Gov't to require firms to report employment of foreign workers

The government plans to require all companies in Japan to report details about citizens of foreign countries when employing or dismissing them to prevent an increase in their illegal employment, officials said Thursday. The details will include the names, nationalities, and visa statuses and durations.

Employers who fail to make such reports or files false reports may be fined up to 300,000 yen, the officials said.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare intends to draft an employment promotion law amendment to this effect for submission to parliament during the ordinary session in the first half of next year, they said.

Currently all companies with 50 or more employees voluntarily submit annual reports on their employment of foreign workers to public employment security offices.

Of some 155,000 companies asked to present such reports in the year to March 2006, about 94,000 firms submitted them, specifying numbers of employed foreign workers and their breakdown by sex, the officials said.

They said the planned reports would cover personal employment information, contributing to preventing the illegal employment or disappearance of people from other countries, they said.

Foreign nationals subject to such employment reporting requirements will exclude permanent residents of Korean ethnicity.