## (2) Strengthened Residence Management System of the Regional Immigration Bureaus such as the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau

The new residency management system introduced in July 2012 adopted a system of notifications from mid to long-term residents and the organizations to which they belong, and requires more accurate control over the residence of foreign nationals by effectively utilizing information obtained through those notifications. It is, therefore, important to conduct necessary investigations based on information and other data notified to secure the accuracy of such information, in combination with appropriate operations to promptly input and organize such information.

It is efficient to centrally input and organize notified information and verify information held by the authorities against information notified at a single place in Japan, and the residency management information department of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau centrally processes information. If it is judged necessary to conduct an on-site inspection based on the results of verification or otherwise, the competent regional or district immigration bureau with jurisdiction over the domicile of respective mid to long-term residents would conduct an investigation into the relevant facts.

Strategic implementation of investigation into the facts can uncover imposter foreign residents, which would further lead to the adoption of effective measures against imposter foreign residents. For this reason, investigations are conducted mainly by immigration control officers. However, due to staff shortages, the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau added six immigration control officers as required.

## (3) Strengthened Refugee Status Recognition System

While the number of foreign nationals accorded recognition of refugee status in 2005 was 384, the number for 2006 sharply rose about 2.5 times to 954. The number for 2008 exceeded the level of 1,000, jumping to 1,599. Although it decreased to 1,388 for 2009 and 1,202 for 2010, the number for 2011 once again substantially increased to 1,867. For the first half of 2012, 1,081 applications, 1.2 times in comparison with the same period of previous year, were received.

The standard time for processing applications for recognition of refugee status was set at six months in July 2010, and it was announced that the regional and district immigration bureaus would make efforts to be fully prepared for processing applications within that period of time by March 2011. As a result of efforts to comply with the standard processing time through cooperative involvements within the regional and district immigration bureaus, the goal was achieved by reducing the average processing period for the fourth quarter (January to March 2012) to 5.4 months. However, the bureaus which had continued to dispatch temporary helpers over a long period of time had difficulty in processing day-to-day operations, while the number of applications for recognition of refugee status still continued to rise. Thus, it was necessary to set up a system that would enable prompt processing of applications for recognition of refugee status in order to comply with the standard processing time.

With respect to objections by those who are not recognized as refugees by reason that they do not fall within refugee criteria, objections received by the regional and district immigration bureaus across Japan are processed at two places being the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau and Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau. The number of objections, which was 183 for 2005 when the refugee examination counselors system was introduced has subsequently been increasing year by year. In 2009, it exceeded the level of 1,000, jumping to 1,156, and drastically increased to 1,719 in 2011. Although there is no standard processing time designated like applications for recognition of refugee status, the average processing time from the filing of an objection to the rendering of a decision for 2011 was protracted to 22.5 months.