Photo/Illutration A Kurdish man waits for the result of his asylum application in Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, in February. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, the number of foreign nationals applying for asylum in Japan in 2020 dipped to 3,936, a drop of 62 percent from the previous year, according to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan.

The agency released the latest data on March 31.

In 2019, 6,439 more asylum applications were filed, the agency said.

The number of applications has rapidly increased in recent years. It peaked in 2017 with nearly 20,000, the most ever.

But the latest number marked the lowest in seven years.

During the pandemic, border controls have been tightened and the number of entrants decreased by 90 percent or so from the previous year, the agency said.

The agency said 47 foreign nationals were granted refugee status in 2020, three more than the previous year.

There were also 44 foreign nationals who did not receive refugee status but were granted resident status based on humanitarian considerations, seven more than the previous year.

The agency also released a survey regarding foreign residents and foreign nationals who illegally overstay their landing permits.

The survey showed that as of the end of 2020 there were about 2.89 million people who had residence permits for three month or more. The number decreased by 1.6 percent, or about 46,000 people, from the previous year.

The number of foreigners illegally overstaying was about 83,000 as of Jan. 1, 2021, about the same as the previous year.

Immigration authorities nationwide busted 15,875 overstayers last year, of which 5,450 were deported, 4,147, or 43.2 percent, fewer than the previous year.

To lower the risk of COVID-19 infections, 3,061 people were given provisional release from immigration detention centers as of the end of 2020, 844, or 38.1 percent, more than the previous year.

Related News