Japan plans immigration staff increase amid heavy workload
Japan's immigration agency is set to gain about 200 employees next fiscal year to tighten enforcement and speed up status-of-residence screening.
- Japan's Immigration Services Agency plans to expand its staff by approximately 200 employees from the next fiscal year.
- The increase is a response to a heavy workload driven by a growing foreign-resident population and demanding administrative tasks.
- The additional personnel are intended to shorten residency status screening times and strengthen enforcement against unlawful stays.
- This plan follows a previous staff increase of 633 since fiscal 2020, which was insufficient to manage the agency's workload.
Japan is preparing to expand the Immigration Services Agency of Japan by around 200 employees from the next fiscal year, as the authorities seek to ease pressure from a growing foreign-resident population and a demanding administrative workload, informed sources said on Wednesday (July 22).
The recruitment plan forms part of a policy package unveiled by the Ministry of Justice in May.
The measures include pursuing businesses that facilitate illegal employment and gathering relevant information through social media, alongside strengthening the agency’s staffing capacity.
To put the expansion into effect, the government is expected to amend the relevant ordinance.
Cabinet approval could be secured as early as this month, according to the sources.
The agency employed 6,499 people in fiscal 2025.
Its workforce included 1,687 immigration control officers and 3,988 immigration inspectors.
Staffing had already increased by 633 compared with fiscal 2020, but the agency continued to face a heavy workload.
The additional personnel are intended to reinforce enforcement against unlawful stays and shorten status-of-residence screening times.
Agency data showed that 68,488 foreign nationals were staying in Japan unlawfully as of January, despite the figure falling for a second consecutive year.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
