Kanagawa Shimbun (2025/01/06) states the period of stay for specified skilled worker “nursing” is five years.
To be precise, the total period of stay for the residence status “Specified Skilled Worker No. 1” is set at 5 years, and in order to stay beyond this period, it is necessary to obtain the residence status of “Specified Skilled Worker No. 2”. However, only “nursing care” is excluded from the fields in which you can obtain “Specified Skilled Worker No. 2.”
Why is “nursing care” not included in the target field of specified skilled worker No. 2?
Previously, Specified Skilled Worker No. 2 was applicable only to some of the 12 specific industrial fields of Specified Skilled Worker No. 1, including the construction field and the shipbuilding/marine industry field, but as of June 2023, On the 9th, a cabinet decision made it possible to accept applicants in 11 specific industry fields, excluding nursing care. (The number of specific industrial fields is as of 2023)
Regarding the field of nursing care, there is a specific status of residence “Nursing Care”, so it is not considered a field eligible for Specified Skilled Worker No. 2.
What is the route to obtain the residence status “Nursing Care”?
Activities that can be carried out under the residence status of “Nursing Care” are “activities in which a person who is qualified as a certified care worker engages in caregiving or caregiving guidance based on a contract with a public or private organization in Japan.” .
Therefore, in order to obtain the “Nursing Care” residence status, you must choose one of the routes described below and pass the national nursing care worker examination.
- EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) (Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam) – Entered the country as a care worker candidate (Residence status is “Designated Activities”)
- Study course (care worker training facility (vocational school))
- Employment course (work/training at nursing care facilities, etc.)
- Training facility route (Studying/practicing at a care worker training facility (vocational school)) (Residence status is “Student”)
- Technical Intern Training Route (Training at nursing care facilities, etc. (Residence status is “Technical Intern Training”))
- Specified Skilled Worker Route (Working at nursing care facilities, etc. (Residence status is “Specified Skilled Worker No. 1”))
Challenges in increasing the number of foreign care workers
According to the “36th (Reiwa 5) National Examination Results for Care Worker” published by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 228 foreign care worker candidates passed the exam based on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) (passing rate: 43.8%). The pass rate for all examinees is 82.8%, and there are no published figures for routes other than EPA (technical intern training, specified skills, etc.), so there is no doubt that it is a difficult challenge for foreigners.
By the way, the government has reviewed the rules for the national examination for certified care workers and have decided to introduce a “part-time pass” system from 2025. The current exam subjects, 13 in total, are divided into three areas, and if you fail to pass all subjects on your first attempt, you can only take the subjects you failed on your second attempt. The reason behind this seems to be that it was difficult to pass the national exam during the total period of stay of 5 years for “Specified Skilled Worker”.
- Regarding the introduction of passing the part-time exam for certified care workers (Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare)
- By obtaining the qualification of a certified care worker during the period of stay, the “Specified Skilled Nursing Care” status can be changed to “Nursing Care” and you can continue to engage in nursing care work in Japan, but In addition to Japanese language studies, students are required to study Japanese at the same time, making it difficult to maintain their motivation to take the exam and progress with their studies within the limited time available.
Summary
Opportunities to see the success of foreign caregivers are increasing through news articles. Although it seems that there are still many cases where people are working or studying under the status of residence as a candidate, such as Specified Skilled Worker No. 1, it is no doubt that the number of foreign “care workers” will rapidly increase in the future.