Hello, this is Iwaya of IMS Legal Professional Corporation. In South Korea starting July 1st, under certain requirements, those immunized with the COVID-19 vaccine overseas will be exempted from the 2-week quarantine period when re-entering. From May 5th, South Koreans and foreign residents vaccinated in South Korea 2 weeks prior re-entry are already exempted from the 2-week quarantine period.
Last week was another busy week for client inquiries. 96 requests for Japanese visas, 25 for U.S. visas, 13 for Vietnamese visas, 4 regarding naturalization, and 17 others of various types.
We received an inquiry about changing to the “Specified Skilled Worker” Visa, so in this blog I would like to explain a little about it.
The “Specified Skilled Worker” Visa is a new qualification established in April 2019. Simply put, it is a qualification approving unskilled labor for 14 designated industries. For more details, please check our website.
In the case of the inquiry we received last week, our customer with a Chinese nationality wished to change his visa from “Technical Intern Training” to “Specified Skilled Worker”.
This customer wished to change his visa before being accepted from a company in Japan. However, the “Specified Skilled Worker” visa is a work visa so employment is mandatory. If there is not a company in Japan that will employ (accept) you, you cannot apply for a “Specified Skilled Worker” visa in the first place.
Even if you are being employed, the “Specified Skilled Worker” visa requires passing both the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) and a Specified Skills Evaluation Test of the field. However, those holding “Technical Intern Training (ii) or (iii)” visas are exempted from taking the tests when changing to the “Specified Skilled Worker” visas of the same field.
The support system for foreign employees of the accepting company is also examined. Support plans can be delegated to “registered support organizations”. A wide variety of support is required, so for some companies, it might be difficult to enforce the plan on its own.
In this customer’s case, even though he possessed a “Technical Intern Training(ii)” visa, unfortunately he did not have a host company yet so he could not change his visa to “Specified Skilled Worker.”
With a “Specified Skilled Worker” visa, unskilled labor for many fields is permitted. Also, there are no academic requirements, which might be an advantage for those who do not have an educational background such as a university graduate. However, as I mentioned before, you must pass the JPLT and a field skill test.
We, at IMS, have supported many customers change their visas to “Specified Skilled Worker.” If you are a foreign national or a human resource manager of a company concerned about the “Specified Skilled Worker” visa, please consult us.
For more information, please contact us below ↓
https://imsvisa.support/en/contact/
