EXCLUSIVE: Ministry Aiming to Increase Immigration Officers by Over 500

August 28, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's Justice Ministry is poised to include in its fiscal 2019 budget request funds for a plan to raise the number of immigration officers by more than 500 in preparation for expected increases in foreign tourists and workers in the country, Jiji Press learned Monday.

The plan comes as the workloads of immigration officers are seen increasing partly because the government plans to introduce a new resident status allowing foreigners to work in Japan, informed sources said.

Currently, there are about 3,140 immigration officers in Japan, with their duties including passport and visa screenings.

The ministry intends to create a new immigration-related government agency next April by upgrading its Immigration Bureau, planning to submit relevant legislation to an extraordinary parliamentary session seen to be convened in autumn.

The envisioned agency is likely to have a division in charge of issuing residence permits and carrying out immigration security and a division for promoting measures to support foreign residents and tackle foreigners illegally staying in Japan, according to the sources.

As of the end of 2017, the number of foreigners staying in the country stood at about 2.56 million, up 7.5 pct from a year before.

The ministry plans to seek a total of about 801.9 billion yen under the government's general-account budget for fiscal 2019 from April, up 5.1 pct from the amount earmarked under the fiscal 2018 budget, the sources said. It will allocate funds mainly for measures to deal with land plots whose owners are unknown and counterterrorism measures ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, as well as immigration-related steps. Jiji Press