Newspaper article
Immigration Bureau expands screening system for specific skills, expecting flood of applications this spring (Nikkei Shimbun, January 24, 2025) can be summarized as follows:
The Immigration Services Agency of Japan will strengthen its screening system for “Specified Skilled Workers” and increase the number of staff to accelerate the transition to specified skills. In fiscal 2025, 79 of the 153 additional staff positions will be allocated to specific skills-related work, aiming to avoid delays in screening that will affect companies’ ability to secure human resources.
Why?
As mentioned in this blog post, there are two routes to obtaining Specified Skilled Worker No. 1 residence status: 1) successfully completing Technical Intern Training No. 2, or 2) passing an assessment test and a Japanese language test. The background of this post is related to 1).
The Immigration Services Agency’s announcement states the following:
In March 2022, entry restrictions due to the spread of COVID-19 were relaxed, and many waiting Technical Intern Trainees (Type 1) entered the country between March and April of that year. As the Technical Intern Trainees who entered the country during this period will be completing their Technical Intern Training Type 2, the number of applications for permission to change residence status from “Technical Intern Training Type 2” to “Specified Skilled Worker No. 1” is expected to increase significantly between January and April 2025, causing congestion at counters and significantly slower notification of review results than usual.
Residency examination processing period
The processing period for residence examinations for Specified Skilled Worker No. 1 (the standard processing period announced by the Immigration Services Agency) has been around 60 days for both publicly funded applications for a Certificate of Eligibility and applications for permission to change residence status.
This is just a “standard” and may vary depending on the jurisdiction of the Immigration Bureau and how busy it is. Incidentally, the most recent record at our office was in the agricultural sector, and it was 43 days.
The Immigration Services Agency’s announcement page above recommends applying online.