Government approves measures it says will make life easier for foreign workers under new blue-collar visas

As it looks to bring a massive number of foreign blue-collar workers into the country from April, the Cabinet on Tuesday adopted a package of policy measures that it says will provide greater support for those hoping to benefit from the new visa categories. The 126 measures, backed by a collective budget of ¥22.4 billion for the next fiscal year, are supplementary to the immigration control law that was revised earlier this month. The measures include the establishment of about 100 consultation centers nationwide offering support in 11 languages: Japanese, English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Nepalese, Indonesian, Thai and Tagalog. The central government also pledged to introduce stricter screening processes to crack down on rogue brokers that exploit migrant foreign workers through debt-bondage. The government is also allocating ¥600 million for a Japanese-language education program for non-Japanese that will include a standardized curriculum and textbooks.