TOKYO, Mar 4 (NNN-NHK) – Japan will further relax its COVID-19 border controls from Mar 14, increasing the daily cap on overseas entrants to 7,000, from the current 5,000, Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, said yesterday.
Kishida revealed a new scheme at a press conference, to give entry priority to foreign students, as business travel demand is not high.
The decision was made, as phased easing of entry restrictions have been the target of criticism, at home and abroad, for being too strict, and the demand for Japan to allow more entries was high, especially from foreign students, ahead of the Apr start of the country’s school year.
“We will help students come to Japan by giving them (use of) vacant seats, especially on weekdays, when there are not many business travellers,” Kishida said, calling such students a “treasure” for the country.
“Many foreign students are worried if they can enter Japan before school starts in Apr,” he said.
About 150,000 foreign students are said to be still waiting for entry into Japan, due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, that have been imposed in the past two years.
In Nov last year, Japan effectively enforced an entry ban on non-resident foreign nationals, when the world grappled with the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Currently, up to 5,000 people, including Japanese nationals overseas, are allowed to enter Japan daily, following an increase from the previous cap of 3,500, that took effect on Tuesday. The entry of foreign tourists is still not allowed.– NNN-NHK