How Prospective Migrants Cheating an Unfavorable System can Make the System Even More Unfavorable
Waiting in the line to get some visa-related matters finished at the ever-crowded and confusing Tokyo immigration processing center was a Yemeni seeming lost in thought. Asked what he is doing here in Tokyo, the man timidly answered that he is looking to get his refugee status approved. And why Japan? For him, it was the only country where he could get a tourist visa even to come in the first place. The decreasing appetite for Middle Eastern refugees in Europe and America meant that those desperate for good-paying jobs are now looking to Japan for the slimmest hope.
And there is no doubt just how slim the hope is for refugees here in Japan. The Yemeni was fully-aware of the unfavorable odds has was facing. He knew that last year, Japan only approved refugee applications from a total of 28 people, and his personal experience in Japan so far points to an arduous journey ahead in a strange land with no guarantee of good results. He spoke of how he has fortunately found fellow Yemenis to live with, but barred from working under his ambiguous "designated activities" visa, he worries about his dwindling savings in a relatively expensive country to live.
Asked about the whole refugee process in Japan, the man nonchalantly describes the sheer frequency with which he must make the hours-long journey to the immigration center. His "designated activities" visa is only granted for two months every time, and each extension takes two weeks or more. To ensure his visa does not expire before the extension is granted, he must come to the center every month for an interview with the immigration officer. "They ask basically the same question every time," the Yemeni says in English, "about why I want to become a refugee in the first place."
For anyone who is decently knowledgeable about current affairs, the interview question is a ridiculous one. Yemen faces a grave humanitarian crisis from a protracted civil war waged between Iranian-backed rebels and government-led force supported by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The toil on the local economy and human lives are not any less than the much more publicized civil war being waged in Syria. As a matter of fact, the man came to Japan because he needed to make a living, and no other country with decent wages is willing to accept his presence.
But of course, here in Japan, being a victim of war is not sufficient to be qualified as a refugee, for what seems to be a good reason. The Yemeni notes that too many people ("Filipinos, Thais, Indonesians...they have no jobs at home") falsely claim the same refugee status that he is claiming, just so that they have the opportunity to live permanently in Japan and find well-paying jobs. The intense and prolonged scrutiny of the Japanese migration officers and their seemingly ridiculous question of intent to become a refugee, then, act to filter out economic migrants claiming to be victims of humanitarian disasters.
Without explicitly saying so, the Yemeni alludes to the presence of so many "fake refugees" as a reason for getting the refugee status being so difficult in Japan. In what is already a largely xenophobic country where many harbor negative views of foreigners as potential criminals who scorn local laws and rules, "fake refugees" only serve to confirm such suspicions. To the Japanese immigration officers, these "fake refugees," by illegally claiming to be refugees when they really just want to make money, is exactly why they need to maintain excessively strict control of the refugee status, so that abuse of the system can be thwarted.
Interestingly, the Yemeni does not show anger but sympathy for those "fake refugees." "They have no jobs at home so they have to come here...I understand that," he says. Of course, "no jobs at home" is an exaggeration. Employment remains possible even in the remotest Southeast Asian villages. It is just that those jobs are informal, unstable, back-breaking, and still do not pay a living wage even considering the low cost of living in those villages. It is hardly an ideal situation for villagers, but to say that they deserve the refugee status, which makes them victims of humanitarian crises, is hardly appropriate.
Instead, by striving to bend existing migration rules just for higher wages abroad, "fake refugees" are making it more difficult for real refugees fleeing from life-and-death situations to simply rebuild their walls in a peaceful environment. And by seeking to maximize their own welfare by essentially gaming the system, such economic migrants force local immigration officials to further tighten controls on migration, making it more difficult for migrants in the future. The short-term gains of a few migrants become the long-term loss for many more prospective migrants in the future.
And there is no doubt just how slim the hope is for refugees here in Japan. The Yemeni was fully-aware of the unfavorable odds has was facing. He knew that last year, Japan only approved refugee applications from a total of 28 people, and his personal experience in Japan so far points to an arduous journey ahead in a strange land with no guarantee of good results. He spoke of how he has fortunately found fellow Yemenis to live with, but barred from working under his ambiguous "designated activities" visa, he worries about his dwindling savings in a relatively expensive country to live.
Asked about the whole refugee process in Japan, the man nonchalantly describes the sheer frequency with which he must make the hours-long journey to the immigration center. His "designated activities" visa is only granted for two months every time, and each extension takes two weeks or more. To ensure his visa does not expire before the extension is granted, he must come to the center every month for an interview with the immigration officer. "They ask basically the same question every time," the Yemeni says in English, "about why I want to become a refugee in the first place."
For anyone who is decently knowledgeable about current affairs, the interview question is a ridiculous one. Yemen faces a grave humanitarian crisis from a protracted civil war waged between Iranian-backed rebels and government-led force supported by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The toil on the local economy and human lives are not any less than the much more publicized civil war being waged in Syria. As a matter of fact, the man came to Japan because he needed to make a living, and no other country with decent wages is willing to accept his presence.
But of course, here in Japan, being a victim of war is not sufficient to be qualified as a refugee, for what seems to be a good reason. The Yemeni notes that too many people ("Filipinos, Thais, Indonesians...they have no jobs at home") falsely claim the same refugee status that he is claiming, just so that they have the opportunity to live permanently in Japan and find well-paying jobs. The intense and prolonged scrutiny of the Japanese migration officers and their seemingly ridiculous question of intent to become a refugee, then, act to filter out economic migrants claiming to be victims of humanitarian disasters.
Without explicitly saying so, the Yemeni alludes to the presence of so many "fake refugees" as a reason for getting the refugee status being so difficult in Japan. In what is already a largely xenophobic country where many harbor negative views of foreigners as potential criminals who scorn local laws and rules, "fake refugees" only serve to confirm such suspicions. To the Japanese immigration officers, these "fake refugees," by illegally claiming to be refugees when they really just want to make money, is exactly why they need to maintain excessively strict control of the refugee status, so that abuse of the system can be thwarted.
Interestingly, the Yemeni does not show anger but sympathy for those "fake refugees." "They have no jobs at home so they have to come here...I understand that," he says. Of course, "no jobs at home" is an exaggeration. Employment remains possible even in the remotest Southeast Asian villages. It is just that those jobs are informal, unstable, back-breaking, and still do not pay a living wage even considering the low cost of living in those villages. It is hardly an ideal situation for villagers, but to say that they deserve the refugee status, which makes them victims of humanitarian crises, is hardly appropriate.
Instead, by striving to bend existing migration rules just for higher wages abroad, "fake refugees" are making it more difficult for real refugees fleeing from life-and-death situations to simply rebuild their walls in a peaceful environment. And by seeking to maximize their own welfare by essentially gaming the system, such economic migrants force local immigration officials to further tighten controls on migration, making it more difficult for migrants in the future. The short-term gains of a few migrants become the long-term loss for many more prospective migrants in the future.
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