also an important task in terms of immigration control administration along with measures against illegal residents. “Imposter residents” appear on the surface to be legal residents, which makes it difficult to accurately ascertain their situation, but their increase in numbers is a cause for concern since they substantively orchestrate illegal 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 Immigration Bureau makes efforts to strictly respond to foreign nationals falling under the grounds of deportation, by revoking their status of residence and then enforcing the deportation procedures against them.

In addition, in recent years, there are a significant number of cases where foreign nationals use forged or altered residence cards or who abuse the applications for refugee recognition, and since these methods are becoming more malicious and sophisticated, the Immigration Bureau closely collaborates with the police and other related organizations, and in malicious cases, the Immigration Bureau proactively seeks criminal punishment and deals strictly with such persons, and also strives to work on measures to uncover the situation of these cases.

## ② Crackdowns on Imposter Foreign Residents, etc

## (1) Reinforcement of the Collection and Analysis of Information

In order to promote measures against imposter foreign residents, it is very important to carry out further effective crackdowns by uncovering such residents based on the collection and analysis of information.

For this reason, as well as continuously and accurately collecting and investigating information submitted by the foreign nationals and their organizations, the Immigration Bureau utilizes and reinforces the analysis of information received from the general public on foreign nationals illegally staying, information received through information exchange with the police and other ministries and agencies, and information provided by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on notifications of the employment of foreign nationals in order to be able to effectively find and expose imposter foreign residents, and to strictly deal with them.

## (2) Strict Handling Through Reinforced Exposure and Proactive Application of Law

In order to work on proactive exposure of imposter residents, if as a result of an investigation, a foreign national who is residing with a status of residence which has restrictions on the contents of the activities in Japan is discovered to be engaging solely in work activities which do not belong to the status of residence that was granted, deportation procedures will be proactively executed against such foreign national as a violator engaging in unauthorized activities.

In addition, even if a foreign national does not fall under the grounds for deportation, the Immigration Bureau has been making efforts to reinforce crackdowns through such means as having immigration control officers and immigration inspectors cooperate to conduct investigations into the actual situation of foreign nationals, and if he or she is found to fall under the grounds for revocation of the status of residence, his or her status of residence will be revoked and he or she may become subject to the deportation procedures.