What is the highly-skilled foreign professional visa?
This visa category was introduced to attract exceptional non-Japanese talent. As stated on the Ministry of Justice’s website, “In order to promote the acceptance of high-level foreign human resources, a system was introduced on May 7, 2012 to provide preferential treatment to highly-skilled foreign professionals.”
Categories of activities
The activities of highly-skilled foreign professionals are classified into three categories:
- Advanced academic research activities
- Advanced specialized/technical activities
- Advanced business management activities
Typically highly-skilled scientists, engineers, lawyers, and business executives are a few examples. But certainly there are many other cases.
Benefits
This is the gold standard of visa categories in Japan. If you are an expat being sent to Japan, this is the visa you want. While there are numerous benefits, the two benefits that stand out are: (1) the ability to hire/bring your own domestic worker and (2) the ability to bring your parents to help take care of your children (as long as they are 7 years old or younger). There is no other visa type that grants such benefits. These benefits make Japan an appealing location for expatriates to work, similar in many ways to Hong Kong and Singapore. Other benefits include expedited processing at immigration, 5-year visa period and ease to obtain permanent residence. We believe this visa is superior to the permanent residence visa so you would likely want to stay on this visa for as long as possible.
How do you apply
The qualification procedure for the Highly-Skilled Foreign Professional visa is largely based on a point evaluation system.
Immigration will evaluate your application by adding up points awarded based on your education, professional experience, annual salary, and a number of other factors. You will need at least 70-points to apply. Please refer to the table below for the calculation and points breakdown.
To see the specific requirements for obtaining this visa, please click this link for the requirements in English, and click this link here for the requirements in Japanese.
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