Japan Relocation and Highly Skilled Foreign Professionals

The Japanese immigration bureau announced the start of a new “points-based” visa system for “highly skilled foreign professionals” on May 7^th 2012.

To qualify for a visa under the “Designated Activities” category of Japan’s 27 visa categories through this new system you need 70 points. The system is available to 3 kinds of foreign professionals;

1.     Foreign professionals conducting “Academic Research” activities

2.     Foreign professionals conducting  “Advanced Specialized / Technical” activities

3.     Foreign professionals conducting “management” activities

Each of the above 3 “activities” have a clearly defined “points calculation table” based on academic background, research or business experience, promised annual salary, Japanese language proficiency, earning a degree at a higher education institution in Japan and a few other “bonus point” opportunities unique to each of the categories.

For academic research and advanced specialized / technical activities, age is also a factor; the younger you are, the more points you can obtain (this is not applicable to business management).

Through this system, I think it is obvious for all to see that the Japanese Government is looking to target young professionals in academia and technical fields, while try to attract experienced businessmen into management positions in Japan.

THE ADVANTAGES

Using this system, if you score 70 points or more, you receive not only visa status, but also some preferential treatment compared to other medium to long-term visa holders in Japan. This includes;

-       Permission to conduct multiple purposes of activities during your stay

(under other visa categories, your activities are limited to the activities of the stipulated visa category)

-       Relaxation of requirements to obtain “Permanent Residence” in Japan. A minimum of 4.5 years to obtain such status (under the current system, a stay of 10 years is generally required, unless you have a Japanese spouse)

-       The ability to have your spouse work full-time (under the current system, with permission, the maximum you can work is 28 hours per week as a dependent spouse)

-       Permission to have your parents live with you in Japan up to 3-years (there is currently no dependent visa that covers “parents” to allow for them to live with you)

-       Permission to have a domestic servant

THE DISADVANTAGES

There is one large disadvantage and some inconveniences to this new system.

-       The biggest disadvantage is that as this system is administered through the “Designated Activities” visa category that exists as one of the 27 visa categories in Japan, if you do have a working visa through this system and you leave your job to take another position with another company in Japan, you will need to re-apply for the visa with your new organization from scratch. This is not true for the other 26 categories, whereby if you change jobs and stay within the activities stipulated for your visa status, you only need to report the change, but do not lose your visa status.

-       The second disadvantage is that there is quite a lot of paperwork involved in the application. For example, if you have 10-years of experience in the industry, you need to prove that experience by providing 10 years’ worth of “employment certificates” from each of your employers during the 10-year period (or at least enough evidence that adds up to 10 years). How many of you are able to receive an employment certificate from a workplace 10 years ago!

-       Another disadvantage is that you are not guaranteed to be successful with this kind of “Designated Activities” visa, so you a required to make an application for this visa with one of the other “regular 26 visa categories. ie. You need to make an application for two visas at the same time, and if you are successful you will receive this special visa.

I must say that I am impressed with the Immigration Bureau and their willingness to implement new systems such as this. Since 2010 we have seen the “Fast Track System” for large companies in Japan, which enables large companies to push through visa applications much quicker than before, May 7^th 2012 saw this “Highly Skilled Foreign Professionals” system implemented, and then on July 7^th 2012 we will see the implement of the new resident card, which amongst other things will see the maximum period of visas extended from 3 to 5 years.

If you play by the rules in Japan, things are becoming significantly more convenient on the whole.

In closing, in my conversations with the immigration bureau recently two things have become apparent. One is that the DPJ is having a hard time passing any laws, and therefore any radical change in the Immigration System is not going to happen or be recommended. It is for this reason that the new “Highly Skilled Foreign Professionals” point-system has been placed under the “Designated Activities Visa” category. Creating a new visa category would have required laws to be passed, and that is something the DPJ can’t do with any speed right now.

The second item leads on from the first, but it is very evident that the Immigration Bureau recognizes that change in Immigration policy is needed. They are trapped within the political environment, but are doing what they can to move immigration policy forward. Amongst their next plans are goals to reduce visa processing time to a maximum of 10 working days for any visa category, and for immigration policy that will allow for the relaxation of the entry of health care workers from Asia and the rest of the world.

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