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.
Japan's SSW visa lets you work in 19 fields without a degree. Who qualifies, the tests, the 5-year limit, family rules, and why food service is paused in 2026.
The Specified Skilled Worker visa (特定技能, tokutei ginou) lets you work in Japan without a university degree. You qualify by passing a skills test for one of 19 job fields and a basic Japanese test. Fields include care, construction, food manufacturing and farming.
It comes in two levels. Level (i) is capped at five years in total and does not let you bring family. Level (ii) has no time limit, allows a spouse and children, and can lead to permanent residency. As of June 2026, 444,256 people held one of the two, up 13.8% in six months (Immigration Services Agency, 2026).
This guide covers who qualifies, what each level allows, what it pays, and the 2026 changes worth knowing before you apply.
The Specified Skilled Worker visa is a status of residence created in April 2019 for fields where Japan cannot find enough workers. It covers hands-on jobs that Japan's main office visa does not allow.
That main office visa is Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services. It needs a related degree or long work experience, and it does not cover manual work. SSW fills the gap. It tests what you can do, not what you studied.
Here is how the two compare in practice:
| Specified Skilled Worker (i) | Engineer/Specialist in Humanities | |
|---|---|---|
| Degree needed | No | Yes, or 10 years of experience (3 for some roles) |
| How you qualify | Skills test and Japanese test | Education or experience matched to the job |
| Type of work | Hands-on work in 19 fields | Office, technical and specialist work |
| Total stay | 5 years (6 in one exception) | No limit |
| Family | Not allowed | Spouse and children allowed |
If you have a degree, our guide to the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa is probably the better route.
There are 19 fields for level (i). Three were added in January 2026: linen supply, logistics warehousing and resource recycling. Linen supply has started taking workers. The other two open once their tests and rules are ready.
We analyzed ISA's June 2026 field table and found that the six largest fields held 91% of all level (i) workers (ISA, 2026):
| Field | Level (i) workers, June 2026 | Level (ii) offered? |
|---|---|---|
| Food and beverage manufacturing | 100,769 | Yes |
| Nursing care | 79,884 | No (separate Care visa) |
| Industrial product manufacturing | 62,033 | Yes, 3 job categories only |
| Construction | 52,132 | Yes |
| Food service | 49,060 | Yes |
| Agriculture | 44,050 | Yes |
The other 13 fields are building cleaning, linen supply, shipbuilding, car maintenance, aviation, accommodation, trucking and buses, rail, logistics warehousing, fishery, forestry, timber and resource recycling.
Level (ii) is open in 11 fields. Those are the five above marked yes, plus building cleaning, shipbuilding, car maintenance, aviation, accommodation and fishery.
You need to be 18 or older and pass two tests:
Some fields ask for more. Care adds a care-specific Japanese test. Bus and taxi drivers and rail station staff need JLPT N3 today. From 1 April 2027, new applications in those roles need B1-level Japanese instead.
There is one shortcut. If you completed Technical Intern Training (ii) in good standing, you skip the Japanese test. You also skip the skills test if your training was in a related job.
You can take many of the tests outside Japan, and a company can make you an offer before you pass. The visa itself still needs the passes. Our guide to what each JLPT level opens up covers the language side in more detail.
Up to five years in total. Each permission lasts up to three years, and you renew within that five-year cap.
The cap counts more time than people expect. For example, months on SSW without a job count. Trips abroad on a re-entry permit count too. So does time on the "preparation" status some people hold while switching into SSW.
A few periods do not count. Maternity and childcare leave are excluded, as is sick leave of more than a month (up to a year, or three for a work injury).
There is also a sixth year for people close to level (ii). You must score at least 80% of the pass mark on every level (ii) exam you need (ISA, 2026). You also commit to retake it, and your employer must keep you on and support your study.
Level (ii) is a different status, not an automatic upgrade. You need to pass a harder skills test for your field. The job also changes: level (ii) workers supervise other workers or manage a process. Since August 2026, employers must state in writing who you will lead.
Once you have it, the rules change a lot:
The Japanese bar rises in 2027. From 1 April 2027, people applying for level (ii) from abroad need B1-level Japanese. The rule for people already in Japan has not been announced.
Level (ii) is growing fast from a small base. It went from 7,955 holders in December 2025 to 18,295 in June 2026, and construction and food manufacturing account for over half (ISA, 2026).
Your pay must be at least what a Japanese employee doing the same job earns. That is a legal condition of the visa, not a guideline. You must also work full time, for one employer.
In practice, though, SSW pay sits well below office work. Here is the 2025 government wage survey, based on monthly scheduled pay before bonuses:
| Group | Average monthly pay, 2025 |
|---|---|
| All workers in Japan | ¥340,600 |
| Professional and technical visa holders | ¥313,200 |
| All foreign workers | ¥254,300 |
| Specified Skilled Worker | ¥221,400 |
Part of the gap is age and tenure. SSW workers tend to be younger and newer to their jobs. Part is the work itself, since these fields pay less for everyone. Our guide to the minimum salary for a Japan work visa explains how the equal-pay rule is checked.
More than for most visas, which is why not every company takes SSW workers. For level (i), your employer must:
Many employers pay a registered support organization (登録支援機関) to run the support plan. That is allowed, and you should still get every part of it.
One red flag to know: you should not pay a deposit or sign a contract with a penalty for leaving. Both are grounds for refusing the visa.
Because it hit its cap. In fact, every field has a ceiling on SSW (i) workers. Food service is set at 50,000 until March 2029, and it reached 49,290 by July 2026.
As a result, immigration stopped issuing new Certificates of Eligibility in this field on 13 April 2026. As of 10 September, it was only issuing them for applications received by 31 January 2026.
Three groups can still get in. People already on SSW in food service can change jobs within the field. Technical interns finishing hospital meal-prep training can switch. So can people on the food service preparation status. Most other switches into the field filed after 12 April are refused in principle.
If food service is your plan, check the current status before you pay for tests. When we analyzed the cap table, food manufacturing was the next fullest field at 76% (ISA, 2026). It is still open, and it is the closest alternative for kitchen skills.
Yes, within limits. You can move to another employer in the same job category. You can also move to a category the government has linked to yours through a shared test.
That said, timing is the catch. A new employer means a new change-of-status application, and you need approval before you start. This is different from the job-change rules for office visas, where a 14-day notice is enough.
Plan on about two months. Changes into SSW (i) averaged 61 days from July 2025 to July 2026. Since 1 October 2026, the fee depends on how long a stay you are granted. One year costs ¥33,000 at the counter. Our change of status guide covers the full fee table.
The usual route has four steps:
Some countries also require their own exit paperwork for workers, so check this with your government early. It can add weeks. Our guide to Certificate of Eligibility processing times shows how the wait changes through the year.
It depends on what you want in five years.
SSW suits you if you have hands-on skills, no degree, and want to work in Japan now. Level (i) also works as a trial if you are not sure you want to stay.
Look at other visas if you have a degree in a related subject. An office visa has no time cap and lets your family come from day one.
Aim for level (ii) if you want to stay long term. Your years on level (i) do not count toward permanent residency, but your years on level (ii) do. Check that your field offers level (ii) before you choose it.
There is also a change coming. From April 2027, a new Employment for Skill Development system replaces Technical Intern Training. It is designed to train people up to SSW level (i), so expect more people competing for the same jobs.
No. You need to pass a Japanese test, usually JFT-Basic or JLPT N4. Some fields ask for more, such as care, and bus, taxi and rail roles. The one exception is people who completed Technical Intern Training (ii) in good standing.
On level (i), five years in total, or six if you score at least 80% on the level (ii) exams. On level (ii), there is no limit. You renew every three years or less, as many times as you need.
Not on level (i), apart from rare humanitarian cases. On level (ii), your spouse and children can join you on a Dependent visa.
Level (ii) can. Time on level (i) does not count toward the five years on a work status that permanent residency requires. Time on level (ii) does.
Yes, if you meet that visa's own rules, such as a related degree. You would apply for a change of status. Your SSW tests do not count toward an office visa.
New entries are mostly closed. Certificates of Eligibility in the field have been suspended since 13 April 2026, because the field reached its cap. People already on SSW in food service can still change jobs within the field.
Worker numbers come from the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) summary of SSW residents at the end of June 2026, published September 2026, with preliminary figures. Caps and fill rates by field are from ISA's July 2026 table.
We analyzed the field and cap tables ourselves to get the shares quoted here. Rules on the two levels, the 19 fields, tests, dispatch and support come from ISA's system explanation materials, updated 29 September 2026. The five-year cap and its exceptions are on ISA's total period of stay page. The B1 rules are on ISA's notice on the B1 start date. Family, job change and permanent residency points are from the SSW Q&A.
The food service pause is from ISA's notice of 13 April 2026 and its processing status update of 10 September 2026. Pay figures are from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's 2025 Basic Survey on Wage Structure. Processing times are from ISA's monthly processing reports.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Rules for each field are set out in separate guidelines and change often. Data retrieved 11 October 2026.
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