The Japanese authorities have announced that the government will add new roles to its Specified Skilled Worker No. 1 Visa to help the country with ongoing shortages, mainly in the transport industry.
As the authorities have revealed, the country wants to soon permit foreigners working in road transportation, railways, forestry, and the timber industry to qualify for the skilled worker visa, and thus facilitate their pathway for work migration to Japan, VisaGuide.World reports.
While the decision is yet to enter into force, this move would mark the first expansion since 2019 and bring the total number of eligible industries for this type of visa to 16, Kyodo News explains.
The proposal to expand the number of industries eligible for skilled worker visas was made following the severe shortages that Japan is currently experiencing.
According to the authorities, the country currently needs foreign workers to work as taxi, bus, and truck drivers in the road transportation sector.
As for the railway sector, the authorities revealed that the country is in need of foreign skilled workers to work as train drivers, conductors, railcar builders, and station attendants.
The Asahi Shimbun notes that apart from the current shortages, Japan might deal with more severe ones following the introduction of new rules in April. In around two months, Japan wants to introduce stricter rules on overtime working hours. This is expected to cause discontent and thus lead to the country needing more foreign workers.
The same source explains that the Japanese government is also considering expanding the eligibility for the visa for other professions, too. The industry is currently dealing with shortages in the food and beverage production industry.
Additional workers are also needed to take up jobs in the preparation of cooked meals that are sold in supermarkets as well as in the textile industry.
As soon as changes become effective, it is expected that a high number of foreigners will apply for skilled worker visas to Japan.
Data show that Japan has already set a new record in the number of foreign workers in its territory. At the end of October 2023, the Japanese government disclosed that a total of 2,048,675 foreigners work in the country, mainly in industries dealing with shortages.
Even though the number of foreign workers in the previous years was high too, the over 2 million registered last year surpasses the 2021 figures by 12.4 per cent.
The numbers for this year are expected to be even higher, taking into account the shortages in different sectors throughout the country.