TOKYO – The government of Japan has enacted a new law on Friday that allows foreign workers to stay in the country for longer period of time.
The law has replaced a controversy-triggering foreign trainee program with a new system that offers extended stays to foreign workers; the law comes at a time when the country is facing labor crisis coupled with a birth crisis.
As part of the changes, not everything is attractive for foreign workers as the law also allows revoking permanent residence status for foreigners who intentionally fail to pay taxes or social insurance premiums.
The introduction of the law implies that Japan has embarked on a transformative journey regarding immigration policy, with new laws set to take effect within three years of their promulgation.
The government seems to be on track to not only attract foreign talent but also to provide important support for inexperienced workers to transition into the specified skilled worker scheme, in a visible departure from the existing Technical Intern Training Program.
The existing system faced criticism from experts who branded it as a medium for importing cheap labor. Under the new provisions, workers will gain greater flexibility to change employers within the same industry, provided they meet criteria including tenure and proficiency in the Japanese language and professional skills.
In response to concerns over labor abuses and exploitation, private firms will be barred from facilitating transfers, and supervisory organizations accepting foreign candidates will be required to appoint external auditors to ensure transparency and oversight.
The legislation seems to trigger an increase in the number of permanent residents, but the revisions also introduce tougher measures to enable the government to revoke the status or have a permanent resident’s status withdrawn or changed.
The tax provision and revoking permanent resident’s status also sparked criticism from opposition lawmakers, with some saying individual cases should be heard before making a decision that has a significant impact on permanent residents’ lives, Bankok Post reported.
Responding to the criticism, Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi said the measures would apply only to “malicious cases” and that most holders would be unaffected. Meanwhile, advocacy groups including the pro-Seoul Korean Residents Union in Japan have urged the Japanese government not to abuse the steps that make permanent status holders feel continuously uneasy.
“We will persistently urge the government to review the clause of the immigration law…so that the legal status of foreign nationals who have long been living in Japan would not be unreasonably destabilized,” the group said in a statement.
As far as the statistics are concerned, Japan’s foreign population hit a new high of over 3.4 million in 2023, while the number of Japanese citizens fell by 595,000 people from a year earlier to 124,352,000 as of Oct 1, declining for the 13th straight year.
Japan’s birth crisis has skyrocketed in recent years, triggering the government to launch an official dating app to help people get married and start families. The decision was taken after the country witnessed record-low birth and marriage rates. The latest data released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare showed Japan only recorded 727,277 births last year.
