Business & Economy

Uber’s Japanese subsidiary investigated for breaking immigration law

Tokyo, Jun 22 (EFE).- Uber’s Japanese subsidiary could face criminal charges after an investigation was launched into the alleged hiring of two people with expired visas as delivery personnel, which violates immigration laws.

Police requested prosecutors Tuesday that the company and two former employees be charged for hiring two Vietnamese citizens whose visas had expired without proving their legal status, according to information collected by Kyodo news agency.

Both delivered UberEats orders in Tokyo between June and August 2020.

Kyodo said One of the defendants linked to the case, a former company employee whose role was to supervise compliance with national regulations, told investigators she was “aware of a failure” in the foreign workers registry from the company.

The other former worker, who at the time of the events was acting as a representative of the company, has denied the charges and indicated that she was not informed directly about the matter.

One of the delivery men involved in the hiring registered on the UberEats platform with a false identity, using another person’s residence card obtained through an internet intermediary.

The other told investigators that Uber accepted people like her who stayed in the country after her permit expired.

A representative for UberEats said in a statement that the company “takes any unauthorized use of the platform very seriously and has taken a series of steps to reinforce the recruitment processes of potential deliverers.”

He added that the company “fully cooperates with the authorities in this matter,” according to the text, to which EFE Dow Jones had access.

Food delivery services have grown in Japan during the pandemic amid trade restrictions, especially to bars and restaurants, and calls to stay at home.

At the same time, some foreign workers in Japan who lost their jobs but were unable to return to their home countries have remained in the country without a visa and have continued to work.

In 2020, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department detected 184 cases linked to the hiring of people in these circumstances or who carried out an activity other than that allowed by their residence status, something illegal in the territory. EFE

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