The Land of the Rising Sun is in need of more and more professionals in the country in order to address the worsening issues pertaining to labor shortage. With the passage of the revised immigration policy in Japan that took effect April of 2019, a lot of new provisions were introduced in relation to specified skilled worker visa and highly skilled professional visa.
These new visa types seeks to relax the requirements and shorten the application process for foreign nationals who intend to work and reside in Japan. The first step to commence the whole procedure is to secure the certificate of eligibility. There are different types of eligibility for foreign workers who intend to stay in Japan and preferential treatment for foreign nationals who are qualified under the highly skilled foreign professional visa.
To secure the Certificate of Eligibility, the potential foreign worker must submit his or her application to the Regional Immigration Bureau. For highly skilled foreign professionals, the certificate of eligibility is sufficient proof that they have qualified under the point system in order to avail of preferential treatment and more benefits. The said application may be filed either by the applicant himself or herself or a designated representative of the organization accepting the foreign national in Japan.
In order to determine whether the professional may avail of more benefits according to his years of experience, specialization and expertise, he or she must also submit a point calculation form containing the activities that he or she intends to engage in and documentary evidence of the points.
After the submission of the certificate of eligibility and point calculation form, there will be an examination of compliance to be conducted by the Regional Immigration Bureau. If the foreign professional worker qualifies for the conditions of landing, the bureau will then confirm applicability of the status of residence.
Upon confirmation of the status, the applicant will then proceed to examination of the applicability of “highly-skilled foreign professional visa”. Once all the requirements for landing have been completed with regard to the application, the foreign national can then smoothly acquire a visa and permission for landing upon presentation of his or her certificate of eligibility.
Reference: Processes and Required Application Documents
