Sankei Shimbun article
After reading “Why did the number of Iranians in Yoyogi Park drastically decrease? the wise decision of the immigration authorities in the shadow of the suspension of visa exemption (Sankei Shimbun, 2024/05/03)”, the article brough me back to 30 years ago, and I realize how quickly time passes.
Between 1990 and 1992, thousands of Iranians gathered in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park and Ueno Park on weekends, causing a social problem.
At that time, I was only a fourth year university student and a first or second year working adult, so I had no involvement in immigration policy or foreign residents, so all I can remember is that something like that happened. After reading this article, I understood the social background and why such a thing could have happened due to the immigration system. In summary, the points are listed below.
- Iran was in a period of turmoil and many unemployed people headed overseas.
- At that time, Japan was at the height of its bubble economy and was seen as a country where people could make a lot of money.
- Iran was a visa-free country for Japan, and it was easy to enter to and stay in Japan with a “short-term visitor” residence status.
- Japanese employers had a low sense of guilt about promoting illegal employment
About visa exemption
What is visa exemption?
It is a system with an agreement between Japan and a country or region that make it unnecessary to present a visa when entering the country under the status of “short-term visitor”.
When entering Japan, it is necessary to present a visa in order to be granted one of a status of residence through landing inspection at the airport.
As an exception to this, foreign nationals who hold passports from countries with which they have mutual visa exemption agreements (visa exemption countries) do not need to present a visa.
Current visa exempt countries
Currently, the following 71 countries/regions are eligible for visa exemption. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs homepage)
Iceland, Spain, Poland, Ireland, Suriname, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, Slovakia, Honduras, Argentina, Slovenia, Macau, Andorra, Serbia, Malta,
Israel, Thailand, Malaysia, Italy, Czech Republic, Mexico,
Indonesia, Tunisia, Mauritius, Uruguay, Chile, Monaco, Estonia, Denmark, Latvia, El Salvador, Germany, Lithuania, Australia, Dominican Republic, Liechtenstein, Austria, Turkey, Romania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Qatar, Norway, Lesotho, Canada, Panama, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Bahamas, South Korea, Greece, Barbados, Hong Kong, Guatemala, Hungary, Taiwan, Croatia, Finland, United States, Costa Rica, Brazil, North Macedonia, San Marino, France,
Singapore, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Brunei, Sweden, Belgium
Convergence of the problem
What brought the issue to a close was the temporary suspension of visa exemption measures for Iran.
The crime of promoting illegal employment was enforced on June 1, 1990, so this was around the time when many Iranians were gathering in parks. Employers in Japan may not have had much of a sense of guilt about encouraging illegal overstaying or illegal employment.
In order to overcome the situation of people using the visa exemption system to repeatedly stay in Japan for “short-term stays” while continuing to work illegally, it seems that a measure to “temporarily suspend” the operation of the visa exemption system worked effectively 30 years ago.
Summary
There is no doubt that the number of foreign residents will continue to increase in the future due to changes in immigration policy because of the declining birthrate and labor shortage. As the number of foreign residents increases, it is expected that the number of illegal overstaying, illegal employment, and crimes committed by foreigners will also increase.
In addition, given the fact that unpredictable changes in the overseas situation, such as large-scale disasters or conflicts, may cause a sudden influx of foreigners to occur at any time, it will be difficult for the country to steer its immigration policy in the future.
Compared to 30 years ago, awareness of the crime of promoting illegal employment has increased significantly, so the resolution like temporary suspension of visa exemption may not work effectively against a sudden increase in the influx of foreigners.
On the other hand, recently, in the 2023 revision of the Immigration Control Act, a section will come into effect from the 1st of next month that excludes residents who have applied for refugee recognition for the third time or later, from exceptions to deportation procedures.(Currently, if a foreign national enters Japan as a short-term stay and apply for refugee recognition, he/she will be granted a status of residence called “Designated Activities”, and he/she can continue to stay in Japan legally by repeating the application without limit. )
However, the standard processing period for refugee recognition in 2021 (the latest results announced by the Immigration Bureau) is 32.2 months. It means that even after the law is revised, he/she will be able to legally stay in Japan for 5 years(Simply multiplying by 2 times, 64.4 months equals just over 5 years.). This may not improve the situation from illegal employment perspective.
It may be said that we do not have to worry about the situation, cause Japan is not attractive labor market any more, due to weaker YEN or low salary. But this is another thing that we want to get over…