enforced on July 12, 2005 in principle, but the new rules on deportation (Article 24, Item 4, sub-item I of the amended Act) will become effective on December 10, 2005, while the requirements for carriers to check passports (Article 56-2 and Article 77, Item 1-2) will become effective on December 22.
## Section 2 — Outline of the Amendment of the Immigration Control Act

## Legislation for Measures against Trafficking in Persons Relating to the Protocol on Human Trafficking

The Immigration Bureau of the Ministry of Justice has been making efforts to protect the victims of trafficking in persons by flexibly operating the Immigration Control Act but the amendment of the Immigration Control Act now clearly stipulates protective measures for the victims of human trafficking. Since the amended Act makes it easier for victims to voluntarily report their victimization to the regional immigration bureaus, the government will be able to provide better and more effective protective measures for the victims of human trafficking.

## (1) Definition of Trafficking in Persons

Article 3 of the Protocol on Human Trafficking defines the concept of trafficking in persons. To protect the victims of trafficking in persons in Japan, it is necessary to define trafficking based on Japan’s legal concepts. In this context, the amended Act has Article 2, Item 7 that defines the concept of human trafficking. This definition employs Japan’s legal concepts and successfully covers the meaning as defined in the Protocol on Human Trafficking.

Referring to this new definition, the immigration control administration will be able to promptly and objectively identify victims and perpetrators of trafficking in persons.

## (2) Protecting the Victims of Trafficking in Persons

### A. Revising the Grounds for Denial of Landing and Deportation Applicable to the Victims of Trafficking in Persons

Even if a victim of trafficking in persons had been forced to engage in prostitution, the immigration control administration previously deported the victim in accordance with the deportation criteria of the former Immigration Control Act. However, since these victims had been forced to engage in prostitution or forced to work at sex-related or entertainment businesses against their will, thereby engaging in activities other than those permitted by the status of residence previously granted, it was considered unfair to deport these victims or to deny them permission for landing, and therefore the amended Immigration Control Act exempts them from the deportation procedures.

In other words, although foreign nationals who engage in prostitution will be denied
permission for landing, this regulation does not apply to “those under the control of another due to trafficking in persons”. Further, although foreign nationals who are exclusively involved in activities other than those permitted by the status of residence previously granted or engaged in prostitution will be deported from Japan, this regulation does not apply to “those under the control of another due to trafficking in persons”.

### B. Amendment of the Grounds for Permission for Landing and Special Permission for Residence Applicable to the Victims of Trafficking in Persons

Some victims of trafficking in persons are forced to enter Japan using a false passport, while others first enter Japan as legal immigrants and then become illegal immigrants in cases where their period of stay expired under the control of the perpetrator of human trafficking. If they go back to their home country, there is the possibility that they will be in danger of their lives from criminal organizations. In such case, Japan should offer such victims protection by granting a legal status of residence.

From this viewpoint, the amendment of the Immigration Control Act clearly states that a foreign national is entitled to special landing permission if “he has entered Japan under the control of another due to trafficking in persons”. This is a provision to protect the victims of trafficking in persons in the process of filing an application for landing in Japan. In addition, in accordance with the amended Act, the immigration control authorities may grant special permission to stay to a foreign national if “he resides in Japan under the control of another due to trafficking in persons” so that the foreign national will be able to stay in Japan. By providing such protection, it will be easier for victims of trafficking in persons to be able to voluntarily report their victimization to the immigration control authorities.

## (3) Measures on Human Trafficking Perpetrators (Additional Grounds for Denial of Landing and Deportation)

In the past, the Immigration Bureau could not deport foreign nationals or deny them landing in Japan on account of having committed human trafficking. The bureau was only able to deport foreign nationals if they had been sentenced to criminal punishment on the grounds of violating criminal laws or regulations related to trafficking in persons in Japan.

The amendment of the Immigration Control Act authorizes the Immigration Bureau to deport foreign nationals or refuse them landing in Japan if they have committed, abetted or assisted in trafficking in persons. According to the amendment of the Act, the