Immigration Q&A

Immigration Q&A
(Please read the disclaimer first.)

Q1: What permissions do I need if I want to enter and stay in Japan for the G8 Summit?
Q2: Do I need a visa? Which countries are exempted from the visa requirement?
Q3: What is immigration procedure like? What am I going to be asked?
Q4: How can I prove that I comply with the landing conditions?
Q5: Do I have to know where to stay in Japan?
Q6: Will I be refused to enter if I have a criminal record?
Q7: Do I need an invitation?
Q8: What happens if I am refused entry to Japan?


Q1: What permissions do I need if I want to enter and stay in Japan for the G8 Summit?

A:
To enter Japan, under general law you need a visa (see Q2 for visa exemption) AND a landing permission.
Visas are "recommendations" issued by Japanese embassy and comsulate which suggest that the holder is acceptable for entering and staying in Japan.
Please note that even if you have a visa, you cannot enter Japan only if you fail to obtain landing permission.
Landing permission is obtainable upon arrival in Japan, if the immigration officer finds that you meet the landing conditions (see Q3&4 for details).

Furthermore, in order to stay in Japan and engage in certain activities, you need a "resident status". Resident status describes the scope of your stay in Japan and is determined by an immigration officer in accordance with the purpose of your visit. You are allowed to engage in activities within the limits of your resident status and in "normal" social activities. If you visit Japan for the G8 Summit, you need the resident status of "temporary visitor".


Q2: Do I need a visa? Which countries are exempted from the visa requirement?

A:
Basically, If you have a foreign passport, you need a visa which you have to obtain at Japanese embassy and comsulate outside Japan BEFORE landing in Japan.
However, over 60 countries and areas are exempted from the visa requirement. Please see the list on the website of the Foreign Ministry.

If you possess a passport of one of the listed countries, you do not need a visa for a short-term stay as a temporary visitor. But only if you got the permission upon arrival (see Q1)


Q3: What is immigration procedure like? What am I going to be asked?

A:
When passing through passport control at an airport or seaport, you have to show your passport, immigration form and - if necessary - a visa to the immigration officer and apply for landing permission. The immigration officer will check whether your passport and - if necessary - visa are valid and whether you comply with landing conditions. If the immigration officer finds that you meet the landing conditions, you will be photographed and fingerprinted - if you refuse these measures you will not be allowed to enter Japan.After the photographing and fingerprinting, the immigration officer will stamp the landing permission into your passport and grant a residence status.

The landing conditions are, for example,

1. You must hold a valid passport with a valid visa (aforementioned countries in Q2 are exempt from the visa requirement).
2. Your statements about your planned activities in Japan must be true.
3. The period of stay must comply with the Ordinance of the Ministry of Justice (for short-term visits, a period of stay can vary between 15, 30 and 90 days, depending on your nationality).
4. You do not fall under any of the grounds for denial of landing.

Grounds for denial of landing are especially:

- You have been sentenced to imprisonment for other reasons than political offense. (See Q6)

- You have been convicted for drug offense and sentenced to a penalty.

- You have been
a) convicted of a violation of law and sentenced to a penalty for killing, injuring, assaulting or threatning a person or damaging a building or other objects in relation to an international conference where heads of state or representatives of ministrial level have participated, or to an international sport competition,
OR
b) deported from Japan or any other country for the above reasons (including the case you were refused to enter a country or you have left a country "voluntarily" after being ordered to leave)
AND
c) you are likely to kill, injure, assault or threaten a person, or damage a building or other objects in Japan in relation to an international conference.

- The Minister of Justice has reasonable grounds to believe that you are likely to commit an act which could be detrimental to the interests or public security of Japan.

In most of the cases, the immigration officer will ask you what the purpose of your visit is and how long you will stay, but he/she may also ask you other questions concerning the landing conditions.

However, the Ministry of Justice, the National Police Agency and the Foreign Ministry have been and are collecting information about people who have been convicted in relation to past Summits and international conferences, such as APEC and WTO.
From the point of view of immigration practice, it is very likely that people who have been convicted in relation to past international conferences will be deemed to fall under grounds for denial of landing.


Q4: How can I prove that I comply with the landing conditions?

A:
If the immigration officer has any doubts whether you comply with the landing conditions, he/she may ask you to prove that you meet the conditions. It is therefore desirable to prepare the following documents prior to visiting Japan so that they are producible to the immigration officer if required:

1) A ticket for boarding an airplane or a vessel to leave Japan, or a written guarantee issued by a transport company.
2) A valid passport which enables you to enter foreign countries out of Japan.
3) Documents certifying that you can defray all expenses incurred during the stay in Japan. The amount of expenses depends on activities, period and other aspects of your stay. Which documents you need differs from case to case, but it is preferable to bring an original certificate of bank balances or a proof of earnings issued by a public institution.
4) Other documents necessary to prove what activities you will engage in, e.g., invitation, materials concerning the conferences or meetings, schedule, etc., differing from case to case.


Q5: Do I have to know where to stay in Japan?

A:
Yes. You have to decide where to stay in Japan beforehand and answer if asked by the immigration officer.


Q6: Will I be refused to enter if I have a criminal record?

A:
a) Convictions or deportations in relation to international conferences:

If you have been convicted, deported or refused entry to any country for killing, injuring, threatning a person or destroying a building or another object in relation to an international conference in the past, you probably will be denied entry to Japan.

b) Other convictions:

Your application for entry will be refused if you have been sentenced to imprisonment with or without work for 1 year or more, or to an equivalent penalty in the past, irrespective of whether or not the sentence has been executed, whether or not the sentence execution is completed and whether or not the probation time has ended. However, this shall not apply to those convicted of a political offense. "Political offense" does not include criminal offenses which constitutes a "normal" offense, such as homicide, assault, etc., even if it was committed for political reasons.

Besides these, if you have been penalized for drug crimes, you will be rejected.


Q7: Do I need an invitation?

A:
If you apply for a visa in order to participate at conferences and other meetings, you need an invitation.

For the landing permission, you do not necessarily need an invitation, but possibly you will be asked to prove that your statements about your activities in Japan are correct. Therefore, if you want to participate at conferences and meetings, it could be helpful to have an invitation.


Q8: What happens if I am refused entry to Japan?

A:
If the immigration officer decides that you do not satisfy the landing conditions, you will be delivered to a special inquiry officer, who will hold a hearing.

Your representative and/or one of your relatives or acquaintances are allowed to attend the hearing. It is also possible to produce evidence and to hear witnesses.

If the special inquiry officer finds that you conform to the landing conditions, he/she will grant a landing permission. Otherwise, he/she will notify you of his/her findings. In this case, you can either accept these findings and leave the country OR file an objection with the Minister of Justice within 3 days from receipt of the notice. Then the Minister of Justice decides whether or not the objection is reasonable. Even if he finds that the objection is non-reasonable, in very special cases, he can grant a special landing permission.

The duration of the objection procedure may vary from case to case. If the objection is not decided promptly, you will stay in a special facility at the airport or a nearby hotel for which you have to pay.

If the Minister of Justice decides that the objection is non-reasonable, he will order you to leave Japan and determine the date of departure and which flight to take. If you do not leave promptly after receiving the order of departure, a compulsory deportation procedure will be put in force and you will be taken into immigration control facilities.

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Especially, WATCH shall not be liable for any decisions made by third parties, such as immigration authorities, embassies and consulates, in the particular cases and for any damages, such as travel expenses and other expenses, arising from the fact that the user fails to enter Japan.

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Information Exchange between Germany and Japan on Security Issues

The German government responded to the parliamentary query of the left-wing party ("Die Linke") about the information exchange between Germany and Japan on security issues regarding the G8 Summit.

According to the German government, there have been some visits from Germany to Japan and vice versa:

The chief of the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA) visited Japan in August 2007. Reportedly, he did not give any specific advice to the Japanese, but promised to provide any information necessary to evaluate the security situation in Japan under the premises of the law, especially, in case there was a hint that potentially violent "disquieters" from Germany could join the protests against the G8 Summit in Japan. He also stated that there were no signs yet that the so-called "black block" and other groups would menace the summit in Japan.

There was another visit by a delegation of the Federal Ministry of the Interior to Japan in September 2007.

In response to the question list from the Japanese side, the Federal Criminal Police Office provided information about both "radical" and "non-radical" organizations opposed to the globalization.

On the other hand, a delegation of the National Police Agency of Japan visited the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany last autumn to learn about the experiences from the Summit in Heiligendamm.

The information exchange also involved military information:

The military attaché of the Japanese embassy in Berlin visited the Federal Defense Ministry twice in autumn/winter 2007 and requested information about the military activities in Heiligendamm, e.g. measures intended with regard to a possible terrorist attac, especially preventive mearsures of the air traffic security authorities, Federal Armed Forces on alert, measures in case of possible military/non-military incidents and the legal basis for the activities of the military.

The Federal Government also admitted that the personal information of one Japanese who was arrested in Rostock in June 2007 were recorded in the data files "INPOL-KAN", "INPOL-IS" and in the data file of the Federal Criminal Police Office "IgaST", i.e. the "International Operating Potentially Violent Disquieter".
The Japanese authorities learned about the arrest via a Japanese contact investigator who was operating at the "international contact investigators' center" which was set up at the Federal Criminal Police Office during the summit.

(The statement will be translated in details and uploaded probably by the end of May.)

List of the lawyers joining WATCH

This is the list of the lawyers joining WATCH.
(Name, Location of office)

Yukihide Nakamura, Shizuoka
Yuichi Kaido, Tokyo
Tadanori Onizuka, Tokyo
Mitsuru Namba, Tokyo
Kazuo Hizumi, Tokyo
Yukio Yamashita, Tokyo
Koji Asaishi, Aomori
Kiyoshi Abe, Sendai
Morihiro Ichikawa, Hokkaido Sapporo
Takayuki Matsumoto, Kobe
Mikiko Ohtani, Tokyo
Tadaaki Mutoh, Fukuoka
Shuichi Adachi, Hiroshima
Masato Wada, Tokyo
Akio Taba, Tokyo
Yasushi Tadano, Tokyo
Shoichi Ibusiki, Tokyo
Yosuke Ohnuki, Tokyo
Sachi Katoh, Tokyo
Yutaka Saitoh, Niigata
Yoshiyuki Todate, Tokyo
Yukari Hideshima, Hokkaido Sapporo
Hideki Matsuyama, Kobe
Kenji Yoshikawa, Fukui
Tohru Ino, Hokkaido Sapporo
Tadaharu Katoh, Hokkaido Sapporo
Takafumi Suzuki, Chiba
Kanae Manji, Hokkaido Sapporo
Fumio Takemura, Osaka
Yang Young Ja, Hyogo

Citizens and former riot policemen mobilized for security in Tokyo

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun

Yomiuri Shimbun, April 11th
(Translated from the Japanese)

Less than 3 months before the beginning of the G8 Summit at Lake Toya, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department - which will send over 1000 riot policemen to the venue of the Summit - also presses ahead with the preparation for the maintenance of security in the Tokyo area.

Facing unknown threats like international terrorism and radical antiglobalization movements, the Police Department also consults citizens and former riot policemen given that important facilities in the metropolitan area could become the target of terrorist attacs.

Citizens' Power

The Department asked local citizens to help with the security surveillance. In areas like Shinjuku and Ikebukuro, neighborhood associations and local merchants' associations set up an organization consisting of approximately 3000 people and watch out for suspicious persons and objects at railway stations and around important facilities.

Police executive says that it is necessary to put (security) network all over the society in order to prevent terrorist attacs in an early stage, as in the recent years, terrorist attacs have been targeting transportation facilities, tourist sites, venues of events and department stores.
Similar surveillance groups have been set up in the field of responsibility of 19 police stations by the end of March. Until July, surveillance groups of citizens shall be set up at 96 police stations.

Experts wanted

The security surveillance in Tokyo will be lax due to the fact that half of the 3000 riot policemen will be sent to the venue of the Summit. For this reason, an ad hoc-riot squad consisting of young policemen who usually work in the so-called police boxes ("koban") will be also deployed in Tokyo. This ad hoc-riot squad has not been gathered since the first visit by President Bush in 2002, so they lack experience. Therefore, retired riot policemen who have experienced the students' movements against the Japan-US Security Treaty back in the 1950s/60s have been hired as advisors since the end of 2007. They teach the fundament of security to the young policemen, such as how to use protection shields, truncheons, etc. and how to build a formation against the mob. One of the advisors says: "There are lots of young men who lack physical force and knowledge. We have to prepare them to stand against the mob which will be hostile towards the police."

Fighting excercise

Last year in Heiligendamm, some parts of the antiglobalization groups became violent and over 1000 people were detained. In Japan, heavy riots with flying Molotov cocktails have occured in the mid-1980s for the last time. Experienced policemen prepare the younger ones mentally for the operation and give excercises how to ward off burning Molotov cocktails with protection shields and to fight back with tear-gas grenades.

Just shortly before the riot squad of the Tokyo Police will be sent to Hokkaido, a final excercise involving 1000 persons - including the Security Service - will be held in early May.

Recent cases of entry refusals in the run-up to the G8 Summit

Case 1:

Kim Ae Hwa, a representative from the Korean organization "Committee of Asian Women" arrived at Narita Airport on March 7th to participate at an international conference which was planned on the following day by the "Network questioning the G8", a critical group against the G8 Summit at Lake Toya.

When she tried to pass the immigration gate around 4:40 pm, she was questioned by the immigration bureau and was refused to enter Japan. Ms. Ae Hwa declared that she was a "CAW member" and wanted to take part at the conference, but the immigration officer considered the purpose of her visit as "unclear" and denied her entry so that she had to fly back to South Korea in the evening of that day.
2 days later on March 9th, Ms. Ae Hwa attempted to enter Narita Airport with her invitation card for the second time. This time, she could enter Japan without any problems and was able to participate at some parts of the conference.

Case 2:

Martin Kraemer, a German activist and Doctor of Agriculture, attempted to enter Otaru Port via Sakhalin, Russia, with a passenger-freighter on March 10th with the objective to participate at a conference related to G8 in Sapporo. However, the immigration authorities in Otaru denied his entry without any reasons. Mr. Kraemer had to remain in the vessel while lawyers interviewed him and filed an objection with the immigration authorities. The authorities insisted on the refusal of entry, so Mr. Kraemer returned on March 14th with the vessel to Russia and flew back to Germany.


Case 3:

The Italian philosopher Antonio Negri was planning to participate at a symposium organized by the Tokyo University, Kyoto University and Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music which was scheduled for the end of March. In the 1970s, Mr. Negri was accused of being involved in the Red Brigades. After he was sentenced to prison, he went into exile to Paris, returned 1998 to Italy, where he was imprisoned for some time. In 2003, he was granted amnesty and returned to Paris where he still lives today. For his visit to Japan, the Japanese embassy in Paris had assured Mr. Negri that he did not need visa. Thus, on March 17th - 2 days before the planned departure of Mr. Negri to Japan - the foreign ministry of Japan declared that, regarding the circumstances of the immigration control in the run-up to the G8, there was a high risk of entry refusal if Mr. Negri came to Japan without visa. And on the following day on March 18th, the foreign ministry told the organizers of the symposium that a visa could only be issued in consultation with the immigration bureau of the ministry of justice. So, without the consent of the immigration bureau, the Japanese embassy in Paris was not "able" to issue a visa for Mr. Negri. The ministry of justice/immigration bureau announced that a visa could only be issued if the organizers submitted official documents to prove that Mr. Negri was a political criminal. Mr. Negri had to renounce his visit to Japan, as he was not able to collect all the documents required by the immigration bureau in the short time left until the symposium.


Letter from Antonio Negri (in French, published on the website of the organizers of the symposium):


Lettre aux amis japonais

Chers amis,

Une serie de circonstances totalement imprevues nous obligent a renoncer a notre voyage au Japon, alors que nous nous faisions une joie immense de ce sejour, des discussions passionnantes et des contacts intellectuels, des echanges et des collaborations que nous imaginions deja.
Il y a presque six mois, nous nous etions renseignes avec l'aide precieuse de l'International House of Japan: les citoyens des pays membres de l'Europe ne doivent pas demander un visa d'entree au Japon s'ils n'y gagnent pas de salaire. Nous avons soigneusement verifie aupres de l'Ambassade du Japon a Paris, cela ne posait aucun probleme pour nous, c'etait parfait.
Il y a deux jours, lundi 17, on nous a contre toute attente demande ce visa - alors que le reglement sur les visas n'avait pourtant pas change. Nous nous sommes precipites a l'Ambassade du Japon a Paris et avons rempli tous les formulaires necessaires, fourni toute la documentation, les invitations, les programmes, les billets d'avion. Hier, on nous a demande en plus toute une serie de documents qui concernaient le passe politique et le statut juridique de Toni depuis les annees 1970. C'est une documentation enorme, en langue italienne, qui remonte a longtemps, et que nous n'avons bien entendu pas sous la main ? et qu’aucun des vingt-deux pays visites par Toni dans les cinq dernieres annees n’a jamais demande.
L'avion partait ce matin - nous sommes restes a Paris.

C'est avec une immense deception que nous renoncons a ce voyage.
Nous voudrions dire a tous ceux qui ont contribue pendant de longs mois a l'organiser (la professeur Kobata, le professeur Ichida, M. Sonoda - notre aide precieuse de tous les jours -, les traducteurs, les collegues des universites, les etudiants) que nous avons apprecie a distance leur amitie, et que nous esperons tres fort que cette amitie ne cessera de grandir dans le futur. Nous savons combien leur travail a ete intense, et nous leur rendons hommage.
Nous voulons croire que ce n'est que partie remise, et que, bientot, nous aurons l'occasion de vous rendre visite.

Avec notre amitie et nos regrets,

Judith Revel et Antonio Negri
Paris, le 19 mars 2008

Japanese page

Please find WATCH's Japanese blog under:
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/watch-summit