Now Reading: Japan jobseeker gets step-by-step route to Specified Skilled Worker visa
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Japan jobseeker gets step-by-step route to Specified Skilled Worker visa
Japan jobseeker gets step-by-step route to Specified Skilled Worker visa
The Story in Brief
Indians seeking work in Japan must match their skills to a specific occupation, pass a Japanese language test and clear an industry-specific exam, according to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship's August 2026 stakeholder consultation on India-Japan skill development. The Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) programme covers 19 industrial fields including nursing care, construction, automobile maintenance and food services.
The visa has two categories. SSW (i) allows a stay up to five years and requires JFT-Basic or JLPT N4 language proficiency. SSW (ii) has no fixed renewal limit and permits family accompaniment, but requires a higher skill level. Some occupations, such as railway train-operation, need JLPT N3 or above. Applicants must verify the rules for their chosen field before booking tests.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The story lays out procedural steps but leaves applicants with hard, unresolved choices. The SSW programme covers 19 industrial fields, yet each demands its own skills test and Japanese-language threshold, some require N3 or higher, not just the basic N4. No single list of approved employers or guaranteed job slots is provided, the August 2026 stakeholder consultation produced no binding outcome. A candidate must match a specific vacancy to a specific visa category, and the two-tier SSW system carries vastly different conditions on stay and family eligibility. The next move belongs entirely to the individual jobseeker: identify an occupation, confirm its test requirements, and book the relevant examination. No agency or portal is named to simplify that search.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Methodology and corrections.
