IMPACT — MEDIUM

The Japanese government announced that it will introduce new highly skilled visa pathways in April.

Key Points:

  • Foreign engineers or researchers who hold a master’s degree or have more than 10 years of work experience and earn an annual income of at least 20 million JPY (about US$148,715) will qualify as highly skilled professionals and be able to apply for the J-Skip visa to live and work in Japan.
  • Foreign corporate managers who earn at least 40 million JPY and have at least five years of work experience will qualify as highly skilled professionals and be able to apply for the J-Skip visa to live and work in Japan for five years.
  • Foreign nationals who recently graduated from top universities listed in higher education rankings will be able to apply for the J-Find visa to live and work in Japan for up to two years.

Additional Information: Currently, foreign engineers, researchers and corporate managers only qualified as highly skilled professionals if they achieved at least 70 points through the preferential immigration treatment system. Through the new pathways, such individuals will be exempt from the points-based system.

BAL Analysis: Japanese authorities plan to introduce the new visa pathways for highly skilled foreign workers to address labor shortages in key industries and increase the number of highly skilled workers in their country. The government has yet to provide information on how foreign nationals will apply for the new pathways.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group. For additional information, please contact berryapplemanleiden@bal.com.

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