Silviase/jgov_v1.4_full_ann huggingface dataset:
Table 34 Changes in the number of deportees by nationality (place of origin)

(People)

YearNationality(Place of Origin)	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Total	41,926	33,192	33,018	27,913	23,931
China	13,408	11,209	10,251	7,516	6,805
Philippines	5,207	4,961	5,453	5,128	4,385
R.O. Korea	5,696	3,962	4,193	3,798	2,873
Indonesia	2,009	1,241	1,672	1,452	1,596
Thailand	2,527	1,930	1,845	1,553	1,260
Sri Lanka	1,005	821	1,139	1,090	1,046
Viet Nam	799	564	864	1,018	1,023
Bangladesh	1,223	1,271	1,076	847	627
Peru	799	542	655	518	495
India	568	527	568	458	471
Others	8,685	6,164	5,302	4,535	3,350

(*) "China" does not include Taiwan, Hong Kong or others.

According to statistics by means of deportation, 96.5% of foreign nationals who had been issued a deportation order were deported at their own expense ("voluntary departure"), making up the vast majority. On the other hand, the number of foreign nationals who need to be individually deported at national expense has been increasing, and the number of foreign nationals individually deported at national expense was 383 in 2008. (Table 35)

Table 35 Changes in the number of deportees by means of deportation

(People)

Year Measure of Deportation	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Total	41,926	33,192	33,018	27,913	23,931
Voluntary departure	40,480	31,811	31,911	26,818	23,093
Deportation in accordance with Article 59	1,313	1,177	852	690	407
Deportation individually at the expense of the government	119	192	239	361	383
Deportation in group at the expense of the government	-	-	-	-	-
Others	7	-	-	-	-
Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons	7	12	16	44	48

$ ^{*} $ 1) Deportation in groups at the expense of the government includes cases where both the Japanese government and the deportee's homeland government bore the expenses.

$ ^{*} $ 2 “Others” are cases of deportation at the expense of the government of each deportees.

## (1) Deportation at the Expense of the Government

As foreign nationals violating the Act stay longer and have more diverse lifestyles, an increasing number of foreign nationals who have been issued with a deportation order suffer from illness, refuse deportation for various reasons, or remain in detention for a long period of time because they cannot afford travel expenses. Of these foreign nationals, the number of those deported at national expense in consideration of individual circumstances increased by 22 (up
6.1%) from 361 in 2007 to 383 in 2008.

In addition, Chinese illegal immigrants detected at the border as collective stowaways were deported as a group in the past. However, collective deportation has not been conducted since 2004 due to a significant decrease in the number of collective stowaways detected.

## (2) Deportation at the Expense of the Foreign National (Voluntary Departure)

Deportees who were deported at their own expense decreased by 3,725 (down 13.9%) from 2007 to 23,093 in 2008.

Although around 95% of the deported foreign nationals are deported at their own expense every year, many do not fulfill requirements for deportation. For example, they do not possess a passport, an airplane ticket, or enough money for travel costs, causing the process to take a considerable amount of time.

In order to deport such nationals as quickly as possible, the Immigration Bureau not only carries out deportation procedures but also instructs the foreign nationals to make contact with relevant people in Japan or in their home countries in order to obtain an airplane ticket or money for travel costs. In cases where a foreign national does not possess a passport, the Immigration Bureau makes an application for the early issue of a passport to the relevant foreign mission in Japan. (Table 36)

Table 36 Changes in the number of deportees by voluntary departure by nationality (place of origin)

YearNationality(Place of Origin)	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Total	40,480	31,811	31,911	26,818	23,093
China	12,919	10,621	9,831	7,274	6,686
Philippines	5,101	4,810	5,340	4,988	4,242
R.O. Korea	5,656	3,912	4,155	3,763	2,836
Indonesia	1,989	1,224	1,663	1,438	1,549
Thailand	2,370	1,865	1,766	1,503	1,214
Viet Nam	795	558	861	1,011	1,008
Sri Lanka	929	766	1,089	1,021	986
Bangladesh	1,211	1,258	1,068	831	610
India	561	518	558	454	465
Peru	780	520	629	482	460
Others	8,169	5,759	4,951	4,053	3,037

$ ^{*} $ “China” does not include Taiwan, Hong Kong or others.

## (3) Deportation at the Expense of and under the Responsibility of Carriers

Any carrier that transported a foreign national who is issued with a deportation order must send him/her back at their own expense and under their own responsibility (the deportation specified in Article 59 of the Immigration Control Act) under certain conditions (Note). The number of foreign nationals deported in this way in 2008 was 407, having decreased by 283 (down
(Note) Carriers are, similarly to captains of ships, in a position to govern their crew and passengers, and imposed the prescribed responsibilities and duties under the Immigration Control Act. Among these duties, they are obligated to send foreign nationals falling under certain requirements to the area outside Japan promptly under their own responsibility and at their own expense (Article 59 of the Act).

For example, persons who are denied landing and issued with a deportation order but fail to leave, or who have landed with special permission for landing but stay longer than the authorized period of stay, fall under the foregoing category.

## 5 Departure Orders

## (1) Outline

The departure order system was newly established by the amendment of the Immigration Control Act of 2004 for the purpose of encouraging illegal foreign residents to appear at immigration offices voluntarily. It entered into force on December 2, 2004. Under the system, if a foreign national who appears at an immigration office voluntarily satisfies certain requirements, he/she may depart from Japan without being detained in accordance with simple procedures, and the landing denial period for him/her will be shortened from five years to one year.

## (2) Investigation of Violations

The number of foreign nationals who were handed over from immigration control officers to immigration inspectors through the departure order procedures was 8,480 in 2008, accounting for 21.5% of the total number of foreign nationals violating the Immigration Control Act.

### A. The Number of Foreign Nationals Ordered to Depart by Nationality (Place of Origin)

According to statistics by nationality (place of origin), the largest number was from China (3,130 accounting for 36.9% of the total), followed by the Philippines (1,202 accounting for 14.2%), R.O. Korea (1,139 accounting for 13.4%), Indonesia (592 accounting for 7.0%), and Viet Nam (476 accounting for 5.6%), and these top five countries account for 77.1% of the total. (Table 37)

Table 37 Number of foreign nationals handed over under a departure order by nationality (place of origin) (2008)

Nationality (Place of Origin)	Article	Total	24-(ii)-3	24-(iv)-(b)	24-(vi)	24-(vi)-2	24-(vii)
Total	8,480	0	8,002	216	0	262
China	3,130	0	3,064	53	0	13
R.O. Korea	1,139	0	1,113	5	0	21
Philippines	1,202	0	1,079	33	0	90
Indonesia	592	0	513	63	0	16
Viet Nam	476	0	461	3	0	12
Sri Lanka	247	0	230	10	0	7
Thailand	229	0	196	14	0	19
Peru	211	0	184	0	0	27
Mongolia	164	0	148	14	0	2
Malaysia	133	0	133	0	0	0
Others	957	0	881	21	0	55

$ ^{*} $ “China” does not include Taiwan, Hong Kong or others.
### B. The Number of Foreign Nationals Ordered to Depart by Applied Articles

According to statistics by applied articles, the number of suspects violating Article 24, (iv) (b) of the Immigration Control Act was the largest at 8,002, accounting for 94.4% of the total. This was followed by 262 suspects violating Article 24, (vii) of said Act, and 216 suspects violating Article 24, (vi) of said Act.

## (3) Examination

### A. Receipt and Findings of Cases

Cases of departure orders received in 2008 numbered 8,480, accounting for 21.5% of the total number of violations received. As those subject to a departure order and wishing to depart from Japan voluntarily appear at a regional immigration bureau, they are promptly processed after being handed over by immigration control officers.

### B. Issuance of a Written Departure Order

The number of foreign nationals who were recognized as subject to a departure order and to whom a written departure order was issued, was 8,477 in 2008.

According to statistics by nationality (place of origin), the largest number was from China (3,136 accounting for 37.0% of the total), followed by North and South Korea (1,142, accounting for 13.5%), and the Philippines (1,141, accounting for 13.5%), the top five countries accounting for 76.5% of the total. (Table 38)

Table 38 Changes in the number of issuance of written departure orders by nationality (place of origin)

YearNationality(Place of Origin)	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Total	918	12,227	11,100	9,691	8,477
China	252	3,777	3,516	3,153	3,136
Korea	133	2,206	1,992	1,616	1,142
Philippines	276	1,742	1,582	1,486	1,141
Indonesia	46	670	701	623	590
Viet Nam	19	304	343	359	472
Sri Lanka	15	295	349	312	238
Thailand	36	507	429	313	222
Peru	19	254	250	239	212
Mongolia	18	273	240	210	153
Nepal	17	165	212	133	131
Others	87	2,034	1,486	1,247	1,040

(*1) “China” does not include Taiwan, Hong Kong or others.

(*2) The number of issuances in 2004 is counted after December 2, 2004 (when departure order system was in effect).

## (4) Confirmation of Departure

Foreign nationals who are recognized as subject to a departure order are required, similarly to foreign nationals departing within the period of stay, to submit one copy of an ED card to the immigration inspector to receive a seal of departure, and to submit their own written departure order.
# Chapter 3 Recognition of Refugee Status

Due to the recognition that it is important for Japan to fulfill its obligations in the international community by accepting refugees, Japan became a signatory to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1981 (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention") and the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1982 (hereinafter referred to as the "Protocol"), and as a result, also established a system for recognition of refugee status (Note). In recent years, however, the number of foreign nationals seeking refugee status from Japan has been increasing, as the world is rapidly changing due to regional conflicts occurring around the world and the instability of a number of countries. Today, Japanese people pay more attention to refugee-related issues than before.

Refugee Travel Document

In light of these circumstances, Japan intends to review the refugee recognition system from the perspective of proper and prompt protection of refugees through fairer procedures. The Act for Partial Amendment of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act was promulgated on June 2, 2004, which included establishment of the system for permitting provisional stay and the refugee examination counselors system. The Act has been in force since May 16, 2005.

The Immigration Bureau has further improved and strengthened its organizational structure and investigation system, as well as properly implementing the new refugee recognition system, in order to handle applications for refugee status quickly and appropriately.

(Note) Japan became a signatory to the Convention on October 3, 1981 and to the Protocol on January 1, 1982. The Convention and the Protocol came into effect in Japan on January 1, 1982.

## Section 1 ☐ Application for Refugee Status and Findings

## 1 Application for Refugee Status

The total number of applications for refugee status during the period from 1982 through to the end of 2008 was 7,297.
Looking at the change in the number of applications in recent years, we find that it hovered in the 300 to 400 range until 2005, but the number of applications increased significantly in 2006, reaching 954, and it reached 1,599 in 2008, which is nearly double that in 2007, the highest number since the refugee recognition system was established. (Table 39)

Table 39 Changes in the number of Convention refugee applicants /findings and protected refugees

Year	1982~2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Total
Division
Applied	3,118	426	384	954	816	1,599	7,297
Findings	Recognized (*1)	315	15	46	34	41	57	508
Denied	2,230	294	249	389	446	791	4,399
Withdrawn	402	41	32	48	61	87	671
Total	2,947	350	327	471	548	935	5,578
Humanitarian permission to stay (*2)	275 (*3)	9	97	53	88	360	882

(*1) The number of recognized persons includes those who were rejected to be recognized as refugees,

but were recognized as the result of filing of an objection.

(*2) “Humanitarian permission to stay” are cases where rejected applicants were permitted to stay in Japan owing to humanitarian reason.

(*3) The number of humanitarian permission to stay before 2003 is the total number from 1991 to 2003.

According to the statistics on the number of applications of Convention refugee applicants in 2008 by nationality, the largest number of applications was made by nationals from Myanmar (979), Turkey (156), and Sri Lanka (90).

## 2 Findings of Applications for Refugee Status

During the period from 1982 through to the end of 2008, the number of applicants who were recognized as refugees was 508, while the number of applicants who were not recognized as such was 4,399. The number of those who withdrew their applications was 671. The proportion of those recognized as refugees to the total number of applicants (the number of those recognized as refugees to the sum of the number of those recognized as refugees and those not recognized as such) was 10.4%.

Looking at the change in the number of those recognized as refugees in recent years, we find that it hovered in the 10 to 20 range every year until 2004, but the number increased significantly in 2005, reaching 46, and it reached 57 in 2008, an increase by 16 from the previous year.

Further, the immigration administration should be allowed to make exceptional arrangements within its authority for applicants who have special extenuating circumstances, even if they have not been recognized as refugees who fall under the definitions of refugees specified in the Convention and the Protocol. For example, if an applicant, who is denied recognition of refugee status, is unable to return to his/her home country due to situational problems in his/her country or has some other special reason requiring that he/she stay in Japan, special arrangements may be made flexibly on a case-by-case basis, taking the situation into consideration within the Japanese immigration control framework. The total number of applicants who were allowed to stay in Japan as a result of such
special arrangements was 882. In 2008, 360 applicants were allowed to stay in Japan, which was the largest number in the past. (Table 39)

## 3 Implementation of the System for Permitting Provisional Stay

On May 16, 2005, the amended Immigration Control Act, revising the previous refugee recognition system, came into force.

In the new refugee recognition system, a system that permits provisional stay for foreign nationals who are illegal residents and who have applied for refugee status was established in order to stabilize their legal position. Deportation procedures will be suspended for those foreign nationals who have been granted permission for provisional stay and refugee recognition procedures will take priority without the need for detention of the foreign nationals. The primary requirements for permitting provisional stay are that: (1) there is insufficient reason to suspect that they fall under specific grounds for deportation; (2) they have applied for recognition of refugee status within six months of their date of landing in Japan (for those for whom grounds for being a refugee have arisen during their stay in Japan, the date such fact became known to them); (3) they have entered Japan directly from an area where they feared they would be persecuted; (4) they have not been sentenced to imprisonment with or without work for committing particular crime(s) prescribed under the Penal Code, etc. after they entered Japan; (5) no written deportation order has been issued to them; and (6) there are no particular reasons to suspect that they may take flight.

Looking at implementation after the system for permitting provisional stay was established, the cases in which provisional stay was permitted numbered 308 in the past, while the cases where permission was denied numbered 1,833. In 2008, the number of permissions was 57, and the number of denials was 599. (Chart 20)
# Section 2 Filing of Objections

## 1 Filing of Objections

The total number of objections filed by applicants who were denied refugee status was 2,993 during the period from 1982, the year in which the refugee recognition system was established, through to the end of 2008.

Looking at the change from 2004 to 2008, the number was on a decreasing trend: 209 in 2004 and 183 in 2005. However, the number has been on a significant increasing trend in recent years: 340 in 2006, 362 in 2007 and 429 in 2008. (Table 40)

Table 40 Changes in the number of filings of objections and decisions of the Minister of Justice

Year	1982~2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Total
Division
Not recognized as a refugee	2,230	294	249	389	446	791	4,399
Filing of objection	1,470	209	183	340	362	429	2,993
Decision	With reason	11	6	15	12	4	17	65
Without reason	1,108	155	162	127	183	300	2,035
Withdrawn	254	23	18	33	34	34	396

(*) As the procedure of “filing of an objection” was established by the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, as amended, that was implemented on May 16, 2005, the application of objection made prior to the implementation of said Act was deemed to be replaced by “filing of an objection” after the implementation.

## 2 Finding of Objections

Among the objections filed by applicants who failed to obtain refugee status, 2,496 of them were handled during the period from 1982 through to the end of 2008. According to the statistics, 65 objections were considered to be with reasonable grounds and the applicants were granted refugee status. However, 2,035 objections were found to be without reasonable grounds and the remaining 396 objections were terminated for reasons such as the departure of or withdrawal by the foreign national who had filed the objection.

Looking at the change from 2004 until 2008, the number of objections that were considered to be with reasonable grounds increased in 2004 (6) and in 2005 (15). However, it decreased subsequently in 2006 (12) and in 2007 (4), and again increased in 2008 (17).

Those that were considered to be without reasonable grounds decreased in 2004 (155), in 2005 (162) and in 2006 (127). However, this number was 183 in 2007 and turned into a significant increase of 300 in 2008. (Table 40)
# Section 3 ◆ Purpose of the Refugee Examination Counselors System and its Implementation

The Refugee Examination Counselors System was started in May 2005 in order to ensure the equity and neutrality of objection filing procedures. This procedure made it mandatory for the Minister of Justice to hear the opinions of refugee examination counselors when making decisions on objections filed against denial of refugee status.

The Act provides that refugee examination counselors shall be appointed from among persons of reputable character who are capable of making fair judgments on the objection filed in connection with denial of refugee status and who have an academic background in law or current international affairs. They are appointed by the Minister of Justice on recommendations from the UNHCR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Japan Federation of Bar Association, Refugee Assistance Headquarters, etc.

The Act provides that the Minister of Justice must hear the opinions of refugee examination counselors on all the cases in which an objection has been filed. Prior to this process, a process of oral statement of opinions by a petitioner, etc. in which a petitioner, etc. states his/her opinions, or a process of questions in which a refugee inquirer or a refugee examination counselor questions the petitioner, is implemented.

In 2008, the number of oral statements of opinion and processes of questions was 311 in total. This includes four occasions held for the second time and consecutively (so-called consecutive dates) concerning such cases.

After the oral statement of opinions and the process of questions, refugee examination counselors exchange opinions with the other refugee examination counselors, then draw up a written opinion and submit it to the Minister of Justice. The format of the written opinion is optional. In some cases, the opinions of refugee examination counselors are the same, and in some cases their opinions are disparate.

Cases in which written opinions were presented by refugee examination counselors numbered 302 in 2008.

To date, there have been no cases in which the Minister of Justice has made a disposition not in conformity with the opinions of the refugee examination counselors (should they differ in opinion, then the opinions of the majority of the counselors prevail).

## Section 4 ◆ Landing Permission for Temporary Refuge

Landing permission for temporary refuge is granted by the immigration inspector under the prescribed procedures when it is considered that foreign nationals on board a ship, etc. may
possibly fall under the category of refugees, and that it is reasonable to permit them to land temporarily.

Looking at the status of said permission in the past, such permission was granted to 5,668 Vietnamese boat people who had filed applications from 1982 until 1993. After that, no application was made by Vietnamese boat people. With respect to applications made by persons other than boat people, 65 applications were made in the past five years (from 2004 until 2008), and 4 applications were granted such permission. (Table 41)

Table 41 Changes in the number of landing permissions for temporary refuge

(Cases)

Division Year	Boat people	Others
Recognized	Applications	Recognized	Denied	Withdrawn
Total	5,668	169	39	125	5
1982	1,037	22	22	-	-
1983	798	8	3	5	-
1984	503	5	1	4	-
1985	435	17	-	17	-
1986	330	6	1	4	1
1987	145	1	-	1	-
1988	219	1	-	1	-
1989	1,909	-	-	-	-
1990	155	4	-	4	-
1991	20	-	-	-	-
1992	100	-	-	-	-
1993	17	-	-	-	-
1994	-	-	-	-	-
1995	-	-	-	-	-
1996	-	1	-	1	-
1997	-	4	-	2	2
1998	-	6	1	5	-
1999	-	-	-	-	-
2000	-	8	-	6	-
2001	-	8	1	9	-
2002	-	11	6	5	-
2003	-	2	-	2	-
2004	-	-	-	-	-
2005	-	-	-	-	-
2006	-	6	-	5	1
2007	-	15	4	11	-
2008	-	44	-	43	1

$ ^{*} $ Two applications in 2000 were dealt with in 2001.