Japan tightens control over illegal immigrant workers

The policy package called “Plan for No More Illegal Aliens”, also known as “Plan Zero”, clearly outlines the areas that the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) needs to focus on, Japanese Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said on May 22.

The policy package builds on the initiative announced in 2025, retaining key pillars such as accelerating the implementation of the electronic entry permit system (JESTA), shortening the time to review asylum applications, digitizing immigration procedures, promoting voluntary repatriation of immigrants and organizing escorted deportations.

The updated version also lists more specific steps, such as ISA will collect and analyze information on social networks to detect illegal immigrant workers and handle the situation of buying and selling fake residence cards.

ISA strengthens the handling of illegal employers and individuals and organizations that facilitate this activity. The current penalty is three years in prison or up to 3 million yen (19,000 USD), which will be increased to 5 years in prison or up to 5 million yen from April 1, 2027.

The agency will also strengthen measures to prevent scrap collection facilities from becoming hot spots for illegal labor recruitment, as the number of these locations increases due to sharp increases in metal prices.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has considered dealing with illegal immigrants one of his top policy priorities since taking office in October 2025. She directed Mr. Hiraguchi to develop a plan to improve the situation in November.

Theo Japan Timesthe number of overstay residents detected in Japan decreased to 68,488 people as of January 1, lower than 74,863 people in the same period last year. 13,435 foreigners were found to be working illegally, equivalent to 72.9% of cases of deportation or other handling measures in 2025.