Japan · Skilled worker

在留資格「技術・人文知識・国際業務」

在留資格「技術・人文知識・国際業務」 is issued by Immigration Services Agency (出入国在留管理庁). VisaAI tracks 13 official requirements for it, each traced to the government page that states it.

Last verified against the official source on .

VisaAI is not a government body and does not issue visas. It cannot decide, predict or guarantee the outcome of an application, and this page is not legal or immigration advice.

Requirements change. Confirm every item on Immigration Services Agency (出入国在留管理庁)’s own page before you apply.

Each requirement below is written in plain English by VisaAI. The indented text beneath it is quoted from Immigration Services Agency (出入国在留管理庁)’s own page, so you can check what we say against what they say. Where a quotation shows “ ... ”, text has been left out.

Conditions you must meet

  • The qualifying activity: work requiring natural-science or humanities knowledge, or work requiring foreign-culture-based thinking or sensitivity, under a contract with a Japanese public or private bodyThe authority's own statutory definition, including the exclusions — activities belonging to Professor, Artist, Journalist, Business Manager, Legal/Accounting, Medical, Researcher, Instructor, Intra-company Transferee, Nursing Care and Entertainer are carved out of this status. Those exclusions are what make this status residual rather than general.
    本邦の公私の機関との契約に基づいて行う理学、工学その他の自然科学の分野若しくは法律学、経済学、社会学その他の人文科学の分野に属する技術若しくは知識を要する業務又は外国の文化に基盤を有する思考若しくは感受性を必要とする業務に従事する活動
  • Period of stay: 5 years, 3 years, 1 year or 3 monthsFour fixed options, not a range. The authority chooses; the applicant does not.
    在留期間 5年、3年、1年又は3月
  • The employing organisation falls into one of four categories, and the category decides which documents are requiredCategory 1 covers companies listed on a Japanese stock exchange, mutual insurance companies, national and local government bodies in Japan or abroad, independent administrative institutions, special and authorised corporations, approved public-interest corporations, public corporations under the Corporation Tax Act, and designated innovation-creating companies.
    カテゴリー1 カテゴリー2 カテゴリー3 カテゴリー4 区分 (所属機関) 次のいずれかに該当する機関 日本の証券取引所に上場している企業 保険業を営む相互会社 日本又は外国の国・地方公共団体 独立行政法人 特殊法人・認可法人 日本の国・地方公共団体認可の公益法人 法人税法別表第1に掲げる公共法人
  • Category 2: an organisation whose previous year's withholding tax on employment income was ¥10,000,000 or moreA published numeric threshold about the EMPLOYER's tax filings, which the applicant cannot verify and usually cannot see.
    前年分の給与所得の源泉徴収票等の法定調書合計表中、給与所得の源泉徴収合計表の源泉徴収税額が1,000万円以上ある団体・個人
  • If you cannot produce documents evidencing a category, you are treated as category 4The default is the heaviest file, not the lightest. Stated in a parenthesis on the common document list and easy to miss entirely.
    上記カテゴリーのいずれかに該当することを証明する文書 適宜(提出可能な書類がない場合は、カテゴリー4に該当することとなります。)
  • The language evidence is required where the job is mainly language-based — translation, interpreting, hotel front desk and similar customer-facing workAnd it bites again on renewal: a change of duties or of employer into language-based work triggers it at the extension application even for someone already in Japan.
    申請職種が「翻訳・通訳」やホテルフロント業務等の「接客」の場 合等、日本語能力等の言語能力を用いた業務に主に従事する場合には、提出が必要となります。
  • Submitted documents are not returned as a rule — ask at the time of filing if you need an original backThe request must be made AT filing. There is no later opportunity, and originals that are hard to obtain again are exactly what people submit without thinking.
    原則として、提出された資料は返却できませんので、再度入手することが困難な資料の原本等の返却を希望する場合は、申請時に申し出てください。
  • An incomplete filing may be substantially delayed or may result in an adverse decision
    提出書類が揃っていない申請の場合、大幅に審査が遅れる、または不利益処分となり得る可能性があるのでご留意ください。
  • The authority may require documents beyond those listed on the page during examinationRecorded because it bounds what the published list can promise: it is a floor, not a ceiling.
    申請いただいた後に、当局における審査の過程において、本ページ記載外の資料を求める場合もありますので、あらかじめ御承知おき願います。

Documents you must provide

  • From 15 April 2026, categories 3 and 4 must additionally file a declaration about the organisation's representative, and CEFR B2 language evidence where the work is mainly language-basedA dated change affecting only two of the four categories. Recorded with its effective date because a reader comparing against older guidance will not know it applies to them.
    令和8年4月15日(水)以降の申請から、カテゴリー3又は4に該当する場合は、以下の添付書類を追加で提出いただく必要があります。
  • Every certificate issued in Japan must be less than 3 months old at the time of filing
    日本で発行される証明書は全て、発行日から3か月以内のものを提出してください。
  • Any document in a foreign language must be accompanied by a Japanese translation
    提出書類が外国語で作成されている場合には、訳文(日本語)を添付してください。
  • Common documents: one application form for a Certificate of Eligibility, one photograph to the specified standard, and a stamped self-addressed registered-post envelope
    在留資格認定証明書交付申請書 1通

Also stated by the authority

Not requirements in themselves. These are alternatives, exemptions, rights and warnings the authority publishes alongside the requirements — quoted here because they can change what applies to you.

  • Examples the authority gives: mechanical engineers, interpreters, designers, private-sector language teachers, marketing staff
    該当例としては、機械工学等の技術者、通訳、デザイナー、私企業の語学教師、マーケティング業務従事者等。
  • Five ways to be deemed to hold CEFR B2 Japanese without a testJLPT N2 or above, BJT 400 points or above, twenty years' residence as a mid-to-long-term resident, graduation from a Japanese university or completion of a Japanese college of technology or specialised course, or completion of Japanese compulsory education plus high school. Recorded as officially_required false because each RELIEVES the evidence requirement — and a reader who meets one and does not know it will sit a test they do not need.
    ・JLPT・N2以上を取得していること ・BJTビジネス日本語能力テストにおいて400点以上を取得していること ・中長期在留者として20年以上本邦に在留していること ・本邦の大学を卒業し、又は本邦の高等専門学校若しくは専修学校の専門課程若しくは専攻科を修了していること ・我が国の義務教育を修了し高等学校を卒業していること
  • On an extension application, no language evidence is needed if you have continued in the same kind of work
    在留期間更新許可申請時において、以前から継続して同様の業務内容に従事している場合は提出を要しません。

Official sources

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