Immigration Laws: January, 2002 - Number #14

Japan's Justice Ministry plans to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law so that foreign nationals who have proper visas to live in the country, such as spouses of Japanese nationals, can be deported as soon as they violate its terms. Visas issued to spouses of Japanese nationals, foreign students and students at Japanese language schools cannot in principle be cancelled before their expiration date even if the visa holders are found to have engaged in activities not permitted under the terms of their visas, such as working illegally. Those deported from Japan may not return for five years.

Some 135 Afghans applied for asylum in Japan in the 1990s, and seven were recognized as refugees. Several others were granted special residency permits, which allow an individual to live and work in Japan. In 2000, 22 people, including three Afghans, were granted refugee status in Japan.

The unemployment rate in Japan reached 5.5 percent in November 2001, as Japan slipped into its third recession in a decade.

Korea Trainees. Korea began importing industrial trainees in 1994. Under the trainee system, foreigners are admitted to Korea to work for one year in small and medium-sized businesses for wages well below the minimum wage, since they are also supposed to be receiving housing and training. However, most are simply workers in low-level jobs, and two-thirds of them ran away from their trainee jobs to earn more as illegal workers.

The Korean government revised the trainee program, making the foreigners more like workers instead of trainees, and allowing them to remain in Korea for two years. The annual quota will be increased slightly from 83,000 to 85,500, with the new recruits allocated to the coastal fishery sector. In order to keep trainees from leaving their designated jobs, they will be required to have retirement insurance policies and pay a fixed amount each month. They will be reimbursed only when they return to their countries.

Korean employers are resisting the change of status from trainee to worker, arguing that it would increase their costs. The Korean government is offering more safety classes in the migrant workers' languages to reduce workplace injuries. There were 311,000 migrants in Korea in June 2001, including 216,000 illegal migrants; they had an average of 110 industrial accidents a month in 2001.

Under the new measures, trainees will be tested on their Korean language skills, a move that is expected to improve the chances of selection for overseas Koreans, including Korean Chinese.

On December 16, 2001, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Equality Trade Union urged the Korean government to stop the exploitation of migrant workers by cracking down on the trainee program. The unions are demanding that the government sign the 1990 UN International Convention on the rights of Migrant Workers and Member of their Families.