The Immigration Services Agency has proposed opening the Medical status of residence to two professions it does not name at the moment: dental technicians (歯科技工士) and speech-language-hearing therapists (言語聴覚士). The draft ordinance went out for public comment on 16 September 2026, submissions close on 15 October 2026, and the Agency plans to promulgate it and bring it into force on the same day in November 2026.
What the draft adds
The Medical status covers work that, under Japanese law, only a qualified person may perform. Its criteria sit in a ministerial ordinance made under Article 7(1)(2) of the Immigration Control Act, and that ordinance works by naming professions. A profession it does not name is not provided for, which is why the Agency's summary describes the purpose of the amendment as making it possible for holders of these two qualifications to do this work in Japan.
Two changes follow. Speech-language-hearing therapists are added to the item requiring pay at least equal to what a Japanese national doing the same job would receive. Both professions are added to the item requiring that the applicant be invited by an employer in Japan.
That second item also widens the list of bodies that may do the inviting. The existing wording is "a medical institution or pharmacy in Japan". The draft replaces it with a medical institution, a pharmacy or other facility providing health-care services, or a dental laboratory — 歯科技工所, where dental technicians actually work rather than in a clinic.
The Agency gives a demographic reason: medical demand in the regions is rising as the share of the late-stage elderly grows.
The Japanese licence requirement does not change
Both are Japanese licensed professions, and the Medical status has always turned on holding the Japanese qualification. The documents it asks for are proof of a Japanese licence, not a foreign one.
This is not a route for someone who qualified as a dental technician or a speech therapist abroad and wants to practise here on that basis. Anyone whose training and registration are from another country would have to qualify in Japan first, and the draft does nothing to change that.
Nothing in this consultation touches short-stay entry. If you are visiting Japan, or hosting someone who is, there is nothing here that affects you.
If you hold the Japanese licence and live in Japan
The group most likely to gain is people who trained here. Someone who completed a Japanese dental technology or speech-language-hearing therapy programme and passed the national examination is usually still on a student status when they finish, and the step they need is a change of status of residence rather than a fresh entry.
If that describes you, timing matters more than paperwork. The amendment takes effect on the day it is promulgated, scheduled for November 2026, with no transitional provision stated. An application decided before the ordinance is in force is decided under criteria that name neither profession. Filing once the ordinance has been published is the cleaner path. Keep your existing status valid in the meantime, and check your permission's expiry date against that November timetable instead of assuming the change lands before it. The Medical status is granted for five years, three years, one year or three months.
If you would be coming from outside Japan
The route is a certificate of eligibility, applied for by the inviting employer in Japan, then a visa application at a Japanese mission. The invitation requirement is the part to read closely: the employer has to be one of the facility types the ordinance lists. Employers should not file on the strength of a draft, which is not law until promulgated.
How to comment, and by when
The consultation is run by the Agency's Councillor's Office. Comments go through the e-Gov public comment system, by email to nyukan73@i.moj.go.jp, or by post, and must arrive by 15 October 2026. The e-Gov case page carries the draft ordinance, the summary of the amendment and the submission rules as separate PDFs.
A second ISA consultation closes on 29 October 2026 and is housekeeping: it deletes item 15 of the Designated Activities notice, a category for short cultural-exchange lectures by foreign students that has recorded no new entries since 2018.
If you hold either licence, the practical next step is to put the November promulgation in your calendar and pull the draft from the e-Gov case page to check the invitation wording against your intended employer.
Sources: e-Gov — 基準省令及び施行規則改正案 (case 315000145), e-Gov — 特定活動告示改正案 (case 315000146), Immigration Services Agency — 在留資格「医療」, Immigration Services Agency — 在留資格「医療」関係法令 (PDF)