What kind of documents are required to do employment screenings?

Below will be the typical checks non-Japanese corporate clients need: Employment checksEducation checksAddress checksIdentity checksCredit checksCriminal checksReference checksMedia checksDue to the strict privacy protection policy in Japan, most checks require not only a signed release but also other documents:A designated letter of authorization for each source (school, credit reporting agency, etc.).A copy of the certificate obtained from the source (school, license board, etc.).Also please advised there are no exhaustive criminal checks and litigation checks in Japan because they are deemed as the state’s secret.Police criminal records must be obtained by the candidate himself/herself by physically attending the police station with their fingerprint. Litigation search is not available without providing both the names of the defendant and the plaintiff. Only the exceptions are supreme court records and some intellectual property cases which are publicly available.

Pre-Employment Screening in Japan

by Japan PI

Japan PI >> Business Services >> Employment Screening

Verify Before Trust

If you are staffing an overseas office in Japan for the first time, you may have to rely on newly formed relationships, overly aggressive recruiters, untrusted sources, or word of mouth when hiring your first employees. This challenge is compounded in Japan since the best employees of most companies tend to stay with their current employer.

A common mistake of many foreign companies make is to hire an executive who expresses themselves well in English, but has a poor track record or no real abilities. Or worse, a record of deceit, falsehoods and a criminal record.

Primary Source Verification

In the employment screening services, our principle is primary source verification. We will directly contact education departments of schools and HR departments of organizations to verify the enrollents of the candidates.

At Japan PI, we can screen potential employees, confirm their education credentials and employment history, follow up on their background, and conduct a reference check on the related parties.

Reference checks can be made either with the provided referrers by the candidate or other sources found by our preliminary researches.

We can do this before an offer is made, so you don’t put yourself at risk.

Employment Screening Fees

At Japan PI, we have adopted the International Standard Research Methods for cases in Japan. As such, we require a Investigation consent form and proof of ID in order to proceed with the investigation.

Feel free to contact us if you need further details or advice.

Please check the Japan PI Pricing Page for more details.

FAQ’s On Employment Screening

Can you conduct criminal records check with Japanese Police?
There are several ways to check criminal records. But none of them are non-exhaustive search.

Open source media search based criminal records check is US$120. Turnaround time is about 3 business days.

District court based criminal records search is US$600. Turnaround time is about 7 business days. Currently available only for Tokyo and Osaka district courts.

Employers are not allowed to access to police database even with a signed release from the candidate. You need to make the candidate obtain the certificate of police records for themselves to verify with the NPA (National Police Agency) directly.
No third party can obtain criminal records form the police no matter what reason there is.
The candidate himself/herself must obtain it for themselves by attending the police station or embassy physically.
Japanese Police are allowed to issue the Certificate of Criminal Records only for the purpose of immigration and employment at a foreign company by laws.
NPA Japan
How To Apply For Criminal Records.
http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp/multilingual/english/finding_services/applications/criminal_record.html
Can you check credit history in Japan?
It is virtually impossible to obtain personal credit reports without using a confidential source. Still, you can make the candidate obtain it for himself/herself. A signed release does not work.
Can you obtain driving records in Japan?
It is possible if we are provided a letter of authorization form the job candidate. For driving records, we must use a specific form of a letter of authorization which is designated by the motor vehicle bureau. A signed release does not work.
What kind of documents are required to do employment screenings?
Below will be the typical checks non-Japanese corporate clients need:
- Employment checks
- Education checks
- Address checks
- Identity checks
- Credit checks
- Criminal checks
- Reference checks
- Media checks
Due to the strict privacy protection policy in Japan, most checks require not only a signed release but also other documents:
- A designated letter of authorization for each source (school, credit reporting agency, etc.).
- A copy of the certificate obtained from the source (school, license board, etc.).
Also please advised there are no exhaustive criminal checks and litigation checks in Japan because they are deemed as the state’s secret.
Police criminal records must be obtained by the candidate himself/herself by physically attending the police station with their fingerprint.
Litigation search is not available without providing both the names of the defendant and the plaintiff. Only the exceptions are supreme court records and some intellectual property cases which are publicly available.

Thank you very much. I am looking at your report now and it is thorough and detailed. When I get another case in Japan I’ll come to you first.

Thomas F

Pre-Employment Screening in Japan​