## (2) Preparation of an Environment Facilitating Voluntary Appearance

The Immigration Bureau introduced a departure order system as a measure to encourage illegal foreign residents existing in various parts of the country to appear at the immigration office voluntarily, and took other measures, including a revision of the “Guidelines on Special Permission to Stay in Japan” $ (^{*1}) $ and publication of such cases, as well as public relations activities to encourage voluntary appearance at an immigration office.

Unlike the deportation procedures, the departure order system is a system under which foreign nationals illegally staying beyond their authorized period of stay who satisfy certain requirements, such as having appeared at the immigration office voluntarily to swiftly leave Japan, are allowed to depart from Japan in accordance with simplified procedures without detention (see Part I, Chapter 2, Section 5, subsection 5). During 2013, a total of 2,479 foreign nationals left Japan under this system.

Meanwhile, the “Guidelines on Special Permission to Stay in Japan” which were approved and announced in 2006 were revised in July 2009 in order to increase the transparency of the operations. The revised guidelines show that if an illegal foreign resident appears at the immigration office voluntarily, this is considered a positive factor in the judgment on adjustment of their legal status.

The Immigration Bureau is also taking measures to further publicize the system and the revised guidelines on special permission to stay in Japan by conducting active public relations activities for the departure order system, improving the environment for voluntary appearances, and aiming to encourage illegal foreign residents to voluntarily appear at the immigration office $ (^{*2}) $ .

## Section 2 ◆ Implementation of Measures against Imposter Foreign Residents

## $ ^{1} $ Countermeasures against Imposter Foreign Residents, etc

The term “imposter foreign resident” refers to foreign nationals who falsify their status of residence and their purpose of stay in the form of fake marriages, fake study, fake employment, etc., and illegally receive permission to stay by forging or illegally altering documents or using fraudulent documents; and engage in illegal work pretending to be bona fide legal residents as they are staying in the country with a legitimate status of residence. The implementation of countermeasures against illegal foreign residents together with countermeasures against foreign nationals staying beyond their authorized period of stay forms one of the principal tasks in immigration control administration. Since “imposter foreign residents” appear superficially to be “legal residents”, it is difficult to accurately identify their actual situations, and there are concerns that this number will increase as a means of planning entry and residence in Japan.

The existence of imposter foreign residents abusing the status of residence system cannot be overlooked, and moreover, has the potential to destabilize the foundation of Japan’s immigration control administration, and therefore, the Immigration Bureau is striving to strengthen its countermeasures. The