The statute of limitations on foreigners who enter Japan illegally is three years. The problem is that foreigners who enter legally and overstay their visas face a jail term no matter how long they have been in Japan. That leaves a big incentive for foreigners to stow away when entering Japan with plans to work illegally, says the Justice Ministry. So the Justice Ministry is preparing to send a bill to Parliament in January to fix what it calls a loophole.
Details have yet to be clarified, the spokesman says.
This follows a law last year that increased the maximum sentence for anyone who helps foreigners enter Japan illegally. Last year, authorities arrested more than 7,000 foreigners on charges of illegal entry, up by almost half from a year earlier. Most of those arrested were from China, Thailand, the Philippines or South Korea. And the problem is likely to get worse. Authorities are on alert for more stowaways as Asians flee their own recession-wracked countries to work in Japan.