According to the article “President of a company employing 4 Vietnamese nationals arrested for violation of the Immigration Control and Refugee Act” (2024/10/02 Corporate Homu Navi), the crime of promoting illegal employment can be committed in cases of negligence. If you are employing foreigners, it is important to double-check whether there are any problems with them.
The basics are to make sure that his/her residence card shows that he/she is eligible for work, and that the card itself is not a forgery (the Immigration Bureau has distributed an app that allows you to check on your smartphone or PC). However, there are many things that need to be protected by foreign employees.
To ensure that an employee commits to these things, we advise you to let him/her submit a signed pledge when he/she joins the company. In this post, we will introduce a written oath template (an example) provided by our office.
Letter of oath template for employment status of residence
 | The template provided by our office is a single sheet as shown on the left. “Detailed explanation of Immigration Control Law and Foreign Labor Management/Audit Practice”, 3rd Edition, by Koji Yamawaki, Shinnihon Hoki P.143 has been used as a reference for customization. |
Promptly understand changes in status of residence and period of stay
Even if you checked an employee’s residence card when he/she joined your company, if his/her status of residence or period of stay changes due to various reasons, you need to be aware of this fact immediately. (For example, it may be discovered that he/she was engaged in activities other than that permitted under the status of residence granted before joining the company and his/her status of residence might have been revoked.
We are required to constantly check for these incidents, but this cannot be fulfilled unless employees report them. The following clause in the written oath promises this.
- When I receive a change in my status of residence from the Immigration Bureau, I will notify your company of the changes promptly, with a copy of the passport and a copy of the residence card attached.
- When I receive permission to extend my period of stay from the Immigration Bureau, I will notify your company of the changes promptly, with a copy of the passport and a copy of the residence card attached.
- If I receive a decision to cancel my period of stay from the Immigration Bureau, I will notify your company immediately by attaching a copy of your passport and residence card.
- If I receive a detention order or deportation order from the Immigration Bureau, I will notify your company immediately.
- In addition to cases 4 and 5 above, if I lose my status of residence, I will immediately notify your company of that effect, attaching a copy of your passport.
Confirmation of original residence card
As mentioned above, it is a minimum requirement for employers to check the original residence card at the time of employment.(If this is a foreigner’s first place of employment, in most cases the employer acts as the agent for the application for the Certificate of Eligibility, so it is difficult to imagine a case where the residence card is a fake, but you should be very careful when he/she changed his/her job from the other Japanese company.)
However, there may be changes to the status of residence or period of stay, not only at the time of hiring, but also without the employer’s knowledge. To be aware of this, employers must always have access to the employee’s original residence card. The following provisions are intended to ensure this.
- To confirm the authenticity of the residence card, I will present the original of the residence card to your company if requested by your company as necessary to determine whether employment by your company constitutes illegal employment.
Do not engage in activities other than that permitted
There are cases where a female employee is found to be working part-time at a restaurant at night outside of business hours.
This is a case where she had not applied to the immigration office for permission to engage in activities other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted.
In this case, the employer could be found guilty of promoting illegal employment. It is not easy to prevent this from happening when an employee secretly commits the act, but it is helpful to at least add the following clause to the written oath to prove that there was no negligence.
- I will not engage in activities other than work at your company other than that permitted under the status of residence granted, without permission from your company and the Immigration Bureau.
Not carrying a residence card is a crime in and of itself.
Although this point has nothing to do with the crime of promoting illegal employment, failure to carry a residence card alone may result in a fine of up to 200,000 yen or imprisonment of up to 1 year, and renewal of the next period of stay can be difficult. Since “inadvertent” mistakes can have serious consequences, we would like to draw your attention to the following provisions.
- I will always carry my residence card with myself.
Notification regarding affiliated institution
This is also not related to the crime of promoting illegal employment, but if there is a change in job or company address, etc., the foreign national must notify the Immigration Bureau of the change.
For example, if your company accepts a foreigner who is already in Japan for a new job and he/she did not notify the Immigration Bureau that he/she had quit his/her previous company, he/she may encounter the problem at the timing of next extension of status of residense.
The following provisions call attention to this matter.
- If I have previously retired from a Japanese company and entered into a new employment contract with your company, I will submit a notification to the Immigration Bureau regarding my retirement from my previous company and my new employment contract with your company before the deadline.
- In the case of the preceding paragraph, I will submit promptly even if the deadline has passed.
- If I am resigning from your company and entering into a new employment contract with another company, I will submit a notification to the Immigration Bureau within the specified deadline regarding my resignation from your company.
Summary
The charge of promoting illegal employment can be waived if the employer was not negligent in not knowing about the employee’s illegal employment. In other words, the employer is required to take the minimum steps to prove that it was not negligent in not knowing.
As part of this measure, we would like you to check your residence card and collect your written oath at the time of recruitment.