of immigration examination is being promoted by introducing secondary immigration examination, and installation or addition of automatic gates.

- In order to protect people’s lives and safety, it is very important to unfailingly prevent the entry of terrorists disguised as tourists at the border. Therefore, strict immigration examination continues to be implemented through the use of personal identification information, the ICPO’s Database on Lost and Stolen Passports, the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS), etc.

## ☐ Promotion of acceptance of human resources in specialized fields

• On March 31, 2009, the ministerial ordinance on the criteria for a status of residence of “research” was revised to review the criteria for landing permission granted to foreign nationals who intend to engage in activities with a “research” in an office located in Japan as an intra-company transferee. The revised ordinance became effective on July 1, 2009.

- The formats of various application forms for immigration and residence were altered in July 2009, and since then, organizations to which applicants belong are now obliged to fill in an application form partially. Consequently, foreign nationals who work for a company of over a certain size, such as a listed company, are required to submit only an application form since September of the same year, in order to drastically simplify the documents to be submitted. Additionally, it was decided that application for a certificate of resident eligibility should be processed quickly within about ten days from the date of receipt of application.

## ○ Measures on training and technical internship programs

- For the purpose of strengthening protection for trainees and technical interns, the review of training and internship programs has promoted in accordance with the revised Immigration Control Act promulgated on July 15, 2009, and new training and internship programs were initiated on July 1, 2010. Thus, efforts to ensure the proper programs have been promoted.

- Under the provisions of the ministerial ordinance of the Ministry of Justice, the Immigration Bureau may identify a “misconduct” with regard to organizations that have acted inappropriately regarding training and technical internship and suspend such organizations from accepting trainees and technical interns for three years. 360 organizations were recognized to engage in “misconduct” during the year 2009.

## Proper and smooth acceptance of foreign college students and pre-college students

In July 2008, the gist of the "300,000 Foreign Students Plan" was developed by concerned ministries headed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. In January 2009, the Discussion Meeting on Immigration Control Policy, which was a private consultative group for the Minister of Justice, summarized the "Proposal on Acceptance of College Students and Pre-college Students". Based on the above concept and proposal, it was decided that foreign students graduating from a college, etc., shall be allowed to engage in job-search activities for one year at the longest from April 2009. In July 2010, two types of status of residence, "College Student" and "Pre-college Student", were integrated in accordance with the revised Immigration Control Act.

## ○ Implementation of measures against illegal and false residents

- There has been a steady decrease in the number of overstayers, which seems to be the outcome of the past efforts. However, it is estimated that there are still over 110,000 potential illegal residents, and efforts to further decrease the number of illegal residents have been promoted by strengthening detection, reinforcing collection and analysis of information on illegal residents, and promoting voluntary appearance.

- False residents means “foreign nationals who disguise themselves as legal residents by falsifying their status of residence and purpose of stay by means of fake marriage, fake students, etc., and work illegally in Japan”. Because they actually appear to be “legal residents”, precise data on their actual number has not been obtained. The existence of false residents abusing the residence status system cannot be overlooked, and may shake the foundation of the immigration control administration. Therefore, the Immigration Bureau is striving to strengthen the detection of those who engage in activities other than those permitted, and reinforce collection and analysis of information.

## ☐ Efforts toward proper treatment of detainees

- In immigration detention centers etc., proper treatment of trainees has been ensured with sufficient attention given to human rights by giving them as much freedom as possible. In July 2010, the “Immigration Detention Facilities Visiting Committee” was established with the aim of ensuring further transparency in security treatment, and improving and enhancing operations of immigration detention centers, etc.

## ☐ Proper operation of special permission to stay

- Various measures, including formulation and announcement of the “Guidelines Relating to Special Permission to stay” and publication of the “Cases where Special Permission to Stay was granted and the Cases where Special Permission to Stay was denied”, have been taken to enhance the transparency and predictability of the special permission to stay. In July 2009, the said guidelines were revised for the purpose of showing how to judge whether special permission to stay should be granted or not. Since then, continuous efforts for proper operation have been made.