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Japan’s Specified Skilled Worker Visa, tokutei ginou, is the country’s main route for workers without a university degree. It is open in 16 fields, it needs two exams rather than a qualification, and in most of those fields it now leads to a status you can renew indefinitely and bring your family on. That last part is new and it is the most important thing to know about this visa in 2026.

This guide covers the fields that are actually open, the two tests, the difference between the two tiers, and the caps. It also explains why you will see 19 fields quoted elsewhere and why acting on that number could cost you a year.

The 16 fields, and the 3 that are not open yet

The programme launched in 2019 with 12 fields. A cabinet decision in March 2024 took it to 16, adding automobile transportation, railway, forestry and the wood industry. Those are the ones you can apply in.

In January 2026 the government announced a policy direction towards 19 fields, adding linen supply, warehouse logistics and resource circulation. That announcement is why plenty of guides now say 19. But a new field only becomes usable once the ordinances and sector rules are written, the skills test exists and an accepting body is in place. Until then there is nothing to apply for. Treat those three as coming, not open.

One field is currently closed to new applicants, and it is a cap rather than a policy change. On 13 April 2026 Japan temporarily suspended new SSW (i) applications in food service, and the SSW (i) food service test is not being held in Japan or overseas. The reason is that SSW (i) food service residents are expected to exceed the ceiling of 50,000 set for the five years from FY2024 to FY2028. The SSW (ii) food service test is unaffected, and so are both tiers of food and beverage manufacturing, which is where most kitchen and production experience fits in the meantime.

The two tests, and there is no way round them

This visa does not ask for a degree or for formal recognition of a qualification. It asks you to prove you can do the job and hold a conversation. Two exams, both before you apply:

1. Japanese. Either the Japan Foundation Test for Basic Japanese (JFT-Basic) or JLPT N4 or above. Either is accepted; you do not need both.
2. A skills evaluation test for your field. Set by the relevant Japanese ministry or industry body, held in Japan and in a number of partner countries, and specific to the sector. Passing the construction test does nothing for a food service application.

Nursing care is the exception worth flagging. It carries a third exam, the Nursing Care Japanese Test, on top of the general language requirement, because the work depends on understanding and recording what a patient tells you.

There is one common shortcut. Anyone who completed the Technical Intern Training Programme in a matching field has generally been able to move across without sitting either exam. That matters for the change coming in 2027, below.

SSW (i) and SSW (ii): the difference that decides your life

These are two tiers of the same visa and they are not close to equivalent. The first is a job. The second is a future.

Until 2023, SSW (ii) existed in only two fields, construction and shipbuilding. A cabinet decision that year expanded it to 11, which quietly turned the programme from a five year work stint into a settlement route for factory workers, mechanics, farm workers and cooks. Nursing care sits outside it because it has its own long term Kaigo visa that does the same job.

The practical advice: before you accept a job, check whether your field offers tier two and ask the employer whether they support people moving up to it. On tier one your five years are finite and your family stays home.

How many places there are

Japan sets ceilings for the programme rather than a queue you compete in, and the numbers were revised at the end of 2025:

For context on how much room that leaves: the number of Specified Skilled Workers in Japan reached a record 390,296 as of March 2026. The ceiling is roughly double the current intake, so the cap is not what will stop you. The tests and finding a registered employer are.

The 2027 change you should plan around

The Technical Intern Training Programme, the route long criticised for tying workers to a single employer, is being abolished. In its place comes Employment for Skill Development, starting April 2027, designed explicitly to feed people into the Specified Skilled Worker route rather than send them home.

Two things follow if you are deciding now. If you were considering the old training programme as a back door, that door is closing, and going directly for this visa is the cleaner path. And if you are already in Japan on technical intern training, find out how your status maps onto the new system before it starts, because the exam waiver that route carries is the most valuable thing you hold.

What to do next

1. Pick your field from the 16 that are open, and check whether it offers SSW (ii).
2. Book the language test you can pass soonest, JFT-Basic or JLPT N4. Neither is hard by exam standards and both are the gate.
3. Find the skills evaluation test for that field and where it is held in your country.
4. Only then look for an employer, because a registered employer will expect both results.

The official sources are worth using directly, since sector rules change faster than guides do: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs procedure page and the Immigration Services Agency. When you are ready for vacancies, search shortage jobs with visa sponsorship on our job board.

If you are weighing Japan against other options, we also cover countries that let you arrive before you have a job offer, which Japan does not, and the wider set of Japanese work visas for anyone who does hold a degree.

Last checked September 2026. Field lists, skills tests and programme ceilings are set by cabinet decision and sector ordinance and change without much warning, so confirm your own field before you pay for an exam.

More on working in Japan

• The Complete Guide to Work Visas for Skilled Workers in Japan