Japan to offer permanent residency for 4th-generation descendants Kyodo News

Japan is set to revise its working program for fourth-generation foreigners of Japanese descent and offer permanent residency to individuals who fulfill certain language requirements, immigration agency officials said Tuesday. The change to the program introduced in 2018 and aimed at helping develop human resources familiar with the cultures of their home countries and Japan comes following low uptake and calls to ease its conditions on the maximum age and period that holders are eligible to reside in Japan. Under its current provisions, fourth-generation Japanese abroad aged 18 to 30 are eligible to work in the country under a designated activities visa. The maximum period of stay is five years, and their families are not allowed to join them. Second- and third-generation descendants, the children and grandchildren of those who emigrated from the country, are eligible for long-term stays, including permanent residency, following consideration of special circumstances by the minister of justice. The revisions mean fourth-generation individuals, who have lived in the country for five years under the visa, can upgrade to permanent residency if they possess business-level Japanese linguistic ability, such as that needed to pass the second-highest level of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. Other changes include allowing the spouses of the participants and their children to live with them. Restrictions on age will also be relaxed. Fourth-generation individuals aged 18 to 35 will be allowed to enter Japan for the first time under the program if they have conversational speaking ability. The government had anticipated the program would bring in around 4,000 people a year, primarily from countries like Brazil and Peru, where many Japanese people immigrated in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, a total of just 128 people had entered as of the end of 2022. Successful applicants for the program also need a supporter to assist them in their daily lives and activities. The revisions will increase the number of people supporters can be responsible for from two to three. An official at the Immigration Services Agency of Japan expressed hope the new system will help fourth-generation descendants "settle in Japan and participate in society for a long time." After hearing public comments on the proposals, the agency intends to revise the current program. ==Kyodo

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more