1) What is the residence application online API?
The residence application online API (Application Programming Interface) is a platform released by the Immigration Bureau in July 2022 to link the residence application online system and private systems(Reference: Residence Application Online and Residence Application Online API). Data is linked between the systems via MynaPortal, so MynaCard is required for authentication.
There are still only a few private companies releasing services that utilize this new platform, but it is expected that it will become more popular in the future.
Due to the labor shortage, it is clear that the number of foreign workers will increase rapidly and significantly in the future, and it is also clear from recent immigration policies such as the establishment of a new status of residence “Specified Skilled Worker” or the new status of residence to be replaced by “Technical Intern Training”.
On the other hand, the usage rate of the online residence application system released in 2019 is still around 10%, and paper-based applications are the mainstream. The huge waiting times at local immigration offices in urban areas remain unresolved, and it is hoped that platforms like this will become widespread as soon as possible.
An increase in the number of working foreigners means that the proportion of the total number of employees at accepting companies and organizations, as well as the number of accepting companies and organizations that employ foreigners, will also increase. The business processes of the human resources departments of these companies and organizations include tasks unique to foreign employees.
Since application data can now be linked with private systems using the online residence application API, it can be assumed that it will also be linked with the human resources management systems of various companies and organizations(I will discuss specific usage examples on another occasion).
2) Efforts of Our Office
“Nishiyama Immigration Service” has been working with Nishiyama Chizai Co., Ltd., a system development company, to develop the residence management system “NICRAS” using this platform since last summer.
The development schedule is roughly as follows.
- Application form template development
- Development of API function
- Connection test in Mynaportal verification environment
- Offline test with the Immigration Bureau
- Online test with the Immigration Bureau (via Mynaportal)
- Production environment connection test
We completed the online test with #5 “Online test with the Immigration Bureau” on January 5th.
After this, we will apply for use of the production environment to the Immigration Bureau, and after passing the production environment connection test, we plan to release it in February 2024.
We have finally reached the final stage towards release.