Japan — Work Authorization & Visas

Foreign nationals may reside and work in Japan only under a status of residence (在留資格, zairyū shikaku) granted through landing permission, acquisition permission, or change-of-status permission. Article 2-2(1) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (入出国管理及び難民認定法, Shutsunyūkoku Kanri oyobi Nanmin Nintei Hō; the "Immigration Control Act") establishes this as the foundational rule: a foreign national may reside in Japan only under a designated status of residence, except as otherwise provided by the Immigration Control Act or other laws.

The Immigration Control Act divides statuses of residence into two categories, listed in Appended Tables I and II to the Act:

• Activity-based statuses (Appended Table I): these focus on the activities a foreign national may perform in Japan—for example, "Professor," "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services," "Skilled Labor," "Highly Skilled Professional," "Specified Skilled Worker," or "Business Manager." A foreign national holding an activity-based status may engage only in the activities described in the right-hand column of Appended Table I corresponding to that status.

• Status-based statuses (Appended Table II): these focus on the foreign national's personal status or family relationship rather than a specific occupation—for example, "Spouse or Child of Japanese National," "Spouse or Child of Permanent Resident," "Long-Term Resident," or "Permanent Resident." Holders of certain Appended Table II statuses (such as Permanent Resident, Spouse or Child of Japanese National, or Long-Term Resident) may generally engage in any lawful work activity without additional permission.

Work-activity restrictions under Article 19

Article 19 of the Immigration Control Act reinforces the activity restriction for Appended Table I statuses: a foreign national holding a status of residence listed in Appended Table I may not engage in any income-generating or remunerative activity that falls outside the scope of the authorized activities for that status unless the individual obtains permission to engage in an activity other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted (資格外活動許可, shikaku-gai katsudō kyoka) from the Minister of Justice. Violation of this prohibition—commonly called "illegal work" (不法就労, fuhō shūrō)—is a ground for deportation under Article 24 of the Act.

Practical implication for employers

An employer in Japan must verify that a prospective foreign-national employee holds a status of residence that authorizes the contemplated work, or that the individual has obtained Article 19 permission to engage in side work or part-time employment outside the primary status. The Immigration Services Agency (出入国在留管理庁, Shutsunyūkoku Zairyū Kanrichō; ISA), an external bureau of the Ministry of Justice, administers the status-of-residence system and maintains the residence-card (zairyū kādo) system for mid- to long-term residents. The back of each residence card states the holder's status of residence and, if applicable, any Article 19 permission for activities outside that status. An employer who aids or abets illegal employment may face criminal penalties under Article 73-2 of the Immigration Control Act.

The Immigration Control Act defines neither "employment" nor "work" exhaustively; the ISA has taken the position that any activity for which a foreign national receives economic benefit—including salary, wages, commission, or in-kind compensation—constitutes work subject to the status-of-residence restriction. Unpaid internships and purely academic research without remuneration generally fall outside the restriction, but employers should confirm the precise scope of authorized activities in each case.

Source: Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Article 1 Source: Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Article 2-2 Source: Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Article 19 Source: Ministry of Justice, Immigration Services Agency, What Is Immigration Control Administration?

The Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services (技術・人文知識・国際業務, gijutsu jinbun chishiki kokusai gyōmu) status of residence is the most commonly used work visa for professional foreign employees in Japan and covers the majority of white-collar employment. The status is defined in Appended Table I(2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and permits activities based on a contract with a public or private organization in Japan comprising:

1. work requiring technology or knowledge in the fields of natural science (science, engineering, and other natural sciences);
2. work requiring knowledge in the fields of humanities (law, economics, sociology, and other humanities); or
3. work requiring thinking or sensitivity based on foreign culture (kokusai gyōmu, "international services").

Historical consolidation

The current status was created on April 1, 2015, through a merger of two previously separate statuses — "Engineer" (技術) and "Specialist in Humanities/International Services" (人文知識・国際業務). The consolidation permits greater flexibility for internal job changes within the same employer without requiring a formal change-of-status application when duties shift between science-based and humanities-based professional work.

Activity scope —専門的業務 (specialized professional work) requirement

The Immigration Services Agency treats the Engineer/Specialist status as requiring work that applies specialized knowledge or technical skill. The ISA's April 2026 guidance clarifies that "activities requiring special technology or knowledge that do not involve tasks performable through repetitive training" fall within the status; conversely, simple labor (単純労働, tanjun rōdō) — tasks that can be performed through routine training without applying university-level knowledge — is excluded. Examples of excluded activities include restaurant service, retail cashier work, factory line assembly, manual sorting and packaging, and on-site construction labor.

The ISA assesses whether the proposed work qualifies by examining the totality of the foreign national's activities during the period of stay. If non-qualifying tasks (e.g., floor sales or warehouse work) form a substantial portion of the role, the application will be denied even if some duties involve professional skill. Exception for initial on-the-job training: the ISA permits newly hired employees to engage in practical training (jitsumu kenshū, 実務研修) that includes otherwise non-qualifying tasks — for example, retail-floor or production-line rotations — if the training is necessary preparation for future qualifying work, applies equally to Japanese new hires, and is time-limited. The April 2026 guidance states that such training is generally approved when the employee is hired on an open-ended contract and the training period is proportionate to the overall employment term; a one-year training rotation for a permanent employee is acceptable, but two years of training for a three-year fixed-term contract would be denied.

Landing-permission criteria — educational background and work experience

To qualify for the Engineer/Specialist status, the foreign national must satisfy the landing-permission criteria in the Ministry of Justice Ordinance. For work requiring natural-science or humanities knowledge (categories 1 and 2 above), one of the following is required:

• University degree (including foreign university) in a field related to the contemplated work. The ISA requires that the applicant's major field of study correspond to the job duties; an economics graduate hired into banking satisfies this test, but a fashion-design graduate hired into financial sales does not.
• Japanese vocational-school completion (専修学校専門課程; senmon gakkō) with a subject matter related to the work, provided the school meets Ministry of Education standards.
• Ten years of practical experience in work related to the contemplated job duties (or in a related field). The ten-year requirement applies to related work experience broadly; it need not be in the identical job title. University or vocational-school study in the relevant field counts toward the ten years.
• IT professionals: passage of an information-processing examination or acquisition of a credential designated by the Minister of Justice under a special notice, even without degree or experience.

For work requiring foreign-culture-based thinking or sensitivity (kokusai gyōmu, category 3 above) — translation, interpretation, language instruction, public relations, international sales, fashion or interior design rooted in foreign aesthetics, product development incorporating foreign culture — the foreign national must have three years of related practical experience, except that a university graduate (in any major) engaging in translation, interpretation, or language instruction requires no experience.

Equal-or-better remuneration standard

The landing-permission criteria require that the foreign national receive remuneration equal to or greater than that paid to a Japanese national performing comparable work. While the Immigration Control Act specifies no minimum salary figure, the ISA has taken the administrative position that monthly salary should generally be at least ¥200,000–¥250,000 for an individual without dependents, and that contracts for a fixed term must be at least one year in duration.

New language-proficiency requirement for certain roles (effective April 15, 2026)

On February 24, 2026, the ISA announced additional documentary requirements for applications filed on or after April 15, 2026, by foreign nationals whose employer falls in Category 3 or Category 4 (smaller or newer companies without preferential documentary treatment). Applicants whose principal job duties involve language-based interpersonal work — translation, interpretation, hotel front-desk service, customer-facing roles requiring linguistic and cultural mediation — must submit evidence of CEFR B2-equivalent language ability in the language used for work. For roles conducted primarily in Japanese, CEFR B2 is deemed satisfied by:

• Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N2 or higher;
• BJT Business Japanese Proficiency Test score of 400 or above;
• graduation from a Japanese university, Japanese kōsen (高等専門学校), or Japanese vocational school (senmon gakkō or its postgraduate course);
• completion of compulsory education and high school in Japan; or
• 20 years or more of mid-to-long-term residence in Japan.

This language-proficiency documentation requirement applies at initial Certificate of Eligibility application, change-of-status application, and — if the worker changes jobs into a language-intensive role — at the first period-of-stay extension following the job change. The requirement does not apply to applicants whose employer is Category 1 or 2 (listed companies, government-permitted entities, innovation-certified enterprises, or other preferred organizations), though examiners may request the documentation during the review at their discretion.

Periods of stay and work-permit linkage to the specific employer and job

The Engineer/Specialist status is granted for a period of five years, three years, one year, or three months. The specific period granted reflects the ISA's assessment of the employer's business stability, the employee's salary and prior compliance record, and — in the case of dispatch (temporary staffing) employment — the length of the dispatch contract. Effective March 9, 2026, foreign nationals working under a dispatch arrangement receive a period of stay matching the confirmed dispatch-assignment period; applications without a confirmed assignment at a named host company are denied.

Although the status itself is called "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services," permission is granted based on the totality of the applicant's specific employment arrangement — the employer, the job duties, the salary, and the relationship between the work and the applicant's educational or experiential background. A foreign national who changes employers or whose job duties materially change must notify the ISA within 14 days under Article 19-16 of the Immigration Control Act. If the new role is unrelated to the worker's academic major or prior work experience, the ISA may determine at the next extension application that the landing-permission criteria are no longer satisfied and deny the extension, even though the activity itself remains lawful professional work. Employers should therefore confirm before an internal transfer or role change that the new duties maintain the required nexus to the employee's qualifying background.

Source: Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Appended Table I(2), entry for "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services" Source: Immigration Services Agency, Clarification of the "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services" Status of Residence (April 2026 final revision) Source: Immigration Services Agency, "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services" page Source: Immigration Services Agency, Treatment of Dispatch-Form Employment under the "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services" Status (February 2026)

The Intra-company Transferee (企業内転勤, kigyō-nai tenkin) status of residence permits a multinational employer to transfer an existing employee from an overseas office to a Japan office for a fixed period to perform professional work. This status is defined in Appended Table I(2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and covers temporary transfers within the same corporate group—parent to subsidiary, subsidiary to parent, or between affiliates sharing a capital or control relationship.

The Intra-company Transferee status is the second most important work-authorization route for professional foreign employees in Japan after the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services status. It is the primary mechanism for multinational employers standing up or scaling a Japan operation by sending existing employees who know the company's systems, products, and culture.

Activity scope—identical to Engineer/Specialist

The activities permitted under the Intra-company Transferee status are identical to those under the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services status: work requiring technology or knowledge in natural-science fields (science, engineering); work requiring knowledge in humanities fields (law, economics, sociology); or work requiring thinking or sensitivity based on foreign culture (kokusai gyōmu—translation, interpretation, language instruction, international sales, public relations, product development rooted in foreign aesthetics). The Immigration Services Agency applies the same specialized-professional-work standard: the role must apply specialized knowledge or technical skill, and simple labor (単純労働, tanjun rōdō)—tasks performable through routine training without applying university-level knowledge—is excluded.

Landing-permission criteria—one-year prior employment and corporate link

To qualify for the Intra-company Transferee status, the foreign national must satisfy the landing-permission criteria in the Ministerial Ordinance to Provide for Criteria Pursuant to Article 7, paragraph (1), item (ii) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. The criteria are:

1. One-year continuous employment at the overseas office immediately prior to the transfer

The applicant must have been employed at the main office, branch office, or other office outside of Japan of the public or private organization for at least one year immediately prior to the transfer, during which time the applicant was engaged in activities that fall under the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services category (natural-science work, humanities work, or foreign-culture-based work). The Ministerial Ordinance specifies that if the applicant previously worked in Japan under an Intra-company Transferee status and then returned to the overseas office, the total of the overseas employment period plus the prior Japan period (if the applicant engaged in qualifying work under Intra-company Transferee status in Japan) counts toward the one-year requirement.

The one-year rule applies to time immediately prior to the transfer. The Ministerial Ordinance requires that the applicant "engaged in the services listed in the right-hand column corresponding to 'Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services' ... at the main office, branch office, or other offices outside of Japan immediately prior to the transfer ... for a continuous period of one year or more." A gap in employment—for example, resignation from the overseas office followed by rehire for the Japan transfer—breaks continuity under the plain language of the requirement.

2. Capital tie or control relationship between the sending and receiving organizations

The overseas office (sending entity) and the Japan office (receiving entity) must be part of the same public or private organization. The Immigration Control Act and the Ministerial Ordinance do not define "same public or private organization" exhaustively, but the Act's Appended Table I(2) entry for Intra-company Transferee refers to "a staff member who is transferred to a business office in Japan for a limited period of time from a business office established in a foreign country of a public or private organization which has a business office in Japan." The Immigration Services Agency requires documentary evidence of the corporate relationship—corporate registration certificates, organizational charts showing the group structure, and materials demonstrating the capital or control link between the two entities. The nature and sufficiency of the evidence required to establish the corporate link is a matter of ISA administrative practice and varies by case.

3. Equal-or-better remuneration standard

The Ministerial Ordinance requires that the applicant "receive no less remuneration than would a Japanese national for comparable work." This is the same equal-remuneration standard that applies to Engineer/Specialist status. The Immigration Services Agency assesses total remuneration—base salary plus bonuses. Remuneration may be paid by the Japan office, the overseas office, or split between the two; the standard applies to the total amount.

No educational-background or work-experience requirement—key differentiator from Engineer/Specialist

The Intra-company Transferee status does not impose an educational-background or ten-year-experience requirement. Unlike the Engineer/Specialist status, which requires that the applicant hold a university degree in a related field, completion of a Japanese vocational school in a related field, ten years of related work experience, or passage of a designated IT-certification exam, the Intra-company Transferee status requires only that the applicant have worked for the same organization in a qualifying professional role for one continuous year. This makes the Intra-company Transferee status particularly valuable for transferring mid-career professionals who entered the workforce without a university degree but have deep institutional knowledge and technical skill acquired on the job. For example, a software engineer who joined the company after completing a non-degree coding program and has worked for the overseas office for three years in a senior development role qualifies for Intra-company Transferee status but would not qualify for Engineer/Specialist status (absent ten years of total IT experience).

Periods of stay and employment-linkage to the organization

The Intra-company Transferee status is granted for a period of five years, three years, one year, or three months, as determined by the Minister of Justice under Article 2-2(3) of the Immigration Control Act and the Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control Act. The Intra-company Transferee status is designed for fixed-period transfers. Although the status may be extended beyond the initial period, the Immigration Control Act and its appended tables refer to a transfer "for a limited period of time."

The Intra-company Transferee status is tied to the specific employment relationship with the organization. If the employee's employment with the organization ends—through resignation, termination, or transfer to an unrelated third party—the basis for the status no longer exists. Article 22-4(1)(vi) of the Immigration Control Act authorizes the Minister of Justice to revoke a status of residence if a foreign national "continues not to engage in any of the activities falling under the status of residence ... while residing in Japan with a status of residence ... for a period of three months or more (except for those who fall under any of the items of Article 20, paragraph (2))."

Notification obligations under Article 19-16

Foreign nationals holding Intra-company Transferee status are subject to the affiliation-notification requirement under Article 19-16 of the Immigration Control Act. Article 19-16(1) requires that a mid- to long-term resident holding one of the enumerated statuses—including Intra-company Transferee—notify the Immigration Services Agency within 14 days of:

• Separation from the affiliated organization (the contractual relationship with the organization ends through resignation, termination, expiration of a fixed-term contract, or any other cause);
• Withdrawal from the organization (the organization ceases to exist); or
• Transfer to a different organization.

Failure to file the required notification without justifiable grounds is a ground for status-revocation proceedings under Article 22-4(1)(ix) of the Immigration Control Act.

Change of employer and change-of-status requirement

An Intra-company Transferee who wishes to remain in Japan and work for a new employer outside the corporate group must apply for a change of status to Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services (if the new role and the individual's educational or experiential background satisfy the Engineer/Specialist landing-permission criteria) or another appropriate status. Because the Intra-company Transferee status is predicated on the transfer relationship within a specific organization, changing employers to an unrelated entity terminates the qualifying activity for the status. The foreign national must file a change-of-status application under Article 20 of the Immigration Control Act before commencing work for the new employer; engaging in work for an employer outside the scope of the authorized status without obtaining change-of-status permission is a violation of Article 19(1) and a ground for deportation under Article 24 of the Act.

Source: Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Appended Table I(2), entry for "Intra-company Transferee" Source: Ministerial Ordinance to Provide for Criteria Pursuant to Article 7, paragraph (1), item (ii) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Source: Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Article 2-2(3) (period of stay) Source: Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Article 19-16 (notification of affiliation) Source: Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, Article 22-4 (revocation of status of residence)