I. Introduction

Since the Basic Plan for Immigration Control (2nd Edition) was formulated in March 2000, changes in the existing conditions related to immigration control administration have been seen in many areas. There is now a need for the immigration control administration to take measures to establish Japan as a country built on tourism by encouraging foreign travelers to visit Japan. We are also called on to more openly accept those foreign nationals who are welcome in Japan, such as highly-skilled foreign workers in professional or technical fields. In addition, Japan's productive population has begun to decrease and its total population is expected to peak in 2006 and then start to fall. The time has come to decide what the role of Japanese administration of immigration control should be in this age of population decline.

At the same time, the number of illegal foreign residents in Japan has remained high, causing social and security problems. The immigration control administration urgently needs to take the toughest measures ever to halve the number of illegal foreign residents by the year 2008, which is the target that has been set by the Japanese government. Since the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, it has become even more important for Japan and other countries to effectively block the international movement of terrorists and the like.

In response to these changes, at a time when five years have passed since the establishment of the 2nd Basic Plan for Immigration Control, it has been decided that a third plan should be formulated in order to specify basic immigration control measures at home and abroad and to implement them appropriately.

The Basic Plan for Immigration Control (3rd Edition) has been designed for the coming five years. In response to future changes in the situation regarding immigration control administration, however, we will review the plan as needed even within the five-year period.