{"id":145690,"date":"2022-04-04T10:40:21","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T01:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?p=145690&lang=en"},"modified":"2022-04-04T10:40:21","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T01:40:21","slug":"seeking-refuge-in-japan-from-ukraine-evacuee-or-refugee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/seeking-refuge-in-japan-from-ukraine-evacuee-or-refugee\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeking Refuge in Japan from Ukraine: Evacuee or Refugee?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My name is Masayo Boston, and I will try to fill attorney Mr. Atsushi Miyake\u2019s shoes by undertaking the writing of this column from this month. I am a certified legal professional specializing in administrative procedures (gyoseishoshi<\/em> \u884c\u653f\u66f8\u58eb) here in Fukuoka. My focus is on helping foreigners with visa applications, naturalization procedures, and establishing companies in Japan. This month\u2019s topic concerns those from Ukraine seeking refuge in Japan.<\/p>\n

\"SeekingPhoto by<\/span> Anastasiia Krutota<\/span><\/a> on<\/span> Unsplash<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

On March 2, 2022, the Japanese Prime Minister first announced that Japan would be accepting Ukrainians evacuating from the war in Ukraine. Initial Japanese press announcements referred to people from Ukraine as \u2018refugees\u2019 (nanmin<\/em>\u96e3\u6c11). Soon after, however, the Japanese press altered their terminology and began referring to those evacuating from Ukraine as \u2018evacuees\u2019 (hinanmin<\/em> \u907f\u96e3\u6c11).<\/p>\n

On March 15, the Ministry of Justice announced the following procedures for Ukrainians who have evacuated from the war to enter Japan. Ukrainian evacuees first have to enter Japan on a short-stay (\u77ed\u671f\u6ede\u5728) visa. This short-stay visa must be obtained at a Japanese embassy or consulate before leaving for Japan. Once in Japan, the Ukrainian evacuees can apply for a change from short-stay status to \u201cdesignated activities\u201d (\u7279\u5b9a\u6d3b\u52d5 ) residence status.<\/p>\n

To apply for \u201cdesignated activities\u201d residence status, Ukrainian evacuees must submit their Ukrainian passport (or a passport copy), a completed application form, and a written statement explaining the reason for their application. Once granted, Ukrainian evacuees with \u2018designated activities\u2019 status can stay in Japan for one year and are allowed to work full-time with no restrictions on job type. If there is a need for an extension, their stay can be extended.<\/p>\n

Of course, it is also possible to come to Japan and try to apply for refugee status. Any foreign person can make such an application. Usually, applicants are given \u201cdesignated activities\u201d status while awaiting the result of the application for refugee status.<\/p>\n

What happens when refugee status is recognized? Once recognized as a refugee, \u201clong-term residence\u201d status (\u5b9a\u4f4f\u8005) will be granted in most cases. With their refugee status recognized, there is also the possibility that the requirements for obtaining a permanent residence permit (\u6c38\u4f4f\u8a31\u53ef) might be eased at the discretion of the Minister of Justice. (Immigration Services of Japan website<\/a>)<\/p>\n

However, in Japan, recognition of refugee status is very uncommon; for example, in 2020, the success rate of refugee status applications in Japan was 1.2% (47 out of 3,936 applicants.) It is important to understand the criteria used for deciding whether an applicant is recognized as a refugee and how the criteria could perhaps be applied to those who have evacuated from Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\"SeekingPhoto by Tina Hartung<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n

The United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) and Protocol on the Status of Refugees (1967) provides a definition of a refugee. Under Article 1 of the Refugee Convention and Article 1 of the Protocol, a refugee is defined as:<\/p>\n

\u201ca person who is outside of his\/her own country of nationality and unable or unwilling to receive the protection of his\/her own country of nationality for having a well-founded fear of being persecuted for their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or for their political opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Japan ratified the UN Refugee Convention in October 1981, and Japan\u2019s Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (\u51fa\u5165\u56fd\u7ba1\u7406\u53ca\u3073\u96e3\u6c11\u8a8d\u5b9a\u6cd5) went into effect in January 1982. The Japanese refugee recognition system was established to implement the various regulations of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and Protocol on the Status of Refugees.<\/p>\n

While the UN\u2019s definition of a refugee has been adopted for the refugee recognition system in Japan, the words \u201cunable or unwilling to receive the protection of his\/her own country of nationality\u201d can be interpreted as meaning that only people being persecuted by their own home country should be formally recognized as \u2018refugees .\u2019This has been the interpretation traditionally used in Japan. Can such an interpretation allow evacuees from Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine to be recognized as refugees?<\/p>\n

\"SeekingPhoto by<\/span> Kevin B\u00fcckert<\/span><\/a> on<\/span> Unsplash<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The majority seeking refuge outside of Ukraine are women and children. These women and children are not seeking refuge from persecution by their government but rather the Russian invasion. Can these women and children not be formally recognized as refugees? In contrast, could a man leave Ukraine to avoid his country\u2019s military draft based on his conscience as a pacifist be officially recognized as a refugee? An overly narrow interpretation of the UN definition of a refugee appears to undermine the original purpose of the UN conventions on refugee status. It needs to be asked what the difference is between an evacuee (hinanmin<\/em> \u907f\u96e3\u6c11) and a \u2018refugee\u2019(nanmin<\/em>\u96e3\u6c11) and whether the distinction is important.<\/p>\n

\"SeekingPhoto by<\/span> Max Kukurudziak<\/span><\/a> on<\/span> Unsplash<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Disclaimer:<\/strong> While every effort has been made to ensure that the information on this article is accurate at the time of posting, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ. If you do require advice or wish to find out more about the information provided and related topics, please contact the author<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Text by:<\/strong> Masayo Boston, April 2022
\nClick here<\/a> to contact by email
\nWebsite: https:\/\/www.admin-legal.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My name is Masayo Boston, and I will try to fill attorney Mr. Atsushi Miyake\u2019s shoes by undertaking the writing of this column from this month. I am a certified legal professional specializing in administrative procedures…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":145683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?p=145690&lang=en","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4914],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-others","location-fukuoka-prefecture","en-US"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/fn_boston-legal-column-apr_2022_cl-001.jpg?fit=1400%2C933&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145690"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145723,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145690\/revisions\/145723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}