Country guide · Japan

Getting a job in Japan, 2026

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Japan's main white collar work visa asks for no Japanese and sets no salary figure, only that your degree subject matches the job, which is what sinks most applications. Meanwhile the bottom half of the system is being rebuilt: on 1 April 2027 the Technical Intern Training Programme is abolished and replaced by Employment for Skill Development. Here is the points table in full, the Certificate of Eligibility process, and why the rirekisho is a form and not a CV.

Country guidePublished 20 September 2026·Every figure checked 20 September 2026·19 min read

1,177 yen

National weighted average minimum wage an hour from October 2026, up 56 yen

MHLW, 3 September 2026

1 Apr 2027

Technical Intern Training ends, Employment for Skill Development begins

ISA and MHLW, July 2026

2.57m

Foreign workers in Japan at end October 2025, up 11.7 per cent in a year

MHLW foreign employment returns

No JLPT

Japanese level the main white collar work visa requires by law

Ministerial Ordinance on Criteria

Read this before the visa section

Step one is not the visa. Step one is the interview call.

Everything in this guide about permits, thresholds and documents only comes into play after an employer in Japan has chosen you. Nobody applies for a work permit without an offer letter, and nobody gets an offer letter without an interview. The order is fixed:

Step 1 · what EDZER does
A strong résumé, a strong LinkedIn, and a job search strategy
Step 2
Interview calls from employers in Japan
Step 3
An offer, and the eligibility checks that come with it
Step 4
Only now: the visa, the permit and the documents below

The main work visa needs a degree that matches the job and nothing else, so many people qualify on paper. The filter is the application itself: Japanese employers expect their own document formats and read them closely. Step one is the whole game, and it is the part almost everyone under-invests in.

How a résumé is expected to look in Japan

Japanese convention: the rirekisho (a fixed-format personal history sheet, photograph required) plus the shokumu-keirekisho (career history). Multinationals accept an English CV, but many roles ask for both.

Where people actually apply

Hello Work (government) · LinkedIn · Daijob · GaijinPot Jobs · Indeed Japan

What EDZER does for step one

Your résumé, rewritten for the country. In the format its recruiters expect, by a human writer, with a 90 to 100 ATS score guaranteed
Your LinkedIn profile, rebuilt. Every section written so recruiters searching there find you and read on
Profiles on that country's job portals. Set up and optimised to match, so every application reads the same
A job search strategy document. Which roles, which employers, which portals, in what order, for your profile
An interview prep kit. For the roles you are targeting, so the calls turn into offers
Guidance on where and how to apply for jobs. From our team, so you are not guessing which door to knock on

What EDZER does not do

Visa or work permit applications, or immigration advice of any kind
Document attestation or credential evaluation
Placing you in a job or promising an offer: the recruiter decides selection, on your profile

Our job is to make sure you are presented in the strongest way possible, so that the interview calls come. What happens in the interview is yours.

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Section 01

The routes in, the points, and the one rule that decides your case

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Japan's main white collar work visa asks you for no Japanese at all and sets no salary figure. What it does ask is that the subject you studied matches the work you will do, and that is the requirement that sinks most applications.

The status of residence is called Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services, in Japanese gijutsu, jinbun chishiki, kokusai gyomu, usually shortened to gijinkoku. It covers software engineers, accountants, marketers, designers, translators, analysts and most office work. The Ministerial Ordinance on Criteria sets three limbs and you have to satisfy all of them.

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Limb	What it actually requires
Technical or knowledge work	One of: a university degree (or education equivalent or above) in the subject the job needs; completion of a specialist course at a Japanese senshu gakko in that subject; or 10 years or more of practical experience in it, counting time spent studying the subject at university, technical college or high school.
International services work	The work must be translation, interpreting, language teaching, public relations, advertising, overseas trade, clothing or interior design, product development or similar, and you need 3 years or more of relevant practical experience. A university graduate doing translation, interpreting or language instruction is exempt from the 3 years.
Pay	Remuneration equal to or more than what a Japanese national would receive for the same work. No number is published.

Source: Immigration Services Agency, status of residence page for Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services, setting out the Ministerial Ordinance on Criteria. Checked 20 September 2026. Period of stay granted is 5 years, 3 years, 1 year or 3 months.

The thing that decides your case

There is no points test, no salary floor and no language test on this route. The single question the examiner asks is whether the subject of your degree lines up with the duties written in your employment contract. An economics graduate hired as a back end engineer is a refusal risk. A computer science graduate hired to do the same job is not. If your degree does not match, your realistic options are the 10 years of experience limb, one of the information technology qualifications the Minister of Justice has listed by notice as a substitute for the degree, or the Designated Activities No. 46 route further down this page, which swaps the degree match for JLPT N1.

The Highly Skilled Professional points system

Section 02

The Certificate of Eligibility, permanent residence, and the 2027 rebuild

Free

This section is free as well. It opens the moment you are signed in.Open it, free

Section 03

Licences, pay and hours, and the rirekisho

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This section is free as well. It opens the moment you are signed in.Open it, free

Free ATS check for Japan

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Takes a minute. Your score comes back on this page. A writer from EDZER reviews the file and follows up on WhatsApp about the résumé and LinkedIn work, nothing else.

Your name

WhatsApp number

Where you live now

Where you want to work (up to 5)

Target role or roles

Experience

Highest qualification

Current designation and employer (if working)

When do you plan to apply?

Your current résumé

Used to score your résumé and for our writers to contact you about the résumé and LinkedIn work for Japan. We do not handle visas or immigration. Never sold or shared. Privacy.

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