Author: Mei Suzuki, Attorney at Law

Are you aware of “status of residence”?

“Status of residence” is, as the words suggest, the status under which a foreigner is resident in Japan, and under the Immigration Act a status of residence is required for a foreigner to reside in Japan.

Presently there are 29 different status of residence in Japan and among those one that is relatively recent is the “specific skills” status of residence.
The “specific skills” category was newly established in December 2018 and made it possible to accept new foreign workers with “specific skills” for industries in which the lack of laborers is acute.
The status of residence for specific skills has 2 categories, “No.1” and “No.2”. “Specific skills No. 1” is for foreigners who have necessary knowledge and/or experience to work in specific industrial fields and “specific skills No. 2” is for foreigners who have expert ability to work in a specific industrial field.
No. 2 is assuming a foreigner with a higher level of ability than No. 1 and the term of the status of residence, the possibility to bring a family, the organizations that can accept and the organizations that can support the person, and other points are preferential to No. 1.

At the time of writing this article, the possible fields for acceptance of foreigners under “specific skills No. 1” are 14 fields (caregivers, building cleaning, construction, formed and fabricated materials, manufacturing of industrial machines, industries related to electric and electronic information, ship construction and shipping related, automobile maintenance, airlines, lodging, farming, fishing, manufacture of food and beverage items, food service business), and “specific skills No. 2” fields are only 2 fields (construction and ship construction and shipping related).
However, among the specific industrial fields, since the expected numbers of applicants for “manufacturing of industrial machines” exceeded expectations, it is planned to amalgamate “formed and fabricated materials”, “manufacturing of industrial machines”, and “industries related to electric and electronic information” (the present 3 manufacturing fields) into a new field of “formed and fabricated materials/ manufacturing of industrial machines/industries related to electric and electronic information”.
Note that for specific skills, you can acquire it if you meet the requirements, but in the case where you have successfully passed “skills training No. 2” and apply for specific skills in a field that relates to your skills training, the requirements for specific skills no. 1 of necessary skills test and Japanese language test will be waived. For that purpose, particularly in the case where you are aiming to move from skills training, the specific skills No. 1 becomes a strong choice.

In regard to “specific skills No. 2”, even after the start of the specific skills system, for some time the evaluation test necessary for application for specific skills No. 2 was not implemented and the details of the application process were reserved for later, but according to an article in the Asahi Newspaper on May 7, 2022, from April, 2022 operation has been started. “In order to increase the acceptance of foreign workers the “specific skills” program for status of residence was established. This year in April, 3 years from the start of the system, the “specific skills No. 2” status held by a foreigner with seasoned skills has been born in this country.” （taken from https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ555F5SQ4MOHGB00F.html）

Our office also has been often inquired about specific skills, particularly because the process and requirements are difficult and detailed and many people are confused.

The requirements and process are difficult, but in the case where a specific industry field desires to hire, etc., a foreigner who has passed the skills training or has the skill, we think that definitely you should consider the specific skills system.