Photo/Illutration An expert panel on reforming the technical intern program holds a meeting in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on Oct. 18. (Kazumichi Kubota)

A government panel proposed replacing the much-criticized technical intern program with a system that better protects the rights of foreign workers and allows them to change workplaces.

One key complaint about the current intern program is that foreign trainees, in principle, are not allowed to switch companies, meaning they could be stuck with an employer that treats them poorly and exploits them as cheap labor.

According to a draft of the final report proposed at the panel’s meeting on Oct. 18, the replacement program would allow trainees who have passed basic technical tests and Japanese language exams to transfer to other companies after working for a year at one place. The new company would be in the same business field, according to the draft.

However, concerns have arisen that trainees might transfer from rural areas, which are facing labor shortages, to urban locations where the wages are higher.

The final report will be compiled by the end of the year. Based on the report, the government intends to submit bills to the Diet, possibly in next year’s ordinary session, to set up the new program.

The panel’s proposal effectively ends the technical intern program, which started in 1993 to help people from developing nations acquire skills that they could use after returning to their home countries.

The restrictions on transfers were intended to encourage the trainees to systematically learn skills at one company.

However, the intern program became criticized as a hotbed of human rights violations. Many trainees fled their workplaces where they were forced to toil in dangerous conditions, often doing menial tasks.

According to the panel’s draft, the new system will set a three-year period of stay in Japan, in principle.

The replacement program will also encourage trainees to shift to the specified skilled worker program, which was introduced in 2019 to secure foreign workers with certain expertise.

The specified skilled worker program permits long-term employment and residency in Japan.

Currently, the fields eligible for the technical intern program and the specified skilled worker program are different. The new system aims to align these fields with the specified skilled worker program.

The range of work that foreign trainees can engage in will also be reviewed to promote the transition to the specified skilled program.

To join the specified skilled program, foreigners must pass a technical test and have a certain level of Japanese language proficiency.

If they fail these tests, they are permitted to remain in Japan for up to one year to try again.

Complaints of incompetence and corruption have been lodged against supervising organizations that act as brokers and oversee companies that accept foreign trainees.

Restrictions will be tightened against such organizations, such as prohibiting their representatives from holding executive posts at the companies.

But specifics of such measures have not been announced yet.

The panel also proposed a plan that would make companies pay a percentage of the commission fees that trainees often owe to dispatching organizations in their home countries before they come to Japan.

The ratio and amounts will be further discussed for the final report.

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