Immigration Services Agency Unveils "Zero Illegal Overstayers Plan — Intensive Promotion Package"
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On May 22, 2026, the Immigration Services Agency of Japan released the "Zero Illegal Overstayers Plan — Intensive Promotion Package," an enhanced version of its "Zero Illegal Overstayers Plan for the Safety and Security of the Public" (originally released on May 23, 2025). As of January 2026, the number of illegal overstayers in Japan was estimated at about 68,000, and the agency has set a goal of halving that figure by the end of 2030.
The measures are organized into three stages — entry control, residency management and refugee screening, and departure and deportation — and include early introduction of the Japan Electronic System for Travel Authorization (JESTA), faster refugee recognition screening, doubling the number of government-funded deportations with escort officers, strengthened cyber patrols to collect and analyze social media posts, and tougher enforcement against the facilitation of illegal employment.
This policy decision underpins a series of concrete measures reported subsequently, including the emergency addition of more than 200 immigration officers (related coverage) and a strategy using testimony from deported foreign nationals to persuade others to return home (related coverage). Whereas the existing "Comprehensive Response Measures for Accepting Foreign Nationals and Achieving Orderly Coexistence" (announced January 23, 2026; related coverage) represents policy aimed at expanding acceptance of foreign nationals, this package forms its counterpart on the side of countering illegal overstay.