The Diet is likely to enact bills to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law and the Residents' Basic Register Law during its current session. The revisions might improve public services for legally residing foreign residents while leading to tighter control of foreigners who have overstayed their visas.
At the very least, the Justice Ministry would exercise stronger supervision over foreign residents since the current system in which municipalities issue alien registration cards will be abolished. Instead, the Immigration Bureau will step in.
Under the new system, foreign residents who legally reside in Japan for 90 days or longer must submit notifications of address changes to municipalities to be put on the residents' basic registry. The Justice Ministry will issue ID cards called zairyu (residency) cards on the basis of this residency information, visas and other points including employment. The ministry should not collect information that unnecessarily infringes on foreign residents' privacy.