"I got a job offer from a Japanese company, but I'm worried whether the visa will come through." "I'm an international student — can I actually change my status of residence for this job?" For everyone with concerns like these, this article explains, under the supervision of a certified administrative scrivener, the requirements for Japan's most common work-related status of residence: "Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services" (commonly abbreviated in Japanese as "Gijinkoku").

Screening practice for this status has been changing significantly in recent years. In particular, applications filed on or after April 15, 2026 (Reiwa 8) require new supporting documents, including proof of language proficiency, and cases that "would have passed until now" are starting to fail. Let's walk through the review factors, including the latest system changes.

What Is the Work Visa (Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services)?

"Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services" is the status of residence for working in Japan as a white-collar professional — IT engineers, interpreters and translators, designers, marketing staff, international sales, and so on. It has the largest number of holders among work-related statuses, and when people say "work visa" in Japan, they generally mean this status.

The Immigration Control Act (Appended Table I-2) defines the activities of this status, in summary, as:

Activities engaging in work requiring technology or knowledge in the field of natural sciences or human sciences (= "Engineer" / "Specialist in Humanities")
Activities engaging in work requiring ways of thinking or sensitivity grounded in a foreign culture (= "International Services")

The period of stay granted is 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, or 3 months, and there is no limit on the number of renewals. As long as you continue to meet the requirements, this status lets you keep working in Japan long-term. Note that if you later become independent and start your own company to run a business, you will need to switch to the Business Manager visa.

As with the spouse visa and others, there are three application routes:

Certificate of Eligibility (COE) Application — For bringing talent currently overseas to Japan
Change of Status of Residence — For someone already in Japan switching to this status (the classic example: an international student taking a job)
Extension of Period of Stay — For someone who already holds this status extending their stay

This status also has a feature that sets it apart from many others: both "the applicant's own qualifications" and "the hiring company's side" are screened. Even with a perfect educational background, your application will be denied if there is a problem with the job duties or the company's setup — and vice versa.

This article explains the review factors along the same 6 perspectives used in our free AI assessment, plus the latest 2026 system changes.

Factor 1: Education or Work Experience (The 3 Routes)

📖What you'll learn: The education/work-experience requirement that underpins everything in this status, and the 3 routes for meeting it.

The first thing checked in the review is the applicant's own education and work experience. Under the ministerial ordinance establishing the landing permission criteria (the Criteria Ordinance), engaging in work in the Engineer / Specialist in Humanities fields requires meeting one of the following:

[University graduation route] Graduating from a university having majored in subjects related to the technology or knowledge required for the intended work (or having received an equivalent or higher education). Japanese and overseas universities both qualify, and junior colleges and graduate schools are included
[Vocational school route] Completing a post-secondary course or an advanced course (senkōka) at a Japanese vocational school (senshū gakkō) having majored in related subjects, and holding the title of 'Diploma' (Senmonshi) or 'Advanced Diploma' (Kōdo Senmonshi). Overseas vocational schools do not qualify. (The route via completion of an advanced course was recognized relatively recently.)
[Work experience route] Having 10 or more years of work experience related to the intended work (periods spent majoring in related subjects at a university, college of technology (KOSEN), high school, or the post-secondary course of a vocational school may be included)

There are also important exceptions and special rules:

IT engineer exception: Those who have passed examinations or hold qualifications in information processing technology designated by public notice of the Minister of Justice are exempt from the education requirement.
For "International Services": Work requiring "ways of thinking or sensitivity grounded in a foreign culture" — translation and interpretation, language instruction, public relations, advertising, overseas trading, design, product development, and so on — requires 3 or more years of work experience in related work. However, a university graduate engaging in "translation, interpretation, or language instruction" is exempt from the work experience requirement.

Here is a major practical pitfall worth highlighting. If you use the work experience route, the premise is that your years of experience can be proven with objective materials such as certificates of employment. Periods for which you cannot obtain certificates — because a former employer has gone out of business or cannot be reached — in principle cannot be counted. Cases like "I have 10 years of experience, but can only prove 6" are not rare.

"University degree, Diploma, or work experience?" — which route you take fundamentally changes both the evidence you need and your application strategy. If you're not sure which route you can qualify under, start by checking with our free AI assessment.

Factor 2: The Link Between Your Major and Your Job (Stricter for Diploma Holders Than for University Graduates)

📖What you'll learn: How the "relevance between major and job duties" — one of the most common reasons for denial — is assessed, and why the strictness differs between university graduates and vocational school graduates.

Meeting the education requirement is not enough by itself. The subjects you majored in must be related to the work you will actually perform. And this "relevance" is one of the most common reasons for denial under this status.

The ISA's published clarification document on operations ("Clarification of the 'Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services' Status of Residence"; first issued 2008, most recently revised April 2026 (Reiwa 8)) shows that the strictness of the relevance assessment differs by type of education:

University graduates: Because universities are institutions that "impart knowledge broadly," the relevance between major and work is assessed relatively flexibly. Graduates of colleges of technology (KOSEN) are assessed in a manner comparable to university graduates.
Vocational school graduates (Diploma / Advanced Diploma): Because vocational schools exist to develop vocational skills, a "considerable degree of relevance" between the subjects majored in and the work is required in principle. In other words, they are assessed more strictly than university graduates.

That said, there is room for the relevance standard to be relaxed for Diploma holders:

Graduates of vocational school post-secondary courses (certified departments) certified under MEXT's 'Career Development Promotion Program for International Students' have their relevance assessed relatively flexibly, in the same way as university graduates (introduced by the February 2024 revision)
Even where you cannot quite say you directly 'majored' in a subject, if your coursework as a whole shows you acquired the knowledge needed for the work, the assessment is made comprehensively
Once relevance has been recognized and you have worked in that role for around 3 years, the relevance to work you take on afterward is assessed flexibly (a rule that matters when changing jobs)

Note that schools and departments certified under the Career Development Promotion Program are limited in number — they are not the majority of vocational schools. If you are a vocational school student or graduate, it is important to check early whether your school (department) holds the certification.

The clarification document also publishes examples of approvals and denials. Cases where major and work are directly connected — an engineering graduate taking a job as an engineer — pose no problem, while cases lacking relevance, such as a Diploma holder who majored in accounting engaging exclusively in sales-floor work at a clothing store, have been denied.

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Factor 3: Appropriateness of the Job Duties (No Manual Labor)

📖What you'll learn: Where the line falls between work that qualifies for this status and work that does not, and how far "practical training" is allowed.

This status covers "activities requiring specialized technology or knowledge of a certain level or above, grounded in academic training." Knowledge at the level of "getting used to it through experience" is not enough; the work must require academic, systematic technology or knowledge of the kind learned at a university or vocational school.

Put the other way around, work that can be performed through repetitive training — so-called manual or simple labor — is outside the scope of this status. Concretely, this includes factory line work, restaurant serving and cooking, retail sales-floor work, cleaning, and food service.

An important caution: whether the work qualifies is judged by looking at your activities during the period of stay as a whole. Even if your employment contract says "marketing," if in reality the specialized work is only a small fraction and the bulk of your hours are spent on customer service or shelf stocking, the application will be denied.

"Practical training," on the other hand, is allowed under conditions. Even if the training-period activities, viewed in isolation, would not qualify for this status (such as customer service in a store), they can be permitted — subject to an assessment of reasonableness — where the following conditions are met:

The training is part of a program also given equally to Japanese university-graduate employees and similar staff
The training period does not occupy the majority of the period of stay

Conversely, a plan that assigns someone to food service or cleaning for a long period under the label of "training" will not be accepted — as the denial examples in the clarification document show.

Furthermore, the April 2026 (Reiwa 8) revision tightened the treatment of practical training (Annex 1) and of work at hotels and ryokan (Annex 5). Screening has become stricter toward arrangements like "front desk duties" in name but cleaning and food service in substance.

The following cases carry particularly high denial risk from the standpoint of the appropriateness of duties:

The duties listed in the job posting or employment contract center on on-site work such as "customer service," "manufacturing," or "cooking"
The arrangement is labeled "training," but the training period and post-training assignment are unclear
The job duties are substantively the same as those of technical intern trainees or part-time staff

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Factor 4: Salary (Equal to or Greater Than a Japanese National's)

📖What you'll learn: The legal requirement on remuneration, and practical benchmarks for what level is expected.

The remuneration requirement set by the Criteria Ordinance is: "receiving remuneration equal to or greater than the remuneration a Japanese national would receive for engaging in the same work."

The primary comparison is the salary level of Japanese employees engaged in the same kind of work at the same company. If there is no comparable employee in-house, the comparison is made with the level for the same region and industry. Setting a lower salary than Japanese staff "because the employee is a foreign national" leads to denial under this requirement.

Equivalence of remuneration is generally judged on the basis of base salary and fixed allowances; reimbursement-type allowances such as commuting allowances are generally not included (individual cases may be judged differently).

Now for the monetary benchmarks that often come up in practice. No specific monetary standard exists in the laws or guidelines. That said, in practice there is a tendency for monthly remuneration below ¥180,000 to invite doubts about equivalence with Japanese nationals, while ¥200,000 or more is regarded as relatively safe territory. But this is strictly a practical rule of thumb based on screening tendencies — neither a legal monetary standard nor a guarantee of approval. Because the comparison is made against new-graduate salary levels in the region and industry, a higher level may be expected in major urban areas.

If your remuneration is borderline, how the breakdown is written in the employment contract — the split between base salary and various allowances — can also affect the review. If you have any doubts about the amount or the contract wording, we recommend confirming with a specialist before applying.

Factor 5: Company Stability and Category Classification

📖What you'll learn: Why the hiring company is also screened, and how the company category (1–4) changes both the required documents and the level of scrutiny.

As noted at the outset, this status screens not only the applicant but also the size, stability, and propriety of the hiring company. The ISA classifies companies (organizations of affiliation) into the following four categories:

Category 1: Listed companies, national and local governments, incorporated administrative agencies, public interest corporations, innovation-creating companies, etc.
Category 2: Organizations or individuals whose withholding income tax on employment income for the previous year was ¥10,000,000 or more, etc.
Category 3: Organizations or individuals that have submitted the summary table of statutory reports for the previous year (excluding those falling under Category 2) — most small and medium-sized companies fall here
Category 4: Organizations or individuals falling under none of the above — e.g., newly established companies

If you are hired by a Category 1 or 2 company, the required documents are greatly simplified. For Categories 3 and 4, detailed materials must be submitted — documents specifying working conditions, materials proving the applicant's education and work history, a certificate of registered matters, a company brochure, and the most recent fiscal year's financial statements (a business plan for newly established companies) — and the screening is conducted more carefully.

Being a new company or having a loss-making year does not by itself mean denial. In such cases, however, you must concretely prove the stability and continuity of the business through a business plan and similar materials, and the burden of proof is heavier.

In addition, the treatment of employment through staffing (dispatch) arrangements was published on February 24, 2026 (Reiwa 8): for applications filed on or after March 9, 2026, written pledges from both the dispatching agency and the client company, the notice of working conditions, and the individual worker dispatch contract must be submitted. This strengthens scrutiny of improper employment through dispatch schemes.

Which category your employer falls under significantly changes both the required documents and the level of scrutiny. If you are considering changing jobs in particular, confirming the new employer's category early will make the subsequent procedures much smoother.

Factor 6: Compliance (Conduct, Taxes, Notifications)

📖What you'll learn: How your conduct and fulfillment of public obligations affect change-of-status and extension reviews.

Reviews for change of status and extension require, as a premise, that the applicant's conduct be good. Let's look at the compliance points that most often become issues under this status.

(1) Working beyond permitted limits (the most common trap for international students)

The most frequent problem in change-of-status applications from international students is violation of the rules on part-time work. Habitually working part-time beyond 28 hours per week in violation of the conditions of the permission to engage in activities outside one's status is evaluated negatively as showing poor conduct. This is a typical example explicitly noted in the clarification document.

(2) Fulfillment of tax obligations

Unpaid resident tax and similar delinquencies count against you in change and extension reviews. In recent years, checks on tax and social insurance have tended to tighten not only in the permanent residency review of public obligations (on-time payment) but also for work-related statuses.

(3) Fulfillment of notification duties under the Immigration Control Act

Failing to file the notification of place of residence, notification of changes to residence card particulars, or — critically — the "notification concerning the organization of affiliation" upon changing jobs (within 14 days of the change) is evaluated negatively. It is not unusual for someone with a job change in their history to discover a missed notification right before their extension application.

(4) Criminal record

A record of criminal punishment, whether in Japan or abroad, is naturally a major negative factor.

To international students: exceeding 28 hours of part-time work per week is the classic irreversible mistake — by the time you have a job offer, it's too late to undo. Self-management during your studies directly determines your visa prospects after graduation.

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[From April 15, 2026] Stricter Screening: The Language Proficiency Requirement and Enhanced Company Checks

📖What you'll learn: The new supporting documents and operational changes applied to applications filed on or after April 15, 2026 (Reiwa 8).

This is the most important section for anyone considering an application under this status now. For applications filed on or after April 15, 2026 (Reiwa 8), where the organization of affiliation falls under Category 3 or 4, the following documents are newly required. This treatment applies uniformly to applications filed on or after April 15, 2026.

A declaration concerning the representative of the organization of affiliation (required for all Category 3 and 4 applications)
Materials proving language proficiency equivalent to CEFR B2 in the language used for the work (for those engaging in person-facing work that primarily uses language ability, such as "translation/interpretation" or "customer service" like hotel front desk duties)

For Japanese, the criteria deemed "B2 equivalent" have been published by the ISA as follows:

Passing the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) N2 or higher
Scoring 400 or higher on the BJT Business Japanese Proficiency Test
Having resided in Japan for 20 years or more as a mid- to long-term resident
Having graduated from a Japanese university, or having completed the post-secondary course or advanced course of a college of technology or vocational school in Japan
Having completed compulsory education in Japan and graduated from a Japanese high school

Note that the proof required is not limited to Japanese. What is required is proof of ability in "the language used for the work" — for example, if you will engage in interpretation work using English, you may be required to prove B2-equivalent ability in English.

As for how far this requirement extends, the ISA gives translation/interpretation and customer service as examples but does not present the list as exhaustive. The judgment turns on whether the work is person-facing work primarily using language ability, and borderline cases will be decided individually. You cannot flatly say "I'm in a technical role, so this categorically doesn't apply to me."

The treatment of extension applications has also been laid out. If you have been continuously engaged in the same kind of work, these materials are not required at extension (though they may still be requested in the course of the review). On the other hand, if a change in duties or a job change means you will newly engage in person-facing work primarily using language ability, submission is required at extension as well.

Category 1 and 2 companies are outside the scope of these additional documents, but submission may still be requested in the course of the review.

Alongside this, the clarification document added a new Annex 4 addressing the clarification of "person-facing work using language ability," and — as mentioned above — tightened the standards for practical training (Annex 1) and work at hotels and ryokan (Annex 5). Furthermore, it now explicitly provides that an organization suspended from accepting workers under the Specified Skilled Worker or Technical Intern Training programs due to human rights violations or similar reasons will, during the suspension period, in principle also not be permitted to newly accept workers under this status. Cross-checking across programs has begun.

The background to this series of tightening measures is the aim of eliminating improper arrangements that place people in substantively manual labor under labels like "interpreter" or "customer service." With the Specified Skilled Worker program now established as the framework for frontline labor, the direction is to restore this status to its original purpose: a visa for genuine professionals.

Those most affected by this tightening include:

People joining or moving to small, medium-sized, or newly established companies (Categories 3 and 4)
People taking person-facing, language-centered roles such as interpretation/translation, customer service at hotels or stores, or sales
People who graduated only from a Japanese language school and have not obtained JLPT N2 or similar (graduation from a Japanese language school is not included among the "deemed B2 equivalent" criteria)

Summary: The 6 Review Factors

To recap the review factors covered in this article:

Education/work experience — The foundation is one of: university degree / Diploma (Japanese vocational school) / 10 years' work experience (3 years for International Services)
Relevance of major to job — Flexible for university graduates; a "considerable degree of relevance" required for Diploma holders. One of the most common denial reasons
Appropriateness of duties — The work must require academic, systematic knowledge. Manual labor does not qualify; practical training only under conditions
Remuneration — Equal to or greater than a Japanese national's is the legal requirement. In practice, below ¥180,000 per month warrants caution (a rule of thumb only)
Company stability — Categories 1–4 change both the documents and the scrutiny. New and small companies carry a heavier burden of proof
Compliance — Part-time work beyond 28 hours/week, unpaid taxes, and missed notifications hit you directly at change or extension

And with the stricter screening from April 2026, applications that "somehow got through" before are increasingly failing. That is exactly why accurately understanding your own situation and your employer's before applying matters more than ever. Our free AI assessment lets you check your case's prospects in minutes, along the same 6 perspectives explained in this article.

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S Rank: Very high likelihood of approval

A Rank: High likelihood of approval (minor concerns)

B Rank: Possible approval, but careful preparation needed

C Rank: Approval may be difficult (professional consultation recommended)

Disclaimer

This article is intended to provide general information about the work visa (Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services) and does not constitute legal advice for individual cases. Decisions on status of residence are made by the Immigration Services Agency based on each individual's circumstances, and neither the contents of this article nor the results of our site's assessment guarantee approval. The system and its operation are subject to change. Before actually applying, please check the latest information and consult a specialist such as an administrative scrivener.