The Atarashift Blog
Insights for working in Japan
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
The Atarashift Blog
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
Eleven employers in Japan that confirm visa sponsorship on their own careers pages, grouped by industry, plus the 2026 rule changes and what to ask.
You cannot legally work in Japan without an employer sponsoring your status of residence, so the practical question is not whether Japan hires foreigners. It is which companies are set up to sponsor, and how you find them before you waste your best job-hunting weeks on ones that are not. The pool is bigger than ever: Japan employed a record 2.57 million foreign workers as of October 2025, up 11.7% in a single year (MHLW via The Japan Times, 2026).
Plenty of employers sponsor routinely. Plenty more have never filed a single visa application. This guide shows you how the system works, which companies and sectors sponsor most, what changed in 2026, and the exact questions that separate the two groups in an interview.
Key Takeaways
- Every standard work visa requires employer sponsorship: the company files your Certificate of Eligibility (COE). You cannot self-sponsor.
- Japan employed a record 2.57 million foreign workers as of October 2025 (MHLW, up 11.7% year on year).
- Eleven employers, from Rakuten and Mercari to IT services firms and the JET Programme, confirm visa sponsorship on their own careers pages.
- Tech, finance, and international firms are the most reliable sponsors. JETRO publicly lists 283 companies committed to hiring foreign professionals.
- New for 2026: language-based roles need CEFR B2 since April 15 (any JLPT N2 pass counts), and since October 1, renewal fees run from ¥10,000 to ¥75,000 depending on the period granted.
- Nationality doesn't change the rules. 70% of Indian workers in Japan hold professional or technical statuses, double the 34% average.
Looking for roles right now? Browse jobs in Japan with visa sponsorship or jobs where Japanese isn't required.
These eleven employers say on their own careers pages or job ads that they sponsor or support work visas. Each name links to that statement.
Rakuten lists visa support and moving help among its relocation benefits. LY Corporation, the company behind LINE and Yahoo! JAPAN, supports visa applications and says conversational Japanese helps but isn't a strict requirement. Mercari offers visa sponsorship plus a relocation package for hires moving from overseas.
Money Forward works with a travel and visa agency to help with visa applications and temporary furnished apartments. PayPay offers visa sponsorship, a temporary apartment, a one-way flight and a relocation allowance.
Anthropic says it sponsors visas, while noting it cannot do so for every role and every candidate. Sakana AI, a Tokyo research lab, helps with the visa application for roles based in Tokyo.
TechnoPro IT says it supports you from getting the visa through to entering Japan, covers travel from your home country for eligible candidates, and gives first-timers one month of Japanese training. Its training covers networks, Linux servers, cloud and development, the closest match to IT support roles. Human Resocia hires IT engineers from overseas as full-time employees. It handles the status of residence application, visa and flight, then arranges housing and a bank account. Its engineers work on client projects, so ask which project you would start on. For more tech employers that sponsor, including HENNGE and Appier, see our list of IT companies in Japan that sponsor work visas.
Interac, one of Japan's largest ALT employers, manages the visa process for teachers hired from overseas. The JET Programme brings participants in on a three-year work visa arranged through the programme.
Many other employers sponsor too, including large international firms that simply don't publish a policy. Banks, manufacturers, and hotels rarely state one publicly, so ask them directly using the questions further down.
Sponsorship means the employer takes legal responsibility for your presence in the country. The company applies for your Certificate of Eligibility (COE) at the Regional Immigration Bureau, submitting your employment contract, job description, salary details, and proof that the role matches your visa category. The COE typically takes 1 to 3 months; once issued, the visa itself is processed at a Japanese consulate in about 5 business days.
To sponsor, a company must:
Most office and technical jobs fall under one visa category, the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services status. If you want to see exactly who qualifies and how the application runs, we've covered it in our guide to Japan's most common work visa.
Two rules changed this year. From April 15, 2026, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities roles built mainly on language, such as translation, interpreting or hotel front desks, assume CEFR B2 in the working language. For Japanese, Immigration counts any JLPT N2 pass as B2 (ISA, 2026). The rule applies at every employer. Japan sorts sponsors into four categories by size: listed companies sit in Categories 1 and 2, smaller and newer firms in Categories 3 and 4. Those smaller sponsors must send the proof with the application, while larger ones may be asked for it during review.
From October 1, 2026, renewal and change-of-status fees depend on the period of stay you are granted. They run from ¥10,000 for up to three months to ¥75,000 for five years at the counter, and ¥10,000 to ¥65,000 online (ISA, 2026). The COE itself is still free. Our work visa renewal guide has the full fee table.
What does that mean for you? If the role is mainly about language, have your N2 certificate ready. If you're considering a smaller company, ask directly: "Have you sponsored a work visa before, and how recently?"
Established international tech companies such as Google Japan, Amazon Japan, Cisco Japan, and IBM Japan hire internationally at scale and treat COE applications as routine HR work.
Japanese tech scale-ups competing for global engineering talent include Mercari, Money Forward, SmartNews, LegalOn Technologies, PayPay, and Preferred Networks. These companies post jobs in English and often state "visa sponsorship available" right in the listing.
Global financial institutions with Tokyo offices, such as Goldman Sachs Japan, Morgan Stanley Japan, and Deutsche Bank, regularly sponsor visas for specialist roles.
Large traditional corporations like Toyota, Sony, and Panasonic do sponsor, but hiring cycles run longer and many roles prefer Japanese language ability.
Beyond the famous names, JETRO's "Open for Professionals" database lists 283 Japanese companies that have publicly committed to hiring foreign talent, from traditional corporations to startups (JETRO, 2026). It's a free, underused shortlist of employers that have already raised their hand.
Start where sponsorship is already screened for. Recruitment agencies like Robert Walters Japan, Hays Japan, and Michael Page Japan work almost exclusively with companies experienced in international hiring, so a role reaching you through them has usually cleared the sponsorship question already.
Then use the signals hiding in plain sight:
Asking about sponsorship does not make you look risky. It makes you look like someone who understands the system. Four questions do most of the work:
A company that answers these crisply has a process. A company that hesitates may still be worth joining, but budget extra weeks for the paperwork and get their commitment in writing. And once offers arrive, make sure you're comparing them on full compensation, not just the monthly figure: our guide to foreigner salaries in Japan breaks down what to look for.
No. The rules are the same for every passport: the job must fit a status of residence, and you must meet that status's education or experience requirement. Nationality does shape who is already working here, though. Japan had 31,636 Indian workers in October 2025, up 11.2% in a year, and 70% of them held professional or technical statuses (MHLW, 2026). Across all foreign workers, that share is 34%.
| Nationality | Workers in Japan (Oct 2025) | Change in a year | Share on professional or technical statuses |
|---|---|---|---|
| All nationalities | 2,571,037 | +11.7% | 34% |
| Vietnam | 605,906 | +6.2% | 38% |
| China | 431,949 | +5.7% | 43% |
| Philippines | 260,869 | +6.2% | 18% |
| Nepal | 235,874 | +25.7% | 27% |
| India | 31,636 | +11.2% | 70% |
Source: MHLW, foreign employment report as of October 2025, tables 1 and reference 4. Shares calculated by Atarashift from the same tables.
Most Filipino workers (60%) are in Japan on status-based residence, such as spouse or permanent resident, rather than a sponsored work visa. MHLW doesn't publish a separate count for Nigeria or other African countries, which sit inside its "other" group. If you're applying from any of these countries, the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa guide explains the degree and experience rules that matter far more than your passport.
IT and software engineering is the highest-volume sector for professional visa sponsorship. METI has estimated Japan's shortage of IT professionals could reach 790,000 by 2030 (METI via NRI), and that gap is exactly why engineering roles so often come with English-language workplaces. Many hire without Japanese: see which sectors hire English speakers.
Manufacturing employs roughly a quarter of Japan's foreign workforce, the largest share of any industry (MHLW, 2025), much of it through the Specified Skilled Worker visa.
Finance and consulting at international firms: sponsorship is standard at global banks and consultancies with Tokyo offices, and about a third of Japan's foreign workers now hold high-skilled professional statuses.
English education: ALT programs through JET and dispatch companies sponsor visas as a matter of course for all foreign hires.
For standard work visas, no; even the Highly Skilled Professional visa requires a Japanese employer, though it adds perks like faster permanent residency. The genuine exceptions are the Digital Nomad visa (remote work for a foreign employer only), the J-Find job-hunting visa for recent graduates, and family-based statuses.
There's no public registry to search directly. The best proxies: the company has sponsored before (ask them), it appears on JETRO's Open for Professionals list of 283 companies, or the role came through a recruitment agency that vets for international hiring.
Not to get in. The COE is free, and lawyer or scrivener fees are normally the employer's. You pay the visa fee at the consulate if your passport is charged one, typically ¥3,000 to ¥6,000. Renewals are different: since October 2026 they cost ¥10,000 to ¥75,000, and whether you or your employer pays depends on the company, so ask. Treat any employer asking you to pay for the COE itself as a red flag.
Your status of residence is tied to your job category, not the company itself, but you must notify the Immigration Bureau within 14 days of leaving. You then generally have up to 3 months to find a new employer in the same visa category before your status is at risk.
Yes, on the same terms as anyone else. Indians are one of the fastest-growing groups of professional hires: 22,067 of Japan's 31,636 Indian workers held professional or technical statuses in October 2025, and 14,248 were on the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa (MHLW, 2026). IT and engineering roles are the most common route. Our guide to jobs in Japan for Indians covers the visas, pay and how to apply from India.
Some do, but less consistently than established companies, and the April 2026 documentation rules made the process heavier for exactly these smaller sponsors. A startup that has never sponsored before faces a learning curve and more immigration scrutiny. Ask early, and get written confirmation they're committed to proceeding.
Sponsorship is decided per hire, not per company. The job has to match a visa category, and you have to meet that category's education or experience rules. Our Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa guide covers those rules.
The sponsorship question is rarely about whether you qualify. It's about whether the company in front of you is equipped to follow through, especially now that smaller sponsors face stricter 2026 rules. Check the JETRO list, read the LinkedIn signal, and ask the four interview questions before you invest in any application.
If you're at the start of the process, our step-by-step guide to getting a job in Japan as a foreigner covers the full journey from application to COE. Ready to skip the guesswork? Browse verified international-friendly companies on Atarashift →
Sources: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare via The Japan Times, "Foreign workers in Japan reach a record 2.57 million in 2025," retrieved 2026-07-16, https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/30/japan/foreign-workers-record-high/; Immigration Services Agency, Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services page, retrieved 2026-10-17, https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/status/gijinkoku.html; Immigration Services Agency, Extension of Period of Stay fees from 1 October 2026, retrieved 2026-10-17, https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/procedures/16-3.html; MHLW, foreign employment report as of end of October 2025 (tables 1 and reference 4), published 2026-01-30, retrieved 2026-10-17, https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_68794.html; JETRO, Open for Professionals company database, retrieved 2026-07-16, https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/hrportal/company/; company sponsorship statements (Rakuten, LY Corporation, Mercari, Money Forward, PayPay, Anthropic, Sakana AI, TechnoPro IT, Human Resocia, Interac, JET Programme), each linked in the text, tech and IT statements rechecked 2026-10-21; METI, Survey on IT Human Resource Demand (2019) via NRI Journal, https://www.nri.com/en/media/journal/20190708.html
Tokyo pays about 20% more and has 2.8 times the work-visa holders. Osaka's rent is a third lower. Government data on jobs, pay and costs.
12 IT companies in Japan that confirm visa sponsorship on their own careers pages, from Rakuten and Mercari to AI labs and IT services firms, checked Oct 2026.
Can Indians get jobs in Japan with visa sponsorship? Official data on the visas Indians hold, the industries hiring them, pay, and how to apply from India.
