Japan: Expanded Visa System for Foreign Nationals with Advanced Skills Forthcoming

The Japanese government has approved a new path to qualify for the existing Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) visa status for researchers and engineers launching in April 2023, aimed at attracting foreign professionals with advanced knowledge and skills, called the Japan System for Special Highly Skilled Professionals (J-SKIP). The new path should allow foreign nationals holding at least a master's degree or 10 years of relevant work experience with an annual income of at least JPY 20 million (approximately USD 148,000) to qualify for HSP visa status. Under the current system that was launched in May 2012, ‘highly skilled professionals’ are those determined eligible under a points-based system that takes into consideration criteria such as academic background or professional career, salary and age, among other factors. Furthermore, the Japanese government will be offering a new ‘future creative talent’ scheme called the Japan System for Future Creation Individual Visa (J-FIND), that will give a ‘designated activity’ residency status to eligible young workers and graduates of universities ranked in the top 100 in the world rankings which will allow them to stay in Japan for two years to pursue employment or entrepreneurship opportunities during that period. We will issue an alert when more details are available on these schemes. For more information on these programs, access Fragomen's related blog.