Tag - immigration

 
 

IMMIGRATION

Subash Rijal (center) meets with colleagues in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, in September.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2024
Municipalities turn to Asian IT talent to beat big-city rivals
Almost 90% of domestic companies surveyed said they are struggling to hire the people they need.
To help alleviate labor shortages, positions such as taxi, bus and truck drivers are expected to become eligible for the Specified Skilled Worker No. 1 visa.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2024
Japan preparing to add transport roles to skilled visa amid shortages
The move would bring the eligible industries under the Specified Skilled Worker No. 1 visa to 16 with railway, forestry and timber sectors under review.
Vietnamese people take Japanese lessons in Hanoi in June 2023 before heading to Japan to work.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2024
Number of foreign workers in Japan surpasses 2 million for first time
Tokyo has the largest population of foreign workers, followed by Aichi and Osaka prefectures.
New electronic stands for immigration and customs are planned to be introduced at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, with a two-month trial starting on Jan. 31.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2024
Haneda Airport to launch electronic immigration entry stands
Japanese citizens will also have to follow similar steps but will not be required to have their fingerprints taken at the airport.
Outlawing the second-most popular party in Germany would be democratically questionable and could have negative consequences.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2024
Should Germany’s AfD party be banned?
Germany's democratic values should be upheld by engaging with disgruntled voters in the voting booth, rather than seeking a legal ban.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House during an event to welcome mayors attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 20, 2024
Biden open to asylum changes to clinch Ukraine and border deals
The U.S. president said he is open to "massive changes” in border policy, including to asylum laws, in order to secure a deal that would unlock Ukraine aid.
Tokyu Bus Corp. President Takashi Furukawa wants to set a precedent for fellow bus operators that are in desperate need of drivers, drawing on his experience working in Vietnam, where he once helped introduce Japanese know-how in running transportation services.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 20, 2024
Tokyo bus operator banks on foreign drivers as shortage looms
Tokyu Bus Corp. President Takashi Furukawa wants to set a precedent for fellow bus operators that are in desperate need of drivers.
Skilled workers walk to a building for a skill test at a Haryana state government recruitment drive to send workers to Israel, at Maharshi Dayanand University in Rohtak, India, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 19, 2024
Undeterred by conflict, Indian workers seek jobs in Israel
Masons, painters, electricians, plumbers and farmers say they could make five times more money in a year than they would at home.
The University of Toronto campus. International students are a cash cow for Canadian universities and a slowdown will be a blow to the institutions.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2024
Canadian study permits for Indian students drop due to dispute
Fewer Indian students applied due to a diplomatic dispute over the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada.
Migrants picked up at sea attempting to cross the English Channel from France disembark from a U.K. border force cutter in Dover, England, on Saturday.
WORLD
Jan 14, 2024
Four die trying to cross Channel to U.K. in freezing cold
The fatalities were the first reported migrant deaths on the Channel in 2024.
Activists protest outside the offices of the Australian Immigration Department in Sydney in February 2016
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2024
The danger of talking down immigration Down Under
Australians are facing an economic dilemma Down Under amid an unsettling debate over immigration policies.
Indian migrant women in Tokyo often face stifling social expectations. In contrast, they may feel empowered in more egalitarian societies like Berlin.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 3, 2024
How patriarchy perpetuates among Tokyo’s Indian migrants
Indian migrant women in Tokyo struggle to break free from the patriarchal structures they experienced back home. But in Berlin, a different picture emerges.
French police evict migrants from a squat in a disused industrial building not far from the Paris 2024 Olympic Village in Ile-Saint-Denis, near Paris, in April.
WORLD / Society
Dec 25, 2023
Asylum-seekers and Roma evicted from Paris squats ahead of Olympics
Advocates and some officials say the evictions appear to be a policy aimed at beautifying the area for the sporting event.
A Rohingya refugee woman holds her child at a temporary camp, at a port on Sabang island in Indonesia's Aceh province.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 25, 2023
Rohingya refugees in Indonesia face hostile welcome
Jakarta has called on neighboring countries to offer the Rohingya a permanent home.
A Brazilian of Japanese descent teaches Japanese to foreign nationals in July 2020 at the Homi housing complex in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, which is home to many foreign nationals, mainly of Brazilian heritage.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2023
Some foreign fourth generation descendants of Japanese to be given long-term residency
The Immigration Services Agency will revise the residency status system to allow such people to effectively stay in Japan indefinitely.
Ukrainian refugees who were flown to Japan by the Foreign Ministry arrive at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in April 2022. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 20, 2023
Moving beyond ‘checkbook diplomacy’: Japan’s changing refugee policy
Japan's stance on admitting refugees appears to be changing amid greater global engagement by Tokyo.
Shiv Kumar (left) and Nirmal Singh say they are learning a lot about living and thriving in Japan while taking part in the Technical Intern Trainee Program. Their case, however, seems to be an exception to the norm.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Dec 18, 2023
Beating the odds on Japan's controversial foreign trainee program
Nirmal Singh and Shiv Kumar beat the odds on the Technical Intern Training Program, but luck shouldn't play such a key role in a government initiative.
Central Dublin, near where recent protests and riots took place. The uproar came after a stabbing attack left three young children and two adults injured.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2023
Dublin’s riot was not a surprise to those who watch the far right
The disorder on Nov. 23 may have appeared to come from nowhere. But experts say it showed deep social problems and an emboldened anti-immigrant movement.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over the weekend said Australia's migration numbers needed to be wound back to a "sustainable level," adding that "the system is broken."
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 11, 2023
Australia plans to halve migrant intake and tighten student visas
The decision follows a record expected peak in net immigration for 2022-23.
Justinas Stankus, 38, who came to Canada from Lithuania in 2019 and is studying at the University of Toronto, walks his dog in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
WORLD / Society
Dec 11, 2023
Canada's surging cost of living fuels reverse immigration
The rate of immigrants leaving Canada hit a two-decade high in 2019

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals