Justice Ministry to withdraw/revise Immigration Guideline No. 8
Immigration Guideline No. 8 to be withdrawn.
Questionable Guideline to be withdrawn and/or revised . . .
Osaka (November 12, 2009) - The Free Choice Foundation has just received word that an unpopular Immigration guideline is to be repealed, revsied, or both.
The news was relayed via a phone call from the office of an Upper House lawmaker* immediately after he had spoken with the Justice Ministry regarding Immigration Guideline No. 8, the mandate that would have required visa applicants to present their social insurance ID cards at the application window. The lawmaker was informed that due to the large number of complaints registered - as well as the communiqué received from the Kobe City Assembly - the Ministry will be deleting (sakujo) Guideline No. 8 from the list of eight guidelines.
Back to the drawing board . . .
The Justice Ministry admitted that they were overwhelmed by the amount of resistance shown to the planned guideline, which was scheduled to go into effect beginning April 2010. They have therefore decided carefully study the issue. The remaining seven guidelines will go into effect as scheduled, but it is questionable whether a revised format for Guideline No. 8 will be ready in time to be included.
After months of unrelenting effort by Free Choice and its supporters, the government has finally come to realize that Guideline No. 8 was indeed flawed. The Foundation contacted more than 300 Upper and Lower House lawmakers of the DPJ, LDP and New Komei Parties, and a number of them have taken the Ministry to task over the issue.
The Petition Drive to continue . . .
The Free Choice Foundation will continue its Petition Drive and will submit the results to the government early in 2010. Free Choice is campaigning for the right of non-Japanese residents to choose either private or public health care.
*Important: The lawmaker mentioned above received this information directly from the Ministry of Justice and it is the most up-to-date news available on this issue. Therefore, please be aware that the Immigration Bureau has yet to become fully apprised of it.