About 70% of those who cannot come to Japan are international intern trainees and technical students. While many countries are taking steps to ease immigration restrictions and reopen their economies, Japan remains closed to foreign entrants from all countries in principle.
Foreign nationals must apply for a certificate of eligibility before traveling to Japan to stay in the country for more than three months. According to a government source, Immigration Service Agency has issued eligibility certificates to 578,000 people since January 2020, of which 371,000 have not yet entered Japan.
In January, the government imposed tighter border controls. Entry is only allowed for returning foreign residents and others with special status, such as spouses of Japanese nationals. Returning foreign nationals are required to take PCR tests and undergo quarantine.
The health ministry is considering easing the restrictions but remains concerned that allowing more foreign nationals into Japan will lead to an increase in COVID - 19 cases and new variants of the virus. Some politicians from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party believe previous surges in infections were due to insufficient border controls and are against relaxing the rules. There also seems to be no coordination between the ministry and the LDP.
The government is planning to gradually relax border controls after the parliamentary election on Oct. 31, giving priority to short-term business travelers.
The restrictions are adding pressures to a chronic labor shortage in Japan. There were 194,000 technical trainees slated to come to Japan after 2020, of whom 111,000 have not entered the country. Representatives of a labor union for the construction industry told Nikkei that there are several cases of companies giving up receiving trainees An executive with a pub chain said: There could be competition to secure foreign workers when the economy recovers.