Work Visas in Japan

How to get a work permit and which routes actually exist

Working in Japan means holding one of the work-permitting statuses of residence, and in nearly every case an employer in Japan must first obtain a Certificate of Eligibility from a regional immigration bureau before a consulate will issue the visa. The broadest professional category is Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services, which commonly requires either a relevant degree or a substantial number of years of related experience.

The Certificate of Eligibility is the real application

Japan splits the process in two. The substantive examination happens inside Japan: the employer, school, or family member files for a Certificate of Eligibility at a regional immigration bureau, submitting the company's financial statements, the contract, and evidence that the role matches a defined status of residence.

Only once that certificate is issued does the applicant take it to a Japanese embassy or consulate abroad, where the visa itself is commonly issued within days. A refusal, when it comes, almost always comes at the certificate stage rather than the consular stage.

Processing of the certificate is commonly quoted in weeks to a few months and varies considerably by bureau and by season. Because the sponsor holds the file, the applicant abroad often has little visibility of progress.

The main work statuses

• Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services. The workhorse category, covering IT, engineering, marketing, translation, design, and most office professions. It commonly requires a degree in a field related to the work, or in the absence of one a substantial period of documented relevant experience, with a lower experience threshold applied to the international services strand.
• Intra-company Transferee. For staff moved from an overseas branch or affiliate, generally after a qualifying period of employment with the group. The degree requirement is applied more flexibly here.
• Highly Skilled Professional. Awarded on a points calculation across academic background, professional career, annual salary, age, research output, and Japanese language ability, with a published threshold commonly set at 70 points.
• Specified Skilled Worker. Created to address labour shortages in designated sectors, entered through a skills test and a Japanese language test, or by transition from the Technical Intern Training programme.
• Business Manager. For those establishing or running a company in Japan, with published capital and office requirements.
• Instructor, Professor, Skilled Labour, Nursing Care, Artist, Journalist and other narrower categories, each defined by its own activity.

Highly Skilled Professional, J-Skip and J-Find

The points system rewards a doctorate or master's degree, years of professional experience, high annual remuneration, relative youth, and Japanese language certification. Reaching the published threshold brings a bundle of privileges: a longer initial period of stay, permission to engage in several activities at once, a faster route to permanent residence, and in some cases permission for a spouse to work and for a parent or domestic helper to accompany the holder.

J-Skip is a simplified variant that dispenses with the points calculation for applicants who meet high combined thresholds of academic degree or professional experience together with annual salary, granting Highly Skilled Professional status directly.

J-Find is different in kind: it allows graduates of highly ranked overseas universities to enter for a period commonly described as up to two years to look for work or prepare to start a business, without an employer sponsor. It is one of the few Japanese routes that does not begin with a job offer.

Specified Skilled Worker in practice

The Specified Skilled Worker framework covers designated sectors including nursing care, building cleaning, food and beverage manufacturing, food service, construction, agriculture, fishery, accommodation, shipbuilding, automobile maintenance, aviation, and industrial machinery, with the sector list having been expanded over time.

Entry is generally through a sector skills test plus a Japanese language test, or by transition from an existing training status. The first tier is time-limited and generally does not permit family accompaniment; the second tier is renewable without a fixed ceiling and does permit it, which makes the distinction between the two tiers the single most consequential detail in the scheme.

What the status does and does not allow

A status of residence authorises a defined activity, not employment in general. Changing to work that falls outside the granted status generally requires an application to change the status of residence, and working outside it can be treated as an immigration violation rather than an employment matter.

Holders are required to carry a residence card, to notify the immigration authorities of a change of employer or address within published deadlines, and to have the status renewed before it expires.

Official sources

• Immigration Services Agency — statuses of residence
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs — visa

Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.

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