The Justice Ministry said Friday it will tighten standards for granting long-term resident status to foreigners of Japanese descent in the wake of the murder last month of a 7-year-old girl in Hiroshima, allegedly by a Peruvian man who may have Japanese ancestry.
Under the new standards, applicants for resident status will be required to submit a document certifying that they have no criminal record, along with their application and other paperwork, ministry officials said.
The ministry will also tighten screening of other documents as there have been reports of forged papers for sale overseas that enable people to falsely claim Japanese ancestry and gain permanent residency.
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