Japan signed a memorandum of cooperation with Thailand on the Employment for Skill Development programme in early June. These agreements are the unglamorous machinery that decides whether a labour programme works in practice.
Why bilateral agreements matter
A status of residence is created by Japanese law, but the recruitment happens in the sending country. That is where the problems in the technical intern training programme originated: brokers charging fees that left workers in debt before arrival, and no effective channel for Japan to do anything about it.
A memorandum of cooperation sets up that channel. It names the government bodies on each side, establishes which sending organisations are recognised, sets expectations on recruitment fees, and creates a route for complaints and information exchange.
The Specified Skilled Worker programme runs on the same model, with memoranda covering most of the main sending countries.
What it means for Thai workers
For an individual, the memorandum determines which sending organisation is legitimate. Recruiters operating outside the recognised channel are a risk to the worker rather than a shortcut — an irregular arrangement can leave someone unable to obtain status on arrival, or exposed to fees that the framework was designed to prevent.
Anyone approached about work in Japan under the new programme should check the recruiter against the recognised list before paying anything.
The rest of the month
The agency also updated its Q&A on the programme at the end of May. It is a working document, revised as questions accumulate, and it is the first place to check on a specific point rather than the guidelines themselves, which are written for supervising organisations.
Where this sits
Employment for Skill Development starts in April 2027 and replaces technical intern training, which still covered more than 456,000 people in Japan at the end of 2025. Every bilateral agreement signed before the start date is a piece of the transition put in place ahead of time rather than improvised afterwards.
Neither the memorandum nor the Q&A changes anything for people currently in Japan. Our Specified Skilled Worker page covers the route the new programme feeds into, and the work visa overview sets out how the employment statuses relate to one another.
Source: Immigration Services Agency