Japan’s immigration policy & the highly skilled HÉCTOR GOLDAR PERROTE WLU – Geography MA Candidate

Background to this paper Demographic change – Immigration policy Policy mobility Background to this paper

outline A) Highly Skilled Migrants in Japan B) Policy Mobility C) Policy implementation and barriers to success

Discourse, layers, and truth

Highly selective, cautious, progressive Incrementalism

(a) FOREIGN TALENT IN JAPAN http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_3/en/

Expected to: Contribute to the country’s economy because of their skills (post-Fordist, technology oriented, human capital intensive, thrives on value-added exports) Create new demands and employment because of their purchasing power Be a net gain in terms of taxation and social spending Spur productivity Fill particular labour gaps Help achieve Japan’s growth targets and be a part of larger economic integration processes

Point system and “highly skilled foreign professional” status of residence Targets corporate sector executives, investors, university professors, scientists, lawyers, doctors, and IT specialists, among others Requirements have been eased in a number of occasions since 2012 (e.g. access to PR after three years) Successful applicants obtain preferential immigration treatment

(B) Policy mobility “Detail how Japan is interacting with other national engagements and international organizations as for the design of its immigration policy, be it through policy learning processes or collaborative immigration policy management” http://images.itprism.com/marketing/viral_marketing.jpg

Learning processes Not inward looking; “a country of borrowers” Three main forces (1) Other schemes’ policy outcomes shaping these processes: (2) Identity dynamics (3) International treaties HFSP is a hybrid system (Green, 2012): Potential candidates need an employer (market-based systems, like the American) Eligibility is assessed through a point system (skill-based systems, like the Canadian) Permanent residency not offered upon arrival (US, UK; unlike Canada or AUS). Green, D. (2014). Japan’s Highly Skilled Foreign Professional Visa: An Early Assessment. Meiji Journal of Political Science and Economics.

Collaborative policy management? Western countries develop multi-layered institutions and heavily rely on other states, bilateral agreements, international organizations, and other actors beyond the state (Tarumoto, 2014). No official framework for collaboration – especially regarding “admission” (1) Belonging to supranational entities (2) Sovereignty (3) Axioms and “nationhood” regulatory principle Geiger, M. and Pecoud, A. Migration, Development, and the “Migration-Development Nexus”. Population, Space, and Place, volume 19. 373. Tarumoto, H. (2012) Towards a new migration management: Care Immigration Policy in Japan. The New Politics of International Mobility. 159. 160.

Convergence?

(c) Policy implementation and barriers to success Amendments = (1) Japan’s eagerness to attract foreign talent (2) Japan’s inability to do so * Quotas Some critique the vagueness of the policy and the lack of clarity (Green, 2012) However, most of the challenges lay outside the policy realm (Oishi, 2012). Japan seems to be not attractive enough: Low income/ Japanese Language / Work-life balance /Workplace culture and practices /gender inequality / integration concerns / Etc. Competition Oishi, N. (2012). The limits of immigration policies: The challenges of highly skilled migration in Japan. American Behavioral Scientist, 56(8), 1080-1100.

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