(Bloomberg) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to announce Thursday that his government will raise a cap on daily arrivals from overseas to 7,000 from the current 5,000, Jiji Press said.
The report follows criticism that keeping numbers low would mean it takes months to clear a backlog of hundreds of thousands of visa-holders. Many students, businesspeople and other workers have already waited more than a year to enter the country under restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of Covid. Foreign tourists are still not permitted access.
Japan on Feb. 28 ended a ban on new entry by foreigners that had been reimposed amid the emergence of the omicron variant in November.
Japan Opens Borders to Newcomers, But Data Shows Only Slightly
The country's border measures, among the strictest in the developed world, have proved popular with the public, an important consideration for Kishida ahead of a July upper house election. A survey published by the Nikkei newspaper on Monday found only 20% of respondents said the cap should be raised.
Kishida said separately Wednesday night that Japan would take in refugees from Ukraine, and they would be treated separately from other new arrivals.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
