Japan Easing Visa Rules, Foreign Students Can Look For Work

Japanese visa illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Paul Davidson)

JAKARTA - The Japanese government on Thursday relaxed visa regulations to expand the scope of foreign students, who are allowed to stay and seek jobs in Japan, in response to calls from business circles and academics.

Japan's Immigration Service Agency said the government would allow students who had completed studies at state-appointed engineering schools to work in areas that were not necessarily closely related to the fields they took.

The new move is expected to increase the number of foreign students living in Japan to work as much as 3,000 people per year, the agency said, according to Kyodo News on February 29.

Previously, many foreign students, although they had obtained certain levels of technical and Japanese skills in engineering schools, had to return to their home countries after failing to find jobs that matched their skills or knowledge.

State-appointed engineering schools will offer specialized programs, including practical training at companies, the agency said.

In addition, the government is also expanding the scope of foreign students who can stay in Japan to work with "defined activity" visas, namely other population status that allows jobs in wider areas.

The visa was previously only intended for students who have graduated from university or postgraduate schools.

Now, it can be given to students with high Japanese language skills and educational achievements equivalent to undergraduate degrees, including those who have completed a four-year program at the appointed engineering school.

These new measures came after a government panel proposed in April last year to make it easier for foreign students to get jobs in the Land of the Rising Sun.

"We hope students who have a certain level of special expertise and have deepened their understanding of Japan will work (in the country)," said an agency official.

According to a survey by the Japanese Student Service Organization conducted in fiscal year 2021, of the approximately 2,000 foreign students registered at engineering schools in the country, about 75 percent said they wanted to work in Japan.