{"id":12278,"date":"2026-07-21T05:54:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T00:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=12278"},"modified":"2026-07-21T05:54:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T00:54:28","slug":"japan-to-add-230-immigration-officers-in-enforcement-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=12278","title":{"rendered":"Japan to add 230 immigration officers in enforcement push"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/9591784588176\/2026\/upi_com\/3cdb37c045ede966ed980c791c28dcb7\/v1.5\/Japan-to-add-230-immigration-officers-in-enforcement-push.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Travelers from overseas gather after their arrival at Narita International Airport in Narita, Japan. Photo by FRANCK ROBICHON \/ EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">July 20 (Asia Today) &#8212;<\/span> Japan plans to add about 230 immigration officers during the current fiscal year as it strengthens enforcement against unauthorized residency and employment, according to a Japanese media report Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The Immigration Services Agency plans to recruit more than 200 immigration control officers and examiners, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.\n<\/p>\n<p>The government could approve revisions to the relevant enforcement ordinance at a Cabinet meeting as early as the end of July.<\/p>\n<p>Adding personnel on this scale in the middle of a fiscal year, rather than through the regular hiring and budget process, is unusual.<\/p>\n<p>The agency plans to add about 50 immigration control officers responsible for locating and investigating people who remain in Japan without authorization.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the additional officers will be assigned to Ibaraki prefecture, where authorities plan to increase investigations into unauthorized employment.<\/p>\n<p>Japan also plans to add about 180 immigration examiners.<\/p>\n<p>The examiners will investigate employment outside the activities permitted under a person&#8217;s visa status and process a growing number of residency applications more quickly while maintaining stricter reviews.<\/p>\n<p>The government also plans to strengthen screening at airports and seaports to identify travelers who may be at risk of overstaying their visas.\n<\/p>\n<p>Japan had 68,488 unauthorized residents as of Jan. 1, down 6,375, or 8.5%, from 74,863 a year earlier, according to the Immigration Services Agency.<\/p>\n<p>The total included 41,067 men and 27,421 women.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the decline, the government concluded that more enforcement personnel were needed to prevent unauthorized employment and the misuse of residency classifications.<\/p>\n<p>The government is expected to formally announce the staffing increase at a ministerial meeting this week on accepting foreign nationals and establishing an orderly, inclusive society.<\/p>\n<p>An expert panel on immigration policy is also expected to be established by the end of July.<\/p>\n<p>The panel is expected to discuss issues including the appropriate size of Japan&#8217;s foreign population and programs to teach foreign residents about Japanese culture and rules of daily life.<\/p>\n<p>The initiative reflects Japan&#8217;s effort to accept foreign workers needed by its labor market while strengthening enforcement against unauthorized residency and employment.<\/p>\n<p>South Korea faces similar challenges as its foreign population grows.<\/p>\n<p>South Korea had 357,598 unauthorized foreign residents at the end of 2025, accounting for 12.8% of all foreign nationals staying in the country, according to Justice Ministry statistics cited in the report.<\/p>\n<p>The total included 128,813 registered foreign residents, 226,028 short-term visitors and 2,757 people who had filed domestic residence reports.\n<\/p>\n<p>South Korea had 2,783,247 foreign residents at the end of 2025, representing 5.44% of the population. The total included 594,047 people with employment-related residency status and 308,838 international students.<\/p>\n<p>South Korea&#8217;s unauthorized foreign population was about 5.2 times Japan&#8217;s, although direct comparisons are limited because the two countries use different residency categories and statistical standards.<\/p>\n<p>Both countries are relying more heavily on foreign labor as low birthrates and aging populations contribute to worker shortages.<\/p>\n<p>The increase has also placed greater demands on the government agencies responsible for visa reviews, unauthorized employment investigations and settlement education.<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8212; Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>\u00a9 Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Original Korean report: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260720010006942\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.asiatoday.co.kr\/kn\/view.php?key=20260720010006942<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Travelers from overseas gather after their arrival at Narita International Airport in Narita, Japan. Photo by FRANCK ROBICHON \/ EPA July 20 (Asia Today) &#8212; Japan plans to add about 230 immigration officers during the current fiscal year as it strengthens enforcement against unauthorized residency and employment, according to a Japanese media report Monday. The&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/upi_com\/9591784588176\/2026\/1\/3cdb37c045ede966ed980c791c28dcb7\/v1.5\/Japan-to-add-230-immigration-officers-in-enforcement-push.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}