Japan Boosts Immigration Enforcement Amid Growing Labor Shortage and Public Concern
Tokyo has approved a plan to add 226 staff to the Immigration Services Agency and launch cyber patrols to curb illegal residency as foreign residents exceed four million.
Facing a deepening labor shortage, Japan's government has moved to tighten immigration controls as the foreign resident population tops four million. On July 28, the Cabinet approved an ordinance to increase the Immigration Services Agency's workforce by 226, bolstering its capacity for enforcement and residency screening. A cyber patrol initiative will scrape foreign-language social media for illegal job postings and counterfeit residence cards, turning the data into actionable leads, while an AI monitoring system is under consideration.
These steps are part of the "Zero Illegal Immigrants Plan" launched in May last year, which aims to cut the number of individuals with finalized deportation orders by half by 2030. Since the plan's inception, visa overstayers have fallen to 68,488 and deportations reached a record 318 in fiscal 2025. Lawmakers such as Junichi Kanda and minister Kimi Onoda stress that the crackdown must protect residents who comply with the rules.
Why it matters
The crackdown aims to balance Japan's labor needs with public concerns over illegal immigration and fairness for law-abiding residents.
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