The government this month will submit a bill to the Diet on revising the immigration control law that is expected to draw criticism from opposition parties and human rights organizations.

The revisions include limiting the number of times a foreign national can apply for refugee status to two. The legislation also does not place a limit on the detention periods of foreign nationals illegally residing in Japan, sources said.

The legislation contains elements of the previous revision bill that was submitted to the Diet in 2021. That bill, which was scrapped later that year, was denounced at home and overseas, including by U.N. experts, as failing to meet international human rights standards.

The Justice Ministry says the aim of amending the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law is to resolve the issue of prolonged detentions of foreign nationals.

The issue made headlines after Wishma Sandamali, 33, a Sri Lankan woman who overstayed her visa, died in March 2021 following months of detention at a state facility in Nagoya.

The ministry says the long detention periods are primarily a result of the existing law that allows asylum seekers to remain in Japan while their applications are being checked. During the examinations of the applications, deportation orders are suspended without exception.

The current law also does not restrict the number of times a person can apply for refugee status.

The ministry believes that many foreign nationals are abusing this arrangement to stay in Japan.

The previous bill called for limiting the number of applications per person to two, in principle.

It also recommended a new system that deports or incarcerates for up to one year individuals who obstruct deportation orders by creating a ruckus.

Furthermore, the bill called for a setup that allows foreign detainees to stay at places other than state detention centers under the oversight of “custodians,” such as supporters and relatives.

The new bill retained these three key points.

It calls for authorities to determine whether to put the individuals in a government facility or other placed on a case-by-case basis. They should weigh whether the detainees have the potential to run away or destroy evidence, and if they would be put at a serious disadvantage in a government detention facility.

The bill also calls for authorities to review each case involving detention at a state facility every three months to consider whether another place overseen by custodians would be more appropriate.

If they decide to keep the individual at a government facility following a review, the case must be reported to the commissioner of the Immigration Services Agency. The commissioner can then decide if the individual should be shifted to a nongovernmental facility.

The previous bill necessitated a security deposit for detainees who are allowed to stay at an outside facility. The new bill calls for such payments if the need emerges.

Another measure in the new bill would alleviate the burden of custodians by not requiring them to regularly report to immigration authorities about the status of the detainees.

However, the new bill represents a step backward concerning the lengthy detainments.

Two years ago, lawmakers at the Lower House’s judicial affairs committee reached an agreement to limit incarceration periods to a maximum of six months, rather than up to a year.

They also agreed to cap the detention periods to six months, in principle.

But these two clauses were not incorporated in the new legislation.

As of January 2022, about 67,000 foreign nationals had overstayed their visas, according to the Immigration Services Agency.

Most of them returned to their home countries after deportation orders were issued.

But 3,224 had defied the order as of the end of 2021, the agency’s data showed. Of them, 1,629 were applying for refugee status.

Winning recognition as a refugee has been extremely difficult in Japan. Only around 1 percent of applicants are granted the status.

The revision bill says Japan will provide protections for people fleeing from conflicts in their countries, as it does for refugees.

Most people who fled Ukraine after Russia’s invasion will be eligible for protection in this category.

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations and other groups in autumn last year proposed setting up an official organization to examine if refugee status should be granted, independent from the Immigration Services Agency, to secure transparency in the process.

They also asked for a system that requires authorities to obtain a warrant from a judge before they can take foreign nationals into custody at a detention facility.