![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/passport.jpg?resize=1400%2C976&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nOn December 8, the new Immigration Act was passed at the House of Councilors, the upper house of the Diet of Japan, and thus enacted. It comes into force from April and Japan will accept hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers from abroad. On this occasion, I would like to outline the existing types of visa in Japan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Individuals<\/strong> Those who are assessed to have high skills under the points-based system may apply for a \u201cHighly Skilled Professional\u201d visa. The points are calculated by educational and professional background, qualifications, annual income, research results and more. This particular visa allows a foreigner, amongst other things, to obtain a permanent residency in one to three years.<\/p>\n Businesses<\/strong> Permanent Residency<\/strong> In practice, for those who are considering to apply for permanent residency, it is sometimes hard to find someone to be a guarantor for that application. Although a guarantor in this context is not legally liable for an applicant\u2019s action including his\/her debts, the word \u201cguarantor\u201d reminds people of a loan guarantor and puts them off.<\/p>\n Naturalization<\/strong> New \u201cSpecified Skills\u201d Visa<\/strong> The new visa accepts blue-collar workers from nine countries (Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, and Mongolia) in 14 industries: (1) Nursing care, (2) Building cleaning, (3) Materials industry, (4) Industrial machinery industry, (5) Electronics and electrical equipment industry, (6) Construction, (7) Shipbuilding\/Marine Many people consider that this is a rough-and-ready introduction of the new visa system, which is equivalent to a significant shift in the Japanese immigration policy, without enough discussion. An interesting point here is the conservative party of Japan, i.e. the Liberal Democratic Party, led this introduction while the liberal parties were against it, unlike in other major countries (see what is going on in Europe).<\/p>\n However, it happened in any way. We should observe the change closely and try to build a better society for all parties concerned.<\/p>\n I will cover tax, the National Pension and health insurance for foreigners in Japan in the next article.<\/p>\n Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure that the information on this article is accurate at the time of posting, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ. If you do require advice or wish to find out more about the information provided and related topics, please contact the author<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Text by:<\/strong> Atty. Atsushi Miyake of Miyake Law<\/a>, Jan. 2019. On December 8, the new Immigration Act was passed at the House of Councilors, the upper house of the Diet of Japan, and thus enacted. It comes into force from April and Japan will accept hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers from abroad. On this occasion, I would like to outline the existing types of visa in Japan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27918,"featured_media":117208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"117207","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4914],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-others","location-fukuoka-city","en-US"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/passport.jpg?fit=1400%2C976&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27918"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117207"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133565,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117207\/revisions\/133565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nApart from permanent residents, most foreigners stay in Japan with a work, spouse\/dependent or student visa. The most common categories of work visas are A: \u201cEngineer\/Specialist in Humanities\/International Services,\u201d B: \u201cIntra-company Transferee\u201d and C: \u201cSkilled Labour.\u201d Category A covers most white-collar jobs from system engineer (\u201cEngineer\u201d) to English teacher (\u201cInternational Services\u201d). While \u201cEngineer\u201d indicates jobs related to natural science, \u201cSpecialist in Humanities\u201d indicates jobs related to social science (e.g., accounting\/legal assistant). An employee transferred from a foreign company to its Japanese subsidiary\/branch falls within Category B, and a skilled worker such as a Chinese\/French\/Indian chef or cook falls within Category C.<\/p>\n
\nA foreign company which has set up its subsidiary\/branch in Japan will send its employee by using the \u201cIntra-company Transferee\u201d visa (Category B). If s\/he plays a manager role at the subsidiary\/branch, the company may apply for a \u201cBusiness Manager\u201d visa. The \u201cBusiness Manager\u201d visa may be applied by an entrepreneur who is going to start a business in Japan as well. Furthermore, Fukuoka City, as a National Strategic Special Zone, offers a \u201cStartup Visa\u201d which permits foreign entrepreneurs to receive a six-month \u201cBusiness Manager\u201d visa without fulfilling the prerequisites for a \u201cBusiness Manager\u201d visa (for more details, please refer to my previous article<\/a>).<\/p>\n
\nRoughly speaking, a foreigner who has resided in Japan for ten years or more may apply for a \u201cPermanent Resident\u201d visa. The term is reduced to three years for a foreigner who is a spouse of a Japanese national and one to three years for a foreigner with a \u201cHighly Skilled Professional\u201d visa.<\/p>\n
\nNaturalization is not a matter of visa but an issue of nationality. However, in some cases, it can be easier than obtaining permanent residency while achieving the same objective i.e. settling down in Japan. The crucial point in naturalization is that an applicant has to give up his\/her original nationality since Japan does not permit dual citizenship.<\/p>\n
\nLastly, I will briefly introduce the new visa system mentioned at the beginning of this article.<\/p>\n
\nindustry, (8) Vehicular maintenance, (9) Aviation, (10) Lodging\/hospitality, (11) Agriculture, (12) Fishing industry, (13) Food & drink manufacturing and (14) Restaurant. The Government expects that around 345,000 foreigners will come to Japan with this new visa in five years.<\/p>\n
\nRead more original and informative articles here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"