Japan may welcome unskilled laborers

Faced with a rapidly aging population, Japan is considering welcoming nonspecialist foreign workers to secure its dwindling workforce.

A document obtained Thursday by Kyodo News says the government will consider admitting foreign workers who are not specialists or engineers "in a steady manner" as part of a new basic immigration policy guideline the Justice Ministry plans to release later this month.

The guideline also calls for extending the period in which foreign specialists and engineers will be allowed to work in Japan from the current maximum of three years.

Analysts say an estimated 580,000 non-Japanese are illegally engaged in simple and manual jobs mainly at midsize and small companies.

A ministry panel recommended in December that the government consider accepting nonspecialist workers in industries such as agriculture and forestry, which are expected to suffer from a labor shortage.

The envisaged revision would be the first to the ministry's basic immigration policy guideline since 2000.

It is unclear when the government would start revising the immigration law in line with the plan.

The draft says "the time has arrived" to review Japan's overall policy on foreign workers.

The draft says authorities must heed concerns that allowing more foreigners to enter the country might negatively affect security and also make it harder for unemployed Japanese to find jobs.

The government allows foreign doctors to stay in Japan for up to six years and foreign nurses a maximum of four years if they pass national qualification examinations here and the purpose of their stay is training.

It would consider extending these periods, the draft says.

A new category of visa status might also be introduced to cover the growing number of foreign nationals involved in long-term international business activities in Japan, ministry sources said.