Best for
Workers prepared for sector-specific skills and language tests.
Application path · Job hunting
Pass language and skills tests for Specified Skilled Worker
Meet sector-specific skills and Japanese requirements, confirm the accepting organization and support plan, then complete residence procedures.
Goal
Path
ROUTE AT A GLANCE
Three things to check first
Check first
Eligible sector, tests or exemption, employer, and support plan.
Leads to
Employment in the approved sector under Specified Skilled Worker status.
Milestones
Sector choice
Choosing the designated sector · exclusivity vs Engineer/Humanities
This stage
Fix the designated industry sector by the work you want, and grasp that Specified Skilled Worker (sector readiness) and gijinkoku (degree-duty relevance) are mutually exclusive — dispelling the “low-bar work visa” instinct.
Specified Skilled Worker vs Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services (gijinkoku): laying out the two entry points first
| Dimension | Specified Skilled Worker | Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services (gijinkoku) |
|---|---|---|
| Entry logic | Immediately deployable labor within an understaffed specified industry sector | A specialized position in the sense of natural/human sciences · international services |
| What's checked | Signing an employment contract with a receiving organization meeting the requirements + passing the sector skill exam and Japanese-language proof | Whether credentials/major/experience relate to the position content |
| Official examples | On-site, immediately deployable roles in nursing care · lodging · food service · construction, etc. | Engineers · interpreters · designers · marketing, etc. |
| The key judgment | Doesn't look at the job title, but the legal nature of the residence activity as a whole; the same job can't be freely assigned to either status — it's decided by the primary duty content [verify] | Same as left: even if a position carries the label 'translation/interpretation', if it's substantially native-language customer service or shop-floor sales unrelated to the major, it still can't be filed under gijinkoku |
Choose the sector first, then discuss the exam: the specified industry sectors aren't one fixed list
Specified Skilled Worker grade 1 currently covers 16 specified industry sectors [verify]: under MHLW = nursing care, building cleaning; under METI = industrial products manufacturing; under MLIT = construction, shipbuilding/vessel industry, automobile maintenance, aviation, lodging, automobile transport, railways; under MAFF = agriculture, fisheries, food and beverage manufacturing, food service, forestry, wood industry. This list isn't permanently fixed — it expanded within the past couple of years, so it must be checked against the ISA's current system page, the sector-specific operation-policy pages, and the sector pages. Decide the sector first based on the industry you want to work in, because the subsequent skill-evaluation exam, Japanese-language requirement, and receiving organization all follow the sector; an international student in Japan moving from 'Student' status into Specified Skilled Worker (e.g. nursing care) is a real path, with the reading covered in later nodes.
It is not a 'low-bar work permit' — common misjudgments
- Assuming it's a low-bar work permit: in reality it requires a sector skill exam + Japanese-language proof, and must fall within a statutorily specified industry sector while signing an employment contract with a receiving organization that meets the requirements — not any industry or any part-time job works.
- Assuming that once obtained you can stay long-term freely: Specified Skilled Worker grade 1 has an institutional ceiling of 'in principle a cumulative residence period of within 5 years' [verify], and periods of re-entry, unemployment, and certain 'Designated Activities' periods held for the purpose of transitioning may also count toward the cumulative total.
- Assuming you can work multiple gig jobs at once: the ISA's FAQ makes clear that a Specified Skilled Worker foreign national should engage in full-time work — one person cannot be simultaneously employed in parallel by multiple companies.
- Assuming it's just an employment contract with no life-support component: grade 1 must have a 'support plan', with the receiving organization either implementing the statutory support itself or fully outsourcing it to a registered support organization.
- Confusing 'Specified Skilled Worker' with 'Designated Activities', or assuming 'kenkyusei' can also take this route: Specified Skilled Worker is an independent residence status; Designated Activities is just a catch-all category of case-by-case designated activities (used temporarily only in certain transition-preparation scenarios); the Japanese term 'kenkyusei' usually refers to a non-regular student, an entirely different matter from this route.
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