TOKYO: Japan has begun full-fledged efforts to aid Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their country.

The government will give resident status that allows employment to willing evacuees as their stay in the country is expected to be prolonged.

Municipalities and corporations have proposed to support Ukrainians in finding housing and employment, and the central government has begun a scheme to match them with evacuees.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio instructed Justice Minister FURUKAWA Yoshihisa and Foreign Minister HAYASHI Yoshimasa to make full preparations for an expected increase in Ukrainians arriving in Japan.

“Some 2.7 million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries,” Kishida told a liaison meeting of the government and ruling parties the same day. “We’ll accept more (Ukraininans).”

Since Kishida announced on March 2 that Japan will accept people fleeing Ukraine, 47 Ukrainians had entered Japan as of Sunday. All of them have relatives or acquaintances in Japan.

People arriving without such connections are likely to increase in the future as the capacities of countries neighboring Ukraine to receive evacuees are nearing their limit.

Those fleeing to Japan will be first granted entry under the status of short-term visitor who can stay in the country for 90 days.

After entry, evacuees will be able to obtain residency status for “designated activities,” which will enable them to work, join the public health insurance system and stay in the country for a year.

The special measure was decided after the Ukrainian government requested that countries taking in fleeing Ukrainians allow them to work so they can live a stable life during their evacuation.

Tokyo has no plan to make it easier for evacuees to gain refugee status, which will give them permanent residency. But it will allow residency permits to be renewed until the situation in Ukraine improves.

Meanwhile, many municipalities and corporations are offering support in helping Ukrainian evacuees find housing, employment and translators.

The central government set up a hotline in the Immigration Services Agency for centralized management of such information so that it can facilitate effective aid. It is calling for people to provide information on the agency website.

The government sees support for Japanese-language acquisition, schooling and settlement as major challenges to future aid for Ukrainians.

“We’ll cooperate with companies and municipalities expressing their willingness to help and consider a way to accommodate (evacuees) in way that meets their expectations, while keeping in mind their wishes,” Chief Cabinet Secretary MATSUNO Hirokazu told a press conference Tuesday.

JIJI Press