Japan's draft arrival-card ordinance, open for comment until 27 November 2026, replaces three forms: the arrival card, the re-entry arrival record used by residents, and the cruise-ship landing application.
ISA's 10 November 2026 update leaves food service Specified Skilled Worker certificates being issued only on applications received up to 16 February 2026, with 6,983 waiting behind the cut-off.
The 9 November 2026 Japan–Viet Nam Joint Vision Statement opened talks on mandatory consular notification and a social security agreement, but Vietnam is still absent from the Employment for Skill Development memorandum list.
The Cabinet Secretariat's working group on accepting foreign nationals was given a seven-jurisdiction comparison of intake limits on 6 November 2026, with the basic policy due by 31 March 2027.
Act No. 74 of 2025 will bar a departing resident from claiming the pension lump-sum withdrawal while a re-entry permit is still valid, and lift the payment cap from five years to eight, once a Cabinet Order sets the start date.
The Immigration Services Agency reissued both university lists on 4 November 2026, resetting which graduates earn the 10-point Highly Skilled Professional bonus and which qualify for J-Find.