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Outline of Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law

Requirements for Immigration by Foreigners

Foreigners are required to hold a valid passport for entry into the territory of Japan: provided that foreigners who are crew or who become crew in Japan may enter into Japan without a valid passport if they hold a valid crewman’s pocket-ledger.

Any person who intends to land in Japan without obtaining a stamp of landing permit or a landing permit from the immigration examination officer is not allowed to enter Japan.

Persons who have entered Japan in violation of these requirements may be forcibly removed from Japan and subject to punishment as illegal immigrants.

Landing Formalities for Foreigners

Foreigners who intend to land in Japan are first required to pass a landing examination by an immigration examination officer at a port of embarkation/disembarkation set forth in the ministerial ordinance of the Ministry of Justice in principle.

The landing examination conducted by an immigration examination officer is indispensable in preventing the entry of foreigners who are undesirable to Japan, such as illegal immigrants, persons whose purpose of entry is questionable and to implement fair immigration control. Foreigners who intend to land in Japan are allowed to land lawfully only when they pass the landing examination and receive a landing permit stamp in their passports. Foreigners who do not pass the landing examination cannot land lawfully and if they land without obtaining a permit, they fall under the category of illegal immigrants or illegal landing and become subject to forcible removal or criminal punishment.

When foreigners want to land in Japan, they need to satisfy the following five conditions:

1. They must hold a valid passport in which a visa issued by the consulate of Japan or others is stamped;
2. The activity relating to the application (the activity that they intend to conduct in Japan) is not fraudulent;
3. The activity that they intend to conduct in Japan falls under any one of the resident status categories set forth in the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law and, in case of a resident status to which the landing examination standard applies, the status conforms to such standard.
4. Their planned period of stay conforms to the provisions of the implementing rules of the said law that sets forth the period of stay.
5. They do not fall under one of the reasons for refusal of landing set forth in Article 5 of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law.

If foreigners are considered not to conform to the conditions for landing, as a result of the landing examination conducted by the immigration examination officer at the port of embarkation/disembarkation, they are transferred to a special examiner to receive an oral examination.

Foreigners who are considered by the special examiner to conform to the conditions for landing as a result of their oral examination are allowed to land immediately, however, foreigners who are considered not to conform to the conditions for landing may select to accept the finding by the special examiner or to file an objection and if they accept the finding, an order of displacement is issued. If they elect to file an objection, they may file the objection with the Minister of Justice within three days of the finding.

If the objection is filed by foreigners who are considered by the special examiner not to conform to the conditions for landing, the Minister of Justice judges whether the filing of such objection has grounds, that is to say, whether the foreigners conform to the conditions for landing. If, as the result of judgment, they are considered to have grounds, they are allowed to land immediately, however, if they are considered to have no grounds, they are ordered to leave Japan. If foreigners who are ordered to leave Japan fail to do so immediately, they are subject to forcible removal.

Further, even it is judged that the filing of an objection has no ground, the Minister of Justice may permit the landing of the foreigners under extraordinary circumstances (the so-called extraordinary landing permit) if it is considered that a special circumstance exists in which the landing is to be permitted.

As mentioned above, Japan’s landing examination procedure for foreigners assures opportunities in which foreigners may themselves assert and demonstrate sufficiently that they conform to the conditions for landing.

Visa, Resident Status Approval Certificate

(i) Visa

In principle, foreigners who intend to land in Japan are required to hold a valid passport and in addition, have a visa issued by the Japanese consulate or other authority in their passports.

A visa has characteristics that confirm that a foreign passport is valid and issued lawfully by a competent government authority and in addition, to recommend that the entry into and residence in Japan by the foreigners in question is suitable under the condition described in the visa.

In Japan, the issuance of a visa is the mandate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

(ii) Resident Status Approval Certificate

The Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law provides that when foreigners intend to land in Japan for any resident status other than a short stay, the Minister of Justice may examine, in advance and based on the application, whether or not their resident status conforms to the conditions of landing and may issue a document that certifies that the activity which the foreigners intend to engage in conforms to their resident status. Such a document is called the Resident Status Approval Certificate. The Resident Status Approval Certificate system is designed to ensure that the immigration examination procedures are conducted simply, promptly and efficiently.

A Resident Status Approval Certificate is issued by the Minister of Justice when the Minister examines in advance whether the activities that a foreigner who intends to land in Japan and wishes to engage in, conform to the condition for landing (the requirements of relevancy and conformity to the standards of resident status) and when the Minister judges that these conditions have been satisfied. Furthermore, even if the activities that a foreigner desires to conduct in Japan are considered to be relevant to the resident status and to conform to the standards, the Resident Status Approval Certificate is not issued if it is proved that the foreigner in question does not conform to other conditions for landing, such as that the foreigner fails on other reasons for refusal to land.

When foreigners to whom a Resident Status Approval Certificate is issued present their Resident Status Approval Certificate to the Japanese consulate or other authority and apply for a visa, the visa will be issued promptly since they are treated as persons for whom an advance examination on the conditions of landing, with regard to their resident status, has already been completed by the Minister of Justice.

Furthermore, since foreigners who present such Certificate at the port of embarkation/disembarkation are treated by the immigration examination officer as persons who conform to the conditions of landing with regard to their resident status, the landing examination is conducted simply and promptly.

Reasons for Refusal of Landing

It is an established principle of international law that a nation has authority to prohibit foreigners who are undesirable to a nation from entering its country or permitting foreigners to enter upon conditions that the nation considers appropriate and each nation makes it a rule to refuse entry or landing to foreigners who may endanger the public health, public order, national security and so on.

Categories of foreigners who are regarded as undesirable for entry to Japan are, according to the criteria for refusal of entry, foreigners who fall into the following specific types:

1. Persons for whom permission to land is not desirable from the viewpoint of health and sanitation;
2. Persons for whom permission to land is not desirable because they are regarded as having a strong anti-social nature;
3. Persons for whom permission to land is not desirable since they have records of having been forcibly removed from Japan;
4. Persons for whom permission to land is not desirable because they may disturb the public security of Japan;
5. Persons whose landing is not permitted, based on the principle of reciprocity.

Embarkation Procedure for Foreigners

Foreigners who intend to embark from Japan are required to have their embarkation confirmed by an immigration examination officer. The confirmation of embarkation is to confirm the embarkation of foreigners on an individual basis and to identify the person precisely. However, this procedure does not regulate the embarkation itself.

Confirmation of embarkation is conducted, in principle, by affixing a stamp on a passport held by a foreigner however, where foreigners have been issued with written permission of entry, this document is collected from them. Furthermore, in the case of embarkation with a re-entry permit, it is necessary to embark with confirmation thereof.

As a consequence of embarkation of foreigners, their resident status and resident period that they acquired during their stay in Japan are extinguished. However, in the case of embarkation with a re-entry permit, previous resident status and resident period are considered to continue as in the past if they re-enter within the period of validity of the re-entry permit in question.

Any person who has embarked without having their embarkation confirmed, or who has attempted to do so, is subject to criminal punishment.

Resident Status

Foreigners who stay in Japan are not allowed to exceed the scope of activity permitted by a decided resident status or to engage, by changing activities without permission, in such activities as operating a business involving revenue or activities that derive remuneration. If a foreigner intends to engage in any activity that falls under another resident status different from the resident status currently held by the foreigner, the foreigner is required to go through the procedure for changing the resident status and obtain the permission of the Minister of Justice. If the foreigner intends to engage in any other activity, in addition to the activity permitted by the currently-held resident status, that involves operating a business involving revenue, or has an accompanying remuneration, the foreigner is required to go through the prescribed procedure to obtain permission for such activity outside the permitted scope. Furthermore, if a foreigner wishes to exceed the period of stay that is decided concurrently with the resident status, the foreigner is also required to go through the procedure for renewal of the period of stay.

Change of Resident Status

A change of resident status means to obtain permission to change the resident status currently held by a foreigner to a new one, by making application to the Minister of Justice for permission to change the resident status when a foreigner, who already has resident status, intends to change his/her resident status and to engage in an activity that falls under another resident status.

By way of this procedure, foreigners staying in Japan may apply for another resident status without leaving Japan when they intend to engage in an activity that they cannot with their currently held resident status and that falls under another status.

Foreigners who want to have their resident status changed are required to apply to the Minister of Justice for permission to change status in accordance with the procedure specified by the ministerial ordinance of the Ministry of Justice.

Renewal of Resident Status

Since foreigners who stay with their resident status are allowed, in principle, to stay in Japan only for the period of stay granted, it is a considerable burden for a foreigner to leave, to obtain a visa and then enter again if, for example, the foreigner cannot achieve his/her original purpose of stay within the period of stay that is granted at the time of obtaining permission to land.

Therefore, the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law provides a procedure that renews the period of stay to enable the foreigner to stay continuously when the Minister of Justice deems that it is suitable to permit an extension the stay of the foreigner in Japan.

Foreigners who desire to have their period of stay renewed are required to apply to the Minister of Justice for permission to extend the period of stay in accordance with the procedure specified by the ministerial ordinance of the Ministry of Justice.

Acquisition of Resident Status

Acquisition of resident status means such permission to stay as required by a person who becomes a foreigner, without going through the procedure of landing specified in the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, due to expatriation from Japanese nationality, by birth or for other reasons and the person is going to stay in Japan for 60 days or longer continuously on and after the day on which the event in question takes place.

Japan’s resident status system has been established to ensure proper control of the entry and stay of all foreigners and therefore persons who have expatriate Japanese nationality or foreigners who stay in Japan without going through the landing procedure by reason of birth or other reasons, need to stay in Japan with resident status.

However, it is impossible to impose immigration control obligations on foreigners who are going to stay in Japan immediately on and after the day on which the event in question takes place. Foreigners who are going to stay in Japan under such circumstances may not be willing to stay longer. Therefore, such persons are allowed to stay in Japan for up to 60 days continuously after the day on which the event in question takes place without resident status. If such persons desire to stay for longer than 60 days, they are required to apply for the acquisition of resident status within 30 days after the event in question takes place.

Foreigners who desire to acquire resident status are required to apply to the Minister of Justice for permission in accordance with the procedure specified by the ministerial ordinance of the Ministry of Justice.

Permission for Permanent Residence

Permission for permanent residence is granted by the Minister of Justice when foreigners with a resident status desire to change their resident status to that of permanent resident and can be considered as a kind of permission for changing resident status.

Foreigners to whom permission for permanent residence is granted stay in Japan with a resident status of permanent resident. The control of a permanent resident is relaxed considerably as compared with other resident statuses in that neither the resident activity nor the period of stay is restricted. For this reason, since the permission for permanent residence needs to be examined more carefully than ordinary changes in resident status, special provisions are established, independent of the procedure for permission to change ordinary resident status.

Re-entry Permit

A re-entry permit is a permit granted by the Minister of Justice, prior to embarkation, for the purpose of simplifying entry and landing procedures when foreigners staying in Japan intend to embark temporarily and then re-enter Japan.
 Since foreigners staying in Japan embark without obtaining a re-entry permit, the resident status and resident period held by them are extinguished. If they intend to enter Japan once again, they are required to obtain a new visa prior to entry, to apply for landing, to go through the landing examination procedure and to obtain permission for landing.
 On the contrary, foreigners with re-entry permits are exempted from having a visa, which is ordinarily required, in connection with the landing application at the time of re-entry.

Further, after landing, their resident status and resident period held by them are continued.

Re-entry permits are of two kinds: one that is valid for once only and one that is valid more than once and which can be used as many times as desired within the validity period.

Permission for Other Activities

The resident status of foreigners staying in Japan is specified in the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law and is classified into 27 categories according to the activity, capacity or status of foreigners. With respect to the 23 kinds of resident status listed in the upper column of Table 1 of the Law, the activities that foreigners with the resident status in question can conduct in Japan are specified in the lower column of the said Table for their respective resident status, and if foreigners intend to engage in activities other than those and that operate a business involving revenue or that have accompanying remuneration, they are required to obtain permission from the Minister of Justice in advance.

In such instances, if foreigners staying in Japan intend to change the activity of the original purpose of their stay and to engage in an activity that falls under another resident status, they are required to obtain permission to change. If they intend to engage in any other activity that involves operating a business involving revenue or an accompanying remuneration, while still engaging in the activity of their original purpose of stay, provided that this does not hamper the performance of the original activity, they are required to obtain permission for such additional activity.

Furthermore, the content of permitted activity, including the name of the company that is an employer, is stated in the Written Permission for Other Activities that is delivered at the time of permission being granted.

However, foreigners with the resident status of studying abroad or school attendance may obtain comprehensive permission that enables them to engage in activities outside the permitted scope, without specifying the content and place of each activity. Applications for such permission must be accompanied by a letter from the educational institution concerned. Furthermore, even this comprehensive permission contains the following restrictions on the time and place of activity:

(1)Maximum hours of the activity;

(i)	Foreign students (excluding research students or auditing students exclusively by auditing): Up to 28 hours per week (up to 8 hours per day during a long-term holiday of the educational institution) of activity that operates a business involving revenue or that receives remuneration;
(ii)	Research students or auditing students exclusively by auditing: Up to 14 hours per week (up to 8 hours per day during long-term holiday of the educational institution concerned) of activity that operates a business involving revenue or that receives remuneration;
(iii)	Attending students: Up to 4 hours per day of activity that operates a business involving revenue or that receives remuneration;

(2)Restriction on Place of Activity:

Activities that involve business sites where entertainment and amusement service or shop-type sexual special entertainment and amusement service is conducted, or that are engaged in business of non-shop-type sexual special entertainment and amusement service, image-transmission-type sexual special entertainment and amusement service, shop-type person of different gender introduction service by telephone or non-shop-type person of different gender introduction service by telephone are excluded.

Further, if foreigners who graduate from universities in Japan (including junior college and graduate school but excluding students in special courses, auditing students, students attending subjects and research students) who have a resident status of short stay, engage in recruiting activity continuously from their schooldays, it has become possible for them to obtain permission for other activities up to 28 hours per week, based on an individual application. In the case of such application, the persons concerned are requested to attach a recommendation letter, issued by their university.

Furthermore, it has also become possible for persons with a resident status of family stay to obtain comprehensive permission that enables other activities for up to 28 hours per week. However, such permission is subject to the same restriction as found in (2) above.

Certificate of Employment Capacity

A certificate of Employment Capacity is a document in which the Minister of Justice certifies, based on application by foreigners staying in Japan, activities that involve operating a business that earns revenue, or has an accompanying remuneration, in which the foreigners may engage (hereinafter referred to as the “Employment Activity”).

It is usual for persons who intend to employ foreigners to confirm in advance whether or not the foreigners have status to work in Japan and, on the other hand, it is convenient for the foreigners themselves to make it clear to employers that they have a resident status that allows them to work, for the purpose of going through the employment procedure smoothly. Whether or not foreigners may work in Japan lawfully can be confirmed by a validation stamp of permission for entry affixed on a passport and, in addition, by inspecting the foreigner’s registration certificate or the certificate of the Permission for Other Activities.

Sometimes, however, which kind of activities are permitted in concrete terms is not clear, unless reference is made to the activities corresponding to respective resident statuses described in the Table attached to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law. Under such circumstance, the law has made it possible, for the convenience of both employers and foreigners, to issue, if the foreigners so desire, an Employment Status Certificate that describes in concrete terms Employment Activity that the person may engage in, so that it can be easily confirmed what kind of employment activity the foreign employee may engage in.

The Employment Status Certificate itself is not a ground that enables foreigners to engage in employment activities and it is not the case that foreigners cannot engage in employment activities without this.

Furthermore, it is set forth in the law that any unfavorable treatment, including discriminatory employment, shall not take place by failure to present an Employment Status Certificate.

Carrying of Passports

Foreigners staying in Japan are required to carry their passports and relevant certificates with them and immediately present them when requested to do so by any competent authority.

This is because passports held by foreigners staying in Japan are restricted, or restrictions are attached to them according to their resident status, so that such foreigners cannot land on or enter Japan, with few exceptions, unless they obtain the permission specified by the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law and their activities are subject to such restrictions. Therefore, the law provides that foreigners are required to carry their passport and relevant certificates with them and immediately present them when requested to do so by a competent authority for the purpose of immediately determining the lawfulness of residence, admissibility of outside-permitted status activity or whether conditions attached to the permission for landing and residence are complied with for foreigners staying in Japan.

However, foreigners are exempted from the obligation of carrying their passport if they carry their Foreigner Registration Certificate with them.

Furthermore, foreigners who violate this provision are subject to criminal or administrative sanctions.

Revocation of Resident Status

Among the foreigners staying in Japan, there are many who hamper proper immigration control, such as those who obtain a landing permit by fraudulent or other unauthorized means, who engage in illegal employment without engaging in the activity corresponding to their resident status, and who commit crime. Therefore, a resident status revocation system has been established in connection with the amendment to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law in 2004, for purposes of operating the resident status system more effectively.

If any fact falling under any one of the following items is proved, the Minister of Justice may revoke the resident status currently held by a foreigner:

1. If a foreigner has obtained a landing permit validation stamp or other permission by causing the immigration examination officer to render an incorrect judgment on the relevancy of reasons for a refusal of landing by way of fraudulent or other unauthorized means;
2. If a foreigner has obtained a landing permit validation stamp or other permission by falsely declaring the activity that the foreigner intends to conduct in Japan by way of fraudulent or other unauthorized means: for example, if a foreigner, who intends to engage in simple labor in Japan, declares an intention to engage in an activity that corresponds to the resident status of technology, the foreigner is subject to the revocation under this sub-paragraph;
3. If an applicant has obtained a landing permit validation stamp or other permission by falsely stating facts other than activities that the applicant intends to conduct in Japan: for example, if an applicant has falsely stated his/her personal history, the applicant is subject to the revocation under this sub-paragraph;
4. If a foreigner has obtained a landing permit validation stamp or other permission in cases other than those falling under 1 through 3 above (inclusive) by submitting fraudulent documents. Under this sub-paragraph, “by way of fraudulent or other unauthorized means” is not a requirement and willfulness on the part of the applicant is not required.
5. If a foreigner fails to engage in the activity relating to the currently held resident status (which is limited to those listed in the Table 1 of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law) for three months or longer, continuously (excluding, however, cases in which a foreigner stays without engaging in the activity in question, with justifiable reasons).

Furthermore, the Law provides that, in a case of revocation of resident status, the opinion of the subject foreigner must be heard in advance.

In addition, if resident status has been revoked by the reasons set out in 1 or 2 above, the foreigners in question become subject to forcible removal immediately and if resident status has been revoked for the reasons set out under 3, 4 or 5 above, the foreigners in question are given a grace period of 30 days for embarkation and are allowed to embark voluntarily during such period.

Furthermore, foreigners who have failed to embark within a specified period become subject to forcible removal and in addition, criminal sanction.

*	For details relating to entry into Japan and resident status, please inquire at the Japanese Embassy or at Japan’s immigration control bureau.

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