Japan expands job opportunities for international graduates

Japan has expanded job opportunities available for international students graduating from national universities, in efforts to combat a sustained labour shortage facing the country.

The immigration agency in Japan announced on 28 May that business sectors will be opened to overseas students who have finished their undergraduate or postgraduate studies.

The move, which took effect on 30 May, comes under a revised notification by the Justice Ministry.

Graduates from foreign countries will be given a residential status known as “Designated Activities”, which will enable them to work at restaurants, retail shops and factory production lines.

Prior to the new policy, the Immigration Services Agency said that graduates were conventionally given the “Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services” visa, permitting them to work as engineers, accountants, and in similar occupations.

The old visa neither allowed graduates to work in the services sector or at factories, as they were considered to be “irrelevant” to their expertise.

Now, the agency has added these jobs to the list of activities that holders of the “Designated Activities” visa may undertake. Previously, the visa was only given to those who work as household employees for diplomats.

The revised visa will be issued to students proficient in Japanese, whose confirmed full-time employment and payment levels are equivalent to or above their Japanese colleagues.

The agency has forecasted that newly introduced opportunities will raise the number of foreign workers by thousands each year.

Last month, new visa statuses were also put forth in Japan, providing blue-collar workers for sectors deprived of labour.

This move to expand the labour market was attributed to a “chronic labour shortage” resulting from an ageing population and declining birthrate.