Japan disqualifies groups supervising foreign trainees in Chiba and Saitama
The Immigration Services Agency and labor ministry have revoked the permits of two organizations that supervise foreign technical trainees, after finding that they had concluded improper deals with agencies seeking to send trainees to Japan. Arrangements entered into by supervisory bodies in the prefectures of ...
Action taken against 112 firms last year for abuses under Japan's foreign intern training program
With cases of abuse ranging from trainees forced to pay illegal deposits to an intern who was forced to work 225 hours of overtime in a month, authorities last year took disciplinary action against 112 firms using the state-sponsored Technical Intern Training Program. The firms ...
Japan's new Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai pledges reform with a focus on immigration
On Friday, newly appointed Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai promised to reform his ministry, including a pledge to more stringently enforce laws and regulations related to immigration. Kawai said the increase of the foreign worker quota under a new visa program that took effect in April ...
Three Vietnamese sue Fukushima firm over decontamination work at crippled nuclear facility
Three Vietnamese have sued a construction firm for damages, claiming they were exposed to radiation after the company had them engage in decontamination work related to the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture. The lawsuit was filed with Fukushima District Court's branch in the ...
The head of the Immigration Services Agency says over 3,000 foreign laborers are set to work in the country under new visas introduced in April.
Japan revoked record number of visas in 2018 as authorities stepped up crackdown
Immigration authorities revoked a record 832 visas in 2018, more than double the figure of a year earlier, Justice Ministry data showed Monday. The most common reason was ceasing to conduct an activity permitted by the visa category. A further 100 people lost their visa ...
Record 5,160 firms employing foreign trainees in Japan violated labor laws in 2018, ministry says
A record 5,160 business facilities employing foreign technical intern trainees were told in 2018 to correct practices that violated labor-related laws, the labor ministry has said. The number shot up from 4,226 in 2017, in line with an increase in foreigners working under the country's ...
Japan to conduct tests for prospective caregivers in four Asian nations this fall
Japan will conduct tests in Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar and Mongolia this fall for prospective caregivers who want to work in Japan under a new visa program, according to government officials. The labor ministry said last week that the exams, aimed at securing more workers in ...
Vietnam eager to work with Japan to help fill labor gap under new visa program
Vietnam is eager to deepen its cooperation with Japan in the field of labor dispatch, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said. In a written interview with media organizations Wednesday, Phuc expressed his appreciation for Japan's introduction in April of a new visa program ...
New law holds government responsible for teaching Japanese to all foreign residents
The legislation places the onus for providing learning opportunities on the state but does not contain any concrete measures to fund.
U.S. State Department keeps Japan on top tier of human trafficking list for second year
Japan remained in a group of countries the United States judges to fully meet minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking, according to a State Department report released Thursday. The department placed Japan in Tier 1, the highest classification on the four-tier list, for ...
Few Japanese firms plan to hire foreign workers under new immigration law, poll suggests
The survey suggests the government may struggle to get the workers it needs to ease the country’s labor woes.
