Unscrupulous Japanese Companies Seizing Foreign Workers' Passports shingetsunewsagency.com

The company, Advanceconsul Immigration Lawyer Office, is actually listed as a registered support organization, and is therefore supposed to aid foreign workers when problems like this happen.
However, on the basis that she might “run away,” the company kept control of her documents.
Iwahashi of NPO Posse adds, “The problem is, it’s always unreported.”Currently, there is no law that directly prohibits a company from keeping a foreign worker’s passport, though there is a non-binding guideline from the Ministry of Labor.
Some employers can take advantage of this loophole by forcing vulnerable foreign workers into underpaid and overworked jobs.
By taking away passports, employers are taking away foreign workers’ ability to get another job, or even to leave the country.