Japan To Look At Unifying Student Visas

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Justice Ministry eyes unified student visa
In a sharp turnaround, the Justice Ministry says it is considering scrapping what amounts to a double standard for foreign students when it comes to issuing visas. Supporters of unifying the status of pre-college foreign students, such as those enrolled in Japanese language schools, with that of university students say the current visa system subjects the former to tighter immigration screening, shorter visa duration and fewer hours in which to earn money. While the Justice Ministry had long been opposed to the move on grounds that looser immigration screening could lead to more illegal overstayers, the Immigration Bureau is now studying how to unify the two categories following Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's pledge to double the number of foreign students in this country. As of the end of 2006, there were 132,000 foreign students with a ryugakusei visa for colleges and vocational schools and 37,000 foreign students with a pre-college shugakusei visa for Japanese-language schools and high schools...more...

The rest of the article in the next post

[Mulboyne]

Continued

About 70 percent of foreign students first enter Japan with a pre-college visa. After studying at a language school for about a year, many move on to study at universities, technical colleges and other equivalent institutions with a college visa. Pre-college students, who study mainly at Japanese-language schools, high schools and general courses of so-called "miscellaneous schools," have various disadvantages compared with their counterparts in universities. While the college visa is valid for either one year or two years, the duration of the pre-college visa is limited to six months to one year. The pre-college visa allows students to work up to four hours a day, while holders of the college visa can work up to eight hours a day during holiday periods

Those with a pre-college visa are also required to undergo tighter immigration screening and are ineligible for most scholarship programs. During a session of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's special committee on the foreign students issue Wednesday, some lawmakers questioned the discriminatory nature of the system. They noted that only Japan treats non-college students separately from college students among countries that receive foreign students. In response, Akira Tamura, director of the Immigration Bureau's entry and status division, said the bureau had started considering unifying the two visa statuses. Japanese colleges and language schools alike have been clamoring for such change. For its part, the Justice Ministry had put up strong resistance because many students with pre-college students have dropped out in the past and stayed on in Japan to work even though their visas had expired.