Will Highly Skilled Professionals' Status of Residence Change?
We would like to introduce the "Japan System for Special Highly Skilled Professionals (J-Skip)" status of residence.
Japan System for Special Highly Skilled Professionals (J-Skip)
The Japanese government will establish a new Japan System for Special Highly Skilled Professionals (J-Skip) in order to allow foreign nationals with advanced knowledge and Skilled Labor to work in Japan.
The Japan System for Special Highly Skilled Professionals (J-Skip) will establish a new route for granting "Highly Skilled Professional" status to researchers with an annual income of 20 million yen or more. The introduction of the new system was approved at the relevant cabinet meeting on February 17, 2023, and is scheduled to be operational by the end of April 2023.
The current Highly Skilled Professional status is based on a point system that assigns points for each of the following criteria: education, work experience, annual income, and age. Highly Skilled Professional No. 1 can be transferred to Highly Skilled Professional No. 2 with an indefinite period of stay after three years.
According to the Immigration and Residency Management Agency, from May 2012, when this point system began, to June 2010, approximately 35,000 researchers, engineers, and managers have been granted the status of residence as Highly Skilled Foreign Human Resources.
In response to the intensifying international competition for human resources, the new system retains the point system, but adds a new route.
Under this new route, researchers and technicians will be granted Highly Skilled Professional 1 status if they have either a master's degree or higher, or have at least 10 years of work experience, and earn at least 20 million yen a year. In addition, managers must have at least five years of work experience and annual income of at least 40 million yen. Both will be able to move to No. 2 in one year, which is shorter than the point system.
Japan System for Future Creation Individual Visa (J-Find)
Furthermore, in order to attract young overseas talent, the government plans to grant "Designated Activities" status of residence to graduates of universities ranked in the top 100 in the World University Ranking as "Japan System for Future Creation Individual Visa (J-Find)". They will be allowed to stay in Japan for two years in preparation for job hunting and entrepreneurship, and will be allowed to work during that period.
As you can see, Japan is constantly examining and adding new statuses of residence to allow various types of foreign nationals to work in Japan. For example, as many of you may know, the "Specified Skilled Labor" status of residence, which was introduced in April 2019, is one of the new statuses of residence that Japan has recognized.
Lastly, since the rules for new status of residence are not yet settled in many cases, and it is often time-consuming to obtain or change the status of residence by yourself, we recommend that you consult or request a visa specialist.
