20posts
The 13 November 2026 expert panel settled the sector operating policy revision and attached eight conditions to snow removal work by construction skilled workers, including a one-third cap on working time.
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.
Two resident-side submissions to the Cabinet Secretariat's working group on 20 October 2026 accept a link between the planned Japanese course and residence screening only if the screening is made transparent and the learning is genuinely available.
The Immigration Services Agency begins receiving tax, pension and insurance records directly from other government bodies in March 2027, with national health insurance premium payment data following in June 2027.
Panama's working holiday scheme took effect on 1 November 2026, and MOFA has now put the annual quota at 100 places, the figure that was missing when the amendment was announced.
In papers dated 20 October 2026, Keidanren asked the government not to tie residence renewals to the planned Japanese-language and daily-life learning programme, while the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry asked for attendance to be counted at screening and renewal.
Two amendments to the Designated Activities notice add Panama to Japan's working holiday system from 1 November 2026 and Brazil from 1 December 2026, though neither country's age range, quota or paperwork has been published yet.
The Immigration Services Agency is consulting on deleting a designated-activities category that has had no users since 2018, with comments closing on 29 October 2026.
A Cabinet Secretariat working group is designing a two-course Japanese and daily-life learning programme for mid-to-long-term residents, with the trial set to begin from April 2028 and completion checks proposed at renewal, permanent residence and naturalisation.
A cabinet-level basic policy on how many foreign nationals Japan accepts is due in March 2027, preceded by a population strategy at the end of 2026 that will set the labour-force figure it has to fit.
The Immigration Services Agency is consulting on adding dental technicians and speech-language-hearing therapists to the Medical status of residence, with comments due by 15 October 2026 and the change planned for November 2026.
The Immigration Services Agency published a reinforced Zero Overstayers package at the end of August, while figures showed nearly 1,000 Business Manager visa holders left Japan in the first half of 2026.
The Justice Ministry published a new Basic Plan for Immigration Control in July — the document that frames immigration policy for the years ahead, including JESTA by 2028.
A Justice Ministry project team set out in July how a structured programme teaching Japanese and the country's rules would work — the mechanism behind January's panel recommendation.
The Diet passed the immigration bill on 29 May. It creates Japan's electronic travel authorisation system and lifts the statutory ceiling on residence procedure fees to ¥300,000.
A late-January policy package points at zero illegal overstays, land purchase rules, expanded language education and a possible cap on the foreign share of the population.
A government expert panel's final report in January 2026 recommended structured language and civics learning for foreign residents, and floated tying it to long-term status.
Worker intake targets, a naturalisation review and a fee overhaul were all settled before the year began. Here is what foreign residents in Japan should expect in 2026.