An investigation by Reuters has found that many families including that of Gursewak Singh are struggling to get asylum in Japan. Gursewak’s parents fled to Japan from India in 1990s. they lived in Japan without a visa for many years after which the Japanese authorities put them on a status known as “provisional release”. This status gave them permission to stay in Japan until their asylum application was under consideration. But it also comes with many restrictions. It means that they cannot work, need permission to travel outside the area they live and they don’t have health insurance. Immigration officers can visit them anytime and they can also face detention any time. The investigation has found that there are around 4,700 people living on this status in Japan. After their birth in Japan, Gursewak and his siblings have inherited their parent’s status.
Gursewak is the eldest child of the family who, along with his siblings, was born in Japan. He has written numerous letters to the Justice Minister of Japan requesting to be allowed to stay in the country along with his family. His first letter was at the age of ten and so far, he has written a total of 50 letters without any success. “My family loves Japan,” he wrote “We really don’t want to go back to India. Please give us visas”. Gursewak has never left Japan, speaks and writes Japanese fluently and has always interacted with the local people. His argument is that himself and his siblings should not be asked to go back to India when they were born and raised in Japan.
"Since I was born, I've only ever interacted with Japanese people. I don't get why Japan won't accept me"
However, the authorities are unmoved and say that they are under deportation orders and have no legal right to stay in Japan. Even though Japan’s population ages and its workforce dwindles, the country is showing reluctance towards accepting foreigners.
It has also been found that Japanese authorities have offered a deal to families living on similar status – that children can stay in Japan legally if their parents go back to their country of origin. Bharpoor Singh, Gursewak’s fathers said he got worries when he heard the deal. He told the authorities they could not leave their children and go back as they were too young to be left alone. The children also have religious needs such as tying the turban or patka or eating vegetarian meals. Moreover, Bharpoor Singh says he cannot go back. He said he fled from a village in Punjab in 1992 after he was persecuted as a Sikh religious leader. According to the state police in Punjab, Bharpoor was arrested in March 1989. But a police officer reviewed the old file and said there was no case pending against him and he was free to come back.
Since the family is not allowed to work, they are surviving on donations while their fate hangs in a limbo.
