Rule changes
- From 4 January 2027: From January 2027 Indonesian applicants need a tuberculosis-free certificate.
- From 1 April 2027: Japan issues permanent-resident revocation guideline.
- From 1 April 2027: Japan revises permanent residence guidelines, adding income, pension, Japanese-language and rules-knowledge criteria.
- Since 1 October 2026: Japan lets hardship cases pay reduced or no residence-permit fees.
Looking for a retirement visa? Japan doesn't run one — its routes require a job offer, a registered business you actively run, or a company transfer. See other countries' guides
Working in Japan: do you qualify?
A work-based system with several specialist tracks, and a distinctly long road to permanent residence.
When rules change mid-way, the date your application is filed is what often decides which rules apply to you. Where are you right now?
Two ways in, and Japan checks them differently
An employer, a government nomination or an approved body puts its name behind the application.
- Engineer/Specialist in Humanities
- Highly Skilled Professional Visa (HSP)
- Intra-company Transferee
- Japan Technical Intern Training Program (技能実習制度)
- Japan — Digital Nomad Visa (特定活動, Designated Activities)
- Japan — Nursing Care status of residence (介護, Kaigo)
- Japan — Specified Skilled Worker (特定技能, Tokutei Ginō) (i) and (ii)
You qualify on your own record — skills, points or capital — with no sponsor standing behind you.
- Business Manager Visa￥30,000,000
The conditions behind the routes above
Your degree, work experience or occupation has to clear a bar set for that specific route.
Age, education, experience and language each add up to a score — you need to clear the pass mark.
An employer, a government nomination, or an approved endorsing body has to stand behind the route.
Pick a route, see the real commitment
Every official figure below is what Immimaps has verified for that route against Japan's official programme rules — not a marketing minimum. Service fees are what independent firms publish for the route, shown only once five or more are on file.
For founders and managers actively running a registered business in Japan, with capital and operating requirements to meet.
The common route for office professionals — engineers, marketers, translators, and similar specialist roles — sponsored by a Japanese employer.
A points-based track for high-qualification candidates that can shorten the path to permanent residence substantially.
For employees transferring to a Japanese office of the same company they already work for abroad.
Sponsorship takes the form of an OTIT-accredited training plan at a specific implementing organization, plus, for the group-supervision type, a licensed supervising organization, plus a recognized sending organization in the home country under a Japan Memorandum of Cooperation.
An employee of a foreign company or organisation working remotely for its office outside Japan, or a business owner or sole proprietor providing paid services or selling goods to people outside Japan, through information and communication technology. Proof of current employment, such as an employment contract or certificate. No employment or service contract with a Japanese organisation or person is allowed.
Pay at least equal to what a Japanese worker doing the same job receives. No fixed yen figure is set.
Full-time work for one employer, with pay equal to or above what a Japanese worker doing the same job receives; where there is no comparable Japanese worker, pay is compared with similar businesses. No fixed yen figure is set. A second job or part-time work for another company is not allowed.
What each route costs, stage by stage
Added up from the official figures on file for each route — split into money spent for good, money locked and returned later, and money shown but never transferred. Not a modelled estimate.
Business Manager Visa▾
At application
- Spent for goodOfficial fees: ￥15,000 – ￥30,000, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked￥30,000,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Engineer/Specialist in Humanities▾
At application
Decision — reported: 1 month.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: ￥15,000 – ￥30,000, paid to the government for the initial application.
Highly Skilled Professional Visa (HSP)▾
At application
Decision — reported: 1 month.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: ￥15,000 – ￥30,000, paid to the government for the initial application.
Intra-company Transferee▾
At application
Decision — reported: 1 month.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: ￥15,000 – ￥30,000, paid to the government for the initial application.
Japan Technical Intern Training Program (技能実習制度)▾
At application
Decision — reported: 2 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: ￥5,500 – ￥15,000, paid to the government for the initial application.
Japan — Digital Nomad Visa (特定活動, Designated Activities)▾
At application
- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: ￥15,000 – ￥30,000, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Shown, never leaves you￥10,000,000 shown as proof of means every year — nothing is transferred.
Japan — Nursing Care status of residence (介護, Kaigo)▾
At application
Decision — reported: 2 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: ￥15,000, paid to the government for the initial application.
2 ways to qualify — shown: the cheapest. Alternatives: ￥15,000 (shown) / ￥33,000.
Japan — Specified Skilled Worker (特定技能, Tokutei Ginō) (i) and (ii)▾
At application
Decision — reported: 2 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: ￥15,000, paid to the government for the initial application.
2 ways to qualify — shown: the cheapest. Alternatives: ￥15,000 (shown) / ￥33,000.
The order Japan — Specified Skilled Worker (特定技能, Tokutei Ginō) (i) and (ii) follows
No confirmed rule change has been flagged for Japan since it was last checked against the official moj.go.jp portal on 2026-08-29. Immimaps keeps watching official immigration sources and will list dated changes here as soon as one is confirmed.
Check the moj.go.jp portal directly →Strategy Path takes your occupation, your situation and whether you have an employer, and lays the route out step by step — cost, milestone and wait on each leg.
Upload it and Immimaps checks it against what Japan's official programme actually requires, and reads the contract clause by clause. Free, no account.
Check my documentEvery official figure on this page is checked against Japan's official immigration sources. Service fees are what independent firms publish for a route — not an official figure, and never any one firm's price. Immimaps does not publish success rates, approval odds or any probability score — here or anywhere else.
Don’t take a life-changing move on someone else’s word.
Immimaps is not an agency and takes no placement fees. We show the real figures on every route, show the working, and tell you what it actually costs.
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