Move to give foreigners same resident registration as Japanese

A bill to allow foreign residents to have the same resident registration as Japanese will be submitted to the regular Diet session early next year at the earliest, a government panel has announced.

A meeting on the basic resident register for foreigners, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Justice Ministry, drafted an outline for the new system on Thursday.

The basic idea is to introduce a system for foreign residents that is akin to the basic resident register for Japanese residents. The new system will replace the current alien registration system.

The new system will be put into practice three years after the bill is passed into law, the meeting said.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20081219p2a00m0na018000c.html