A record 9,753 foreign technical trainees went missing in Japan in 2023, the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) said Friday.

Of the total, 1,765 were Myanmar nationals who had fled conflict in their home country. Many were granted a ¡°designated activities¡± residential status as part of an emergency measure to allow them to stay in Japan.

A significant number of Myanmar nationals come to Japan through the trainee program with the intention of switching to a different visa category soon after to avoid having to go back home.

Approximately 27.3% of trainees who went missing in 2023 were discovered within three months of their employers filing a report to the ISA. Among those from Myanmar, about 98.5% obtained a new designated worker visa.

Overall, 1.9% of all 509,373 foreign technical trainees went missing, with the percentage remaining the same as 2022.

By nationality, the highest number of missing trainees were from Vietnam (5,481), followed by Myanmar and China (816). Compared with 2022, however, the number of missing Vietnamese trainees fell by about 8.9%, whereas that of trainees from Myanmar nearly tripled.

By prefecture, Aichi topped the list of missing trainees (783), followed by Osaka (730), Tokyo (598), Chiba (516) and Saitama (482). However, as a proportion of total trainees, the highest percentages were seen in Tokyo (4.1%) and Osaka (3.6%).

The construction industry saw the largest number of trainees going missing, followed by agriculture and food manufacturing, according to the ISA.

The government has decided to replace the foreign trainee program, often criticized for its poor working conditions, with a similar program that will give trainees more flexibility, such as by allowing them to switch jobs and acquire a more stable skilled worker visa.

Technical intern trainees are not considered to be formal workers and are expected to return to their home countries after their training programs end, usually after three years. Specified skilled workers, however, can ultimately acquire long-term residency of up to five years or longer.

The number of missing specified skilled workers is also on an upward trend and hit a record high of 348 last year.