Photo/Illutration A government expert panel tasked with reviewing the much-criticized technical intern training program holds a meeting in Tokyo on Nov. 24. (Kazumichi Kubota)

Foreign nationals who come to Japan to work under a proposed “training and employment program” will be obliged, in principle, to put in more than a year at their workplaces before they can change jobs.

That’s the recommendation of a final report compiled Nov. 24 by a government expert panel tasked with creating a system to replace the much-criticized technical intern training program that brought hundreds of thousands of Asian workers to Japan to learn job skills they can use when they return to their home countries.

However, the report said the government will also consider a transitional measure under which each industry, for the time being, could set a longer minimum working period.

The panel said the transitional measure takes into consideration “unforeseen disadvantages and adverse effects” on concerned parties.

The technical intern training program established in 1993 in principle does not allow foreign interns to transfer to other companies.

Critics say the program is a hotbed for human rights violations as interns face difficulty changing workplaces even if they are treated poorly and underpaid.

The government has also been reviewing the system because interns have been used as a source of cheap labor.

The transitional measure was added after ruling party lawmakers and business operators raised concerns that the one-year employment requirement was too short.

When the government presented a draft of the report’s outline about a month ago, elements within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as well as small and midsize businesses in rural areas, started howling over the provision that workers could change jobs after working for at least one year.

“Workers will flow out to cities,” some cried, as others lamented, “It is impossible to train workers in one year.”

At one time, the government considered a revised proposal that would allow each industry to set a period of no longer than two years to accommodate those concerns. It eventually settled on the two-step approach included in the final report.

The government will continue discussions on specifics of the replacement system and submit related legislation to the ordinary Diet session next year, at the earliest.

The new system is expected to be put into practice several years from now.

The final report provisionally named the new system “the training and employment program,” with the aim of securing and developing human resources.

This will allow foreign nationals, in principle, to stay in Japan for three years.

During the period, they will be expected to develop capabilities to the level of “specified skilled worker 1,” a status of residence that requires a certain level of knowledge and experience.

The new system covers industry sectors in which foreign workers can transfer to the specified skilled worker 1 visa, making it easier for them to move up to the next level.

Third-party monitoring will be strengthened over supervisory organizations that oversee companies with foreign workers to ensure their independence and neutrality.

In addition, new standards for approving those organizations, such as their financial footing, will be established. 

The expert panel also called for the introduction of a system under which employers shoulder part of the fees their foreign workers paid to organizations overseas that send people to Japan to work.

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