Work visas, the Highly-Skilled Professional points system, residence statuses, and the path to permanent residence for foreign talent in Japan.
Practical, browser-based calculators and helpers for the visa & immigration side of hiring foreign talent in Japan.
Compute your Highly-Skilled Professional (高度専門職) score using the official Immigration Services Agency points table. 70-point HSP and 80-point Special HSP / J-Skip detection.
Per-visa eligibility checkers, document checklists (with PDF download), timelines, and common rejection reasons. Each page covers one visa category in depth.
Japan's most-used skilled work visa for university-educated professionals in technical and white-collar roles. Eligibility checker, paper-style document checklist with PDF download, timeline, costs, and common rejection reasons.
Japan's labor-shortage visa across 16 designated sectors (caregiving, construction, food service, agriculture, manufacturing, etc.). Skill-test or TITP transition path, JLPT N4 / JFT-Basic, support-plan obligations, and 5-year stay cap.
The unrestricted SSW upgrade: no 5-year stay cap, family allowed on dependent visas, PR pathway open, and no employer support-plan obligation. 11 sectors, higher-level skill test, plus an SSW1-vs-SSW2 comparison table.
The points-based premium visa across 3 subcategories. 1号イ (research), 1号ロ (specialized), 1号ハ (management). 70 points unlocks a 5-year visa, spouse full-time work, fast PR (1-3 years instead of 10), and parent invite.
The visa for foreign founders, investors, and senior managers running a Japanese business. Updated for the October 2025 reform (¥30M capital, mandatory JP employee, education + Japanese language requirements). Includes grace-period guidance for existing visa holders.
The work visa for employees transferred from a foreign group entity (parent / subsidiary / branch / sister) into the Japanese group entity. Bypasses the degree-alignment test of 技人国 in exchange for 1+ year of proven group tenure. Natural choice for multinational rotation programs.
The work visa for foreign-cuisine chefs, foreign-style construction specialists, aircraft pilots, sommeliers, sports instructors, animal trainers, and other foreign-origin specialty roles. Eight specialty categories with per-category experience thresholds. Documented experience is the central test.
The graduation visa for foreign caregivers in Japan. Built around the 介護福祉士 national qualification. Unlike SSW1 caregiving, no stay cap, family allowed, PR pathway open. The destination after TITP and SSW1.
For foreign teachers at primary, junior high, and high schools. Including ALTs, international school faculty, and 専修学校 instructors. Distinct from 技人国 (eikaiwa, juku) and 教授 (universities). Includes a school-type matrix.
For foreign academics at universities, graduate schools, junior colleges, and technical colleges (高等専門学校). Standard for tenure-track faculty, lecturers, postdocs, and visiting researchers. Distinct from 教育 (K-12) and 技人国 (corporate R&D).
Visa decisions shape who you can hire, how long they can stay, and how attractive your offer is to top foreign talent. The Highly-Skilled Professional system is one of Japan’s strongest cards: a fast-track visa with permanent residence in 1 to 3 years if you score enough points. If you need hands-on support, you can book a free strategy call.
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We help foreign and domestic companies hire in Japan, including framing offers around Highly-Skilled Professional eligibility.