### Chapter 9. Discussions on Future Immigration Control Administration

## Section 1 ☐ Outline of the Immigration Policy Discussion Panel

The Immigration Policy Discussion Panel, a private advisory group for the Minister of Justice, was established for the purpose of allowing the Minister to hear opinions from experts from various sectors on immigration control administration. The first Immigration Policy Discussion Panel was started in November 1990. Since then, the Immigration Bureau has held six Immigration Policy Discussion Panels. Based on the discussions of the panel, the Immigration Bureau formulated the Basic Plan for Immigration Control which serves as the basis for policies on control over the entry and residence in Japan of foreign nationals, and is scheduled to formulate the 5th Basic Plan for Immigration Control in 2015.

## Section 2 ◆ 6th Immigration Policy Discussion Panel

The 6th Immigration Policy Discussion Panel started on March 7, 2013, studied the issues of the 4th Basic Plan for Immigration Control which were: (1) immigration control policy in light of the status of operation following the implementation of the residency management system for mid to long-term residents, (2) promotion of the acceptance of foreign nationals in professional and technical fields, (3) the role of the policy of acceptance of foreign nationals in light of a society with a declining population and (4) the promotion of measures against illegal residents and imposters residents toward the realization of a safe and secure society.

In April 2013, the “Sub-panel for Discussion on the System for the Acceptance of Foreign Nationals” was established under the Immigration Policy Discussion Panel. The sub-panel held collective discussions to review the points-based system for highly-skilled professionals (see Chapter 3 above). On May 20, 2013, the third meeting of the Immigration Policy Discussion Panel finalized the report entitled “Results of the Discussions to Review the System of Points-Based Preferential Immigration Treatment for Highly-Skilled Foreign Professionals”, which was later submitted to the Minister of Justice.

On the same day of May 20, 2013, the third meeting of the Immigration Policy Discussion Panel finalized the report entitled “Results of the Discussions on the Future Direction of Immigration Control Administration in an Era of 25 Million Visitors Visiting Japan”, which was submitted on the same day to the Minister of Justice.

In addition, the “Sub-panel for Discussion on the System for the Acceptance of Foreign Nationals” has been holding discussions on the system of technical intern training since November 2013, and the “Results of the Study on the Revision of the System of Technical Intern Training (Report)” were compiled and submitted to the Minister of Justice in June 2014.

Moreover, the Expert Meeting on Refugee Recognition System was established under the Immigration Policy Discussion Panel in October 2013 in order to ask the opinions of experts and to use the opinions in future studies, and discussions have been taking place since November 2013 on measures for prompt and proper refugee recognition.

Scene from the meeting of the Immigration Policy Discussion Panel