NGOs protest qualification card system for foreign residents in Japan

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

NGOs protest qualification card system for foreign residents in Japan

Bills that tighten controls of foreign residents were enacted after passage through the House of Councilors on July 8.

Following the enactment of bills to revise the Immigration Control Law and the Residential Registration Law, the NGO Organizing Committee against the ID Card System for Foreign Residents held a news conference in the Diet building to release a statement of protest against the legislation.

The statement said: "We will continue to demand that the present legal system to tighten control over and surveillance of foreign residents be replaced with one that defends foreigners' basic rights and helps promote coexistence based on mutual trust and respect."

Under the revised laws, foreigners will no longer be required to receive alien registration certificates from local governments. They will receive an ID card if they stay in Japan for more than thee months. The Immigration Bureau will issue the ID card to foreigners who it recognizes as "appropriate."

Foreign residents who are denied the ID card are likely to be excluded from social services they are now receiving from local governments such as the national health insurance and allowances for households with children.

Commenting on the possibility that cards will be denied to those who are overstaying their visas, the NGO organizing committee said, "The legislation refuses to acknowledge that even overstaying residents are our fellow residents, some of them working in Japan for over 20 years, paying taxes and supporting the Japanese economy".

Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Nihi Sohei said, "The Diet is to blame for not hearing directly from foreign residents in Japan and prematurely ending discussions to take a vote".

- Akahata, July 9 2009