JAPAN TO EASE ENTRY BAN ON FOREIGNERS
Many academics and business leaders have criticised the controls
JAPAN may ease the entry ban on foreigners amid growing criticisms from academic and business circles in the country. Kyodo News reports that according to sources, the government is preparing to announce details of the relaxed steps as early as this week.
The ban on the entry of nonresidents was imposed on Nov 30 last year and will carry on until the end of this month.
Authorities said it was to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Currently, only a limited number of people are allowed into the country under special conditions and they are required to be quarantined for seven days.
However, the government is looking at shortening it to three or five days, if they have a negative Covid-19 test result or have taken a vaccine booster dose.
There have also been calls for the government to do away with the quarantine requirement.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the government will take into account scientific knowledge of the Omicron variant, changes in infection conditions inside and outside Japan, and other countries’ border control measures.
The government also sees the current restrictions as no longer necessary, with the Omicron variant now becoming the dominant strain in Japan.
Kishida’s remarks came after many academics and business leaders, including from Europe and the United States, criticised the entry ban.
The ban has prevented international students from entering Japan and this has prompted some to consider alternatives such as South Korea.
The Japanese business community is also facing a chronic labour shortage and has asked for the ban to be lifted.
In another development, Japan plans to launch a new survey next year to collect data on foreign workers.
The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry said details such as income and types of employment were needed to better accommodate the workers’ needs.
Its data showed that the number of foreign workers in Japan rose to a record 1.73 million in October last year amid a workforce shortage. However, the government has only basic information on them, such as their residency status, nationality and workplace size.
A Kyodo News report said critics have pointed out that adequate support measures were absent for foreign workers as the authorities did not know their actual employment conditions.
The ministry said a data collection plan would be be formulated this year and the collected information would become comparable to the labour statistics of Japanese nationals.
The survey is expected to ask employers of foreign workers about their income, types of jobs, and length of service. The questionnaire will also include questions specific to foreigners, such as their proficiency in Japanese, native language, duration of stay and remittances amount.
The ministry and the Immigration Services Agency of Japan has already begun another survey to understand the financial situations of foreign technical trainees as financial matters seemed to be the reason why thousands abruptly left their host firms.