Turkey ‘disappointed’ with Japan for not accepting Turkish workers

ANKARA

Turkey is “disappointed” over being among the countries whose workers would not be accepted by Japan under a new visa system, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said.

“It has caused disappointment that Turkey is among the countries whose workers would not be accepted by Japan,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hami Aksoy said in a written statement on Jan. 31.

“This situation does not reflect the spirit of rooted strategic partnership and amicable relations our countries have,” Aksoy added. “We believe that this decision will be revised and corrected as soon as possible,” he said.

He also stated that Turkey’s discomfort regarding this has been expressed to Japan’s ambassador to Ankara.

Japan’s parliament had passed a controversial draft bill in November 2018 for plans of attracting over 300,000 foreign workers over the course of the next five years.

The bill aims to meet the labor demands of the markets, which is currently having troubles due to the rapidly shrinking and aging labor force of Japan.

It intends to attract “semi-skilled workers” in a number of industries from construction to tourism.

The new visa system will create two residence status types for foreign workers.

While the first group’s visa would be renewable up to five years, workers in this group will not be allowed to bring their families into Japan.

The foreign workers’ visa, in the second group, would be renewable indefinitely and they will be permitted to bring their elementary families.

Another condition laid down in the bill is foreign workers getting paid as much as their Japanese peers, in order to prevent foreigners getting paid more than the actual citizens.

The Japanese government is expected to seek bilateral agreements on foreign workers with several Asian countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and China. 

Japan’s new visa system will come into effect in April of this year.