Japan to simplify residency process for foreigners with online service

The government has decided to launch an online service to allow foreign nationals to apply and update their residency status in Japan from fiscal 2018, one of a series of measures aimed at improving business efficiency in order to attract more foreign investment. It will also ease requirements for foreigners with highly-specialized knowledge to gain permanent resident status and simplify procedures for foreign businesses to establish a company. The move comes as the government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to boost the amount of direct foreign investment in Japan to 35 trillion yen ($308 billion) by 2020, roughly twice the 2011 amount. “Accelerating foreign firms’ investment in Japan is a major pillar of the Abe government’s growth strategy,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said last week, following his visit to a research and development center of Apple Inc. in Yokohama, near Tokyo. Under the new plan, residency status applicants...