The Japanese government plans to allow foreign workers who will obtain an envisaged new residence status for relatively simple labor to stay and work in Japan intermittently through multiple short-term entries, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
These workers will be permitted to work in Japan for up to five years in total.
The new residence status is among those the government aims to introduce to attract more workers from overseas.
Because the level of business activity in such fields as agriculture and fisheries work changes with the seasons, the government aims to make the system more flexible so that foreign workers who have acquired job skills can return to Japan and work in the same workplaces as those in their previous stays, even after they temporarily return to their home countries.
After a bill is passed to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, which will be submitted to the current extraordinary Diet session, the government plans to add the new stipulation through an ordinance of the Justice Ministry.
The government envisions a style of working by foreign nationals in which, for example, they work in agricultural jobs for half a year from spring, return to their home countries, then come to Japan as workers again the following spring.
The bill to revise the law stipulates that those who have obtained the status as a category 1 worker, with specific skills in relatively simple labor, will be allowed to stay in Japan for up to five years.
Also, if they intermittently work for a short duration, the foreign workers' allowed period of time in Japan will be limited to "five years in total."
Companies and other entities that accept such foreign workers will decide how long they will stay in Japan in each of their intermittent entries.
The government aims to introduce the new system on April 1 next year.
Because the government envisions that foreign workers with the category 1 specific skills status will engage in relatively simple labor, their family members will not be allowed to accompany them.
Foreign workers who obtain the category 2 specific skills status, for higher-skilled labor, can have family members accompany them and will effectively be allowed to reside permanently in Japan.
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