Japan's two largest business federations have taken opposite positions on whether the government's planned Japanese-language and daily-life learning programme should be allowed to affect residence applications. In papers dated 20 October 2026 and submitted to the Cabinet Secretariat working group designing it, Keidanren argued that failing to take the course must not become grounds for refusing a renewal, while the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry asked for attendance to be built into residence screening and renewal as an evaluation factor.
The programme was committed to in the Cabinet's comprehensive measures of 23 January 2026 and is scheduled for trial from April 2028. The working group's discussion paper proposes checking it at a first extension of period of stay, at permanent residence applications, and at naturalisation. The meeting of 20 October 2026 was the first at which employer organisations put their positions on that linkage in writing.
Keidanren: incentives, not a blanket obligation
Keidanren accepts the case for a programme but rejects compulsion across the board: 「まずはプログラムの受講や理解度の確認を全ての在留外国人に一律に義務付けるのではなく、外国人が自発的に受講することを促す仕組みを丁寧に設計すべき」.
On screening it is blunter: 「未受講を直ちに在留資格の更新不許可等の不利益に結び付けるのではなく、受講者に対する在留審査上の優遇措置等、インセンティブを活用した行動変容を促すべき。」 Non-attendance should not be tied to a refusal; the lever should be preferential treatment for those who do attend.
It also asks for delivery in English, for an exemption where the applicant already demonstrates the target level of Japanese, and for employer duties to check attendance and provide study time in working hours to be duties of effort rather than legal obligations: 「一律に法的義務を課すのではなく、まずは努力義務とすることが適当。」
The Chamber of Commerce asks for attendance to count at renewal
The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, representing 516 local chambers and 1.24 million member businesses, went the other way: 「プログラム受講状況、地域活動への参画、子の教育保障への対応等を社会への貢献度を測る指標の１つとして、在留資格の審査・更新時の評価項目として連動させる仕組みを検討されたい。」
It goes further on children. 「また、子の教育保障への対応を入国・在留資格延長の要件とすべき。」 Securing a child's education would be a requirement for entry and for extension of status, not merely a factor weighed.
Its framing is that law-abiding residents are economic partners while rule-breakers face strict enforcement, and that rural shortages in care work, agriculture, transport and construction make the intake unavoidable.
Which residence statuses the submissions name
Neither paper treats residents as one group, and the distinctions matter more than the headline split. Keidanren asks that Business Manager and Intra-company Transferee holders be left out of any uniform obligation: 「「経営・管理」「企業内転勤」等、長期の在留を予定しない者に一律の受講義務を課すことは過度な負担に。」 Where it does accept a link, it is narrow: 「他方、「特定技能2号」や「定住者」、その帯同家族の在留資格を念頭に、永住許可時の審査項目としてプログラムの受講・理解を求めることは考えられる」. Specified Skilled Worker (ii), Long-Term Resident and accompanying family, checked at permanent residence rather than at renewal.
The Chamber's proposal carries no carve-outs. As drafted it reaches any status that comes up for renewal.
Who pays, and the plan for the fee revenue
Keidanren says funding cannot be settled until the government shows the total cost, and that the default should be the person taking the course: 「応益負担の観点から、プログラムの受益者である外国人本人が一定の費用を負担することが基本。」 It suggests employers may pay on a worker's behalf, with a tax exemption so the payment is not treated as employment income.
It then names a source: 「在留許可・更新、永住許可等に係る手数料の引上げによる増収分を…中長期在留者に裨益するプログラムの財源に活用することも一案」. That is the extra revenue from the residence and permanent residence fee increases that took effect on 1 October 2026, set out on the 2026 fee changes page.
The Chamber asks for national funding instead, noting that orientation costs run through local allocation tax grants, which excludes municipalities not receiving them, including Tokyo's 23 special wards.
The NPO and academic papers put transparency first
CINGA, an NPO working on multicultural coexistence, set transparency as its precondition: 「このプログラムの受講が「動機付け」となるためには、在留資格審査の透明化が必須」. It flagged the shortage of accredited Japanese-language institutions outside the cities, and the need for employers to guarantee study time before any of this binds an application. Rosa Mercedes Ochante Murai, associate professor at Momoyama Gakuin University, urged the same caution: 「受講や学習内容の理解度を在留審査に反映する場合には、その目的や具体的な方法を慎重に検討する。」
What is in force, and what is not
None of this binds anyone at present. The programme does not exist, no attendance requirement has been written into the Immigration Control Act or its ordinances, and no application is assessed on it.
The fixed dates: the Cabinet's basic policy on accepting foreign nationals is due in March 2027, and the programme is scheduled for trial from April 2028. Under a separate instrument, the revised permanent residence approval guidelines already make Japanese at B1 or above a factor weighed for applications filed on or after 1 April 2027. That B1 factor is final. The attendance checks argued over on 20 October 2026 are not, and would sit on top of it.
If you hold a residence card
Short-stay visitors are outside this entirely. Nothing in the programme or in either submission touches a tourist or business visitor, and no arrival procedure changes.
For mid-to-long-term residents there is nothing to file and nothing to prepare for a course with no curriculum, no hours and no fee. The live item ahead of it is the permanent residence B1 consideration from 1 April 2027: anyone who would rather not be assessed on language should be working back from that filing date. Current approval criteria are on the permanent residency page, and what renewal screening examines now is on the extending and renewing status page.
The meeting summary has not been posted on the working group page. When it appears it will show which employer position the members found persuasive, ahead of the basic policy in March 2027.
Sources: Cabinet Secretariat — programme WG meeting 3, Keidanren submission (PDF), Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry submission (PDF), CINGA submission (PDF), Momoyama Gakuin University submission (PDF), Cabinet Secretariat — programme WG index, ISA — permanent residence approval guidelines