The Affairs of Congress, November-December 2012 : Immigration Law

Day 1,847, 12:23 • Published in Japan Japan • by Zodiarque

Hi, eJapan, it's Zodiarque!

As part of my job as the Interim Speaker that will last till a new Speaker of Congress is elected, I have to require your attention on the new Immigration Law that has finally been voted. Without further ado, let's begin.

(You can find just the Law text on bottom for tl;dr people)



The New Immigration Law proposal was discussed first there and voted then there and there. As Interim Speaker, I signed the bill and order its enforcement.

But, for it too be well introduced to you all people of eJapan, and to all our dear applicants to citizenship, I will go through each article with you and explain it in a "simpler" way. For no one can ignore the law or escape from it by pretexting of ignorance.

Proposal was the following : Congress members shall establish some guidelines for them to make best and legal use of the citizenpasses they own.

Here is the final text of the Immigration Law written in accordance with the vote results.


Article 1 : The application form.

This article details the prerequisites that must be fulfilled by applicants in order to be eligible to receive citizenship.

♦ Any new applicant shall apply on forum Application section where s/he will sign a contract where s/he promises not to run for election for the first month and stay for at least three months consequently to her/his approval.

Be very attentive to the first clause. Applicants should from now on acknowledge this point and stick to it. Application is made on Forum. To avoid a waste of time for you as the procedure can be long, you are strongly urged to not apply In-Game until you are approved on Forums first.

♦ The applicant will be advised and signified that s/he owns no obligation to join any party of any congress member granting her/him citizenship.

/!\IMPORTANT/!\ : The second clause is of utmost importance as it prohibite any segregation based on which Party or MU you intent to join. Any applicant is therefore free not to answer such question as "What Party or MU are you joining ?". If s/he chose to answer notwithstanding, an applicant can change it's choice at anytime once approved and, doing so, doesn't break the contract nor infringe the Law in any way.

♦ The applicant will have to provide the Minister of Security or its delegates with a mandatory money deposit.

One of the big news of that new Immigration Law is the third clause of this article. From now on, Government, through its Minister of Security is able to require a mandatory money deposit from the applicants in order for them to be eligible. That point is detailed in the other articles.


Article 2 : The Ministry of Security.

This article details the crucial role of the Minister of Security who is eventually at center of every decision.

♦ The amount of the deposit shall be specified by the Minister of Security who shall be the depository.

Here, we read that the Minister of Security is the one deciding on the amount applicant will have to mend and that he will be the one keeping the money. Depending on the Government exterior policy, this deposit can go from 0 JPY or a symbolical single 1 JPY to way more... Besides, it can be either of gold or JPY (but mix of both should be avoided for more simplicity).

Applicants be happy, it seems the current Minister of Security choose not to ask for any money deposit !

♦ The deposit return, responsability of the Minister and its delegates, shall be effective gradually during the trial period or as a whole at the end of the trial period.

As we are speaking of a deposit, a guarantee of the good will of the applicant, it will be returned to her/him after satisfaction of the first clause of the first article. But the way of returning it, is once again a decision of the Minister of Security.

♦ The Minister of Security shall make its choice once and for all at the begining of its position term and stick to it for every application to stand on an equal footing.

/!\IMPORTANT/!\ : The Minister of Security's decision has to be made promptly and be the same for every applicants for there should not be any special treatment. I'm sure he will very soon notify all of us by some article.

♦ For the sake of Transparency, the Minister of Security shall bring the eJapan people up to date with the Media of her/his choice (Forums, Articles, Google doc...) about the current status of accounts and refunds.

This clause is there to remind Minister of Security that s/he has to inform publicly the people of the progress of refund operations. It is also there to ease the handover of power between a Minister of Security and its successor.

♦ Any newly appointed Minister of Security is free to decide on a new amount for the deposit and/or a new way of returning it, effective as from his recruitment. However, s/he is bound by a contract signed a priori which s/he shall honor the terms.

If during a presidential term or between two of them, a new Minister of Security is appointed, the new one will have to stick with the contracts its predecessor signed.
For any applicant its predecessor get a money deposit, the new Minister of Security will keep on refunding the money deposit as decided previously.
But the new Minister of Security can decided on new amount of money or way to return it, which s/he will have to stick to for any new applicants.

Whatever the choice, the newly appointed one should announce clearly to all what her/his decision will be.

Is it necessary to say that the previous Minister on Security must transfer all the Immigration deposit money to the new Minister ?

Article 3a : The Congress passes uses.

This article details the procedure with a very new clause getting the Parties of eJapan involved in the Immigration process.

♦ A Congress member, representative of the eJapan people, is also representative of her/his Party. Thus, a Congress person is granted by the present law with an amount of passes to be used on behalf of the judgment and foresight of her/his party.

There it is. Pay great attention. From now on, Parties will have there word to say in eJapan's Immigration policy so it won't depend anymore only on the Government through the Minister of Security.

Please be advised that there is no mention to how the decision will be taken. It's every party's duty to decide with its Congress member on how the applicants will be selected. It can be done through diplomatic ways or not, it depends completely on the inner gestion of the Party and its members. But still, there are rules that cannot be ignored.

♦ A Congress member can use those passes to anticipate or override the Minister of Security's decision.

So, let's picture an applicant whom a Party considers worthy to be granted Citizenship but Minister of Security didn't go through its application yet or unfortunately refused her/him for whatever the reason.

Well, that Party, through one of its Congress member's passes can ignore the opinion of the Minister of Security, and state that this applicant deserves to be an eJapan Citizen.

Please be advised that there is no mention to immediate In-Game approval. This power is just there to substitute Minister of Security's assent by a Party's assent. Then the procedure can go on by the rules.

♦ The applicant shall apply accordingly to Article 1 whether s/he is approved by a Congress member on behalf of a Party or by the Minister of Security.

That mean, if you recall it :
- Application on Forums
- No obligation to join any Party/MU
- A mandatory money deposit made to the Minister of Security.
Should the applicant be vouched by the Minister of Security or by a Party.

♦ The Congress person willing to accept her/his application shall signify it clearly on the application thread of Forums. Consequently, the Minister of Security will have to acknowledge receipt of the mandatory deposit on the same thread and only then, the aforementioned Congress person her/himself shall approve the applicant in-game.

This clause is detailing the procedure in the second case where Minister of Security didn't give her/his assent to one application but a Party still want the applicant to join eJapan.

So, let's picture an applicant who apply... No problem, s/he respected the Application guide available on Forums Application section. S/he stated that s/he wouldn't run for any position for a month and stay for at least three months. S/he added that s/he acknowledged that s/he had no obligation to join any party and that s/he was able to make the payment of the deposit.

Icing on the cake ! As s/he was strongly advised, the applicant applied only on Forums and not In-Game. Perfect !

Such applicant is so eligible to get Citizenship... And yet, the Minister of Security didn't approve on her/him for any reason s/he should be able to justify.

Well, at this moment, a Party still considered that the applicant should be let in. So, the Congress member who will be accepting the Citizen, on behalf of its Party, state on the Application thread of the Forums that s/he wants to use one of its Party personal passes on that applicant.

The applicant make the payment of the deposit to the Minister of Security who remain the one storing every deposit, whether the applicant is approved by her/him or not. The Minister of Security, then, state on the thread that s/he received the money. The procedure is now valid.

Yhe applicant can apply In-Game and be granted its Citizenship by THE SAME CONGRESS PERSON that said previously s/he would use its pass on behalf of its party.

Therfore, in order to benefit from those Party personal passes, Parties will have to choose on active members to fill the Congress positions and on faithful ones who will submit to the rules.


Article 3b : The Congress passes ratio.

This article details the ratio Party/Minister of Security Citizenship passes. This amount is not trivial.

♦ The amount of passes a Congress member owns for her/his Party personal use is to be voted right after the Congressional elections.

Speak up! : The vote is soon to start after a short discussion on the ways to choose and then we will all know how many passes belong to who.

♦ The amount of passes the Minister of Security owns cannot be null. Whatever the number of Citizen passes each Congress member owns, the Minister of Security requisition at least one of them.

To respect the sovereignty of the Republique and the choice of the people electing their President, the Minister of Security owns at the very least ONE of each Congress Member's passes.

Let's see with the current situation. Each of our 10 Congress members owns about 6 Citizenship passes. Therefore, during the vote to decide on "how many of this passes belong to the Minister od Security", answers will be from 1 to 6... (6 meaning Parties own no Congress passes...) And not from 0 to 6 as at least one of the passes belongs to the eNation through the Minister of Security. If the vote ends up on 3, this will mean the Minister of Security can approve on 30 applicant and each Congress member and their Party can dispose of their remaining 3 passes.

Again, procedure is still to be followed step by step, whatever the nature of the Citizenship pass.

Please be advised that Parties will not be able to legitimately claim any of there passes used by their Congress members on their behalf but without them noticing. It's a Party's duty to choose well its representatives.

♦ The Congress passes owned by each Congress member are not transferable. One Congress member cannot In-Game accept an applicant whose application an other Congress member signified the acceptance of on Forums.

That clause is to ensure that each Congress member is active. The Congress cannot support dormant members that will only exist for a Party to cumulate Citizenship passes. Therefore, an active Congress member cannot claim to use a pass of an other Congress member of the same Party.

Only the Congress member approving on the applicant on Forums can be the one approving on her/him In-Game. Therfore again, in order to benefit from the whole amount of passes available, Parties will have to choose on active members to fill the Congress positions and on faithful ones who will submit to the rules.


Article 4 : Infringement and punishment.

This article details what will happen to the criminals who will be found guilty of infringing the Immigration Law in any aspect.

♦ If a congressman gives a citizenship without Minister of Security's approval or Party's approval procedure followed, s/he gets barred from elections for an amount of months voted by congress and Minister of Security.

With the Parties involved in the Immigration process along with the new congressional election system, the punishment threat for any Congress member tempted to infringe the Law is real. Provided that s/he is not an accomplice of the Party President.

Please be advised that it is clearly said that the whole procedure as to be followed literally. A breach, a negligence volountary made will face consequences, for the Congress member is now fully responsible of the passes s/he use beside the Law.

♦ If a newly approved citizen infriged the terms of its contract in any sort of ways, s/he renounces to get its deposit back and sees its status revised to "illegal immigrant" which should ban her/him from any position.

If an applicant break the contract not to run in election for a month, s/he will be declared "illegal immigrant" and, provided that s/he is not an accomplice of the Party President, s/he will be efficiently barred from any empowering position.


Finally, allow me to add that the duality in that system doesn't mean Parties are opposed to the will of the Minister of Security. Parties can either decide to go along with the decision of Minister of Security and put there passes at her/his disposal.


Too long, don't need explanation ? Here is the explaination-free version. Just the text of the law.

The following is the text of the Immigration Law implemented in eJapan up to date.

Article 1 : The application form.
♦ Any new applicant shall apply on forum Application section where s/he will sign a contract where s/he promises not to run for election for the first month and stay for at least three months consequently to her/his approval.
♦ The applicant will be advised and signified that s/he owns no obligation to join any party of any congress member granting her/him citizenship.
♦ The applicant will have to provide the Minister of Security or its delegates with a mandatory money deposit.

Article 2 : The Ministry of Security.
♦ The amount of the deposit shall be specified by the Minister of Security who shall be the depository.
♦ The deposit return, responsability of the Minister and its delegates, shall be effective gradually during the trial period or as a whole at the end of the trial period.
♦ The Minister of Security shall make its choice once and for all at the begining of its position term and stick to it for every application to stand on an equal footing.
♦ For the sake of Transparency, the Minister of Security shall bring the eJapan people up to date with the Media of her/his choice (Forums, Articles, Google doc...) about the current status of accounts and refunds.
♦ Any newly appointed Minister of Security is free to decide on a new amount for the deposit and/or a new way of returning it, effective as from his recruitment. However, s/he is bound by a contract signed a priori which s/he shall honor the terms.

Article 3a : The Congress passes uses.
♦ A Congress member, representative of the eJapan people, is also representative of her/his Party. Thus, a Congress person is granted by the present law with an amount of passes to be used on behalf of the judgment and foresight of her/his party.
♦ A Congress member can use those passes to anticipate or override the Minister of Security's decision.
♦ The applicant shall apply accordingly to Article 1 whether s/he is approved by a Congress member on behalf of a Party or by the Minister of Security.
♦ The Congress person willing to accept her/his application shall signify it clearly on the application thread of Forums. Consequently, the Minister of Security will have to acknowledge receipt of the mandatory deposit on the same thread and only then, the aforementioned Congress person her/himself shall approve the applicant in-game.

Article 3b : The Congress passes ratio.
♦ The amount of passes a Congress member owns for her/his Party personal use is to be voted right after the Congressional elections.
♦ The amount of passes the Minister of Security owns cannot be null. Whatever the number of Citizen passes each Congress member owns, the Minister of Security requisition at least one of them.
♦ The Congress passes owned by each Congress member are not transferable. One Congress member cannot In-Game accept an applicant whose application an other Congress member signified the acceptance of on Forums.

Article 4 : Infringement and punishment.
♦ If a congressman gives a citizenship without Minister of Security's approval or Party's approval procedure followed, s/he gets barred from elections for an amount of months voted by congress and Minister of Security.
♦ If a newly approved citizen infriged the terms of its contract in any sort of ways, s/he renounces to get its deposit back and sees its status revised to "illegal immigrant" which should ban her/him from any position.




That's all for today. If you would like to inquire more about every little discussions that are currently being held and participate, then I cannot encourage you more to join the forums and get you Citizen mask now. Registration is made in a minute and all you need is to write a post in the appropriate section there and an In-Game Private Message to me Zodiarque as I am also Moderator of the Forums.
The full registering procedure is now entirely described step by step for it to be within the reach of everyone. (see there)
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