The Immigration Services Agency has attached a date to the Japanese-language bar for Specified Skilled Worker status: applications for a certificate of eligibility filed on or after 1 April 2027 will have to show Japanese at "B1 or above." For people already in Japan who would enter the status by changing or renewing their residence status, the agency says the timing is still under consideration and will be announced later.
The notice, headed 日本語能力水準「Ｂ１相当以上」の確認開始時期について, went up on the agency's Specified Skilled Worker pages on 30 September 2026.
Which categories the B1 standard covers
For Specified Skilled Worker (ii), B1 comes from the basic policy on the Specified Skilled Worker and Employment for Skill Development systems, decided at the ministerial conference on foreign nationals and at cabinet on 11 March 2025. It applies across all fields of the status.
For Specified Skilled Worker (i), B1 reaches only three categories: the bus and taxi categories of the automobile transport field, and the transport staff category of the railway field, under the field-specific operational policies decided on 23 January 2026. For them B1 replaces an existing standard of JLPT N3 or above.
Every other Specified Skilled Worker (i) field keeps its current standard: per the agency's FAQ, a pass in the JFT-Basic or the JLPT at N4 or above, with nursing care additionally requiring the Japanese-language evaluation test for nursing care.
If you are applying from outside Japan
The date is keyed to the certificate of eligibility application, so the filing date is what matters, not the arrival date. A filing accepted on or before 31 March 2027 is judged against the current standard. For employers recruiting into Specified Skilled Worker (ii), or into bus, taxi and railway transport staff work, whether a candidate's language evidence has to clear B1 depends on which side of 1 April 2027 the paperwork lands on.
If you live here and hold a residence card
The notice sets no date for you. For both Specified Skilled Worker (i) and (ii) it says of applications to change residence status and to renew a period of stay: 現在検討中のため、おってお知らせいたします — under consideration, to be announced in due course.
That is the route most people already in Japan use. A Specified Skilled Worker (i) holder finishing the five-year run and moving up to (ii) does it by changing status, not by certificate of eligibility. So does a technical intern or a student switching across. None of them have been told when B1 starts applying.
There is no basis for assuming the resident route tracks 1 April 2027; it may land earlier, later, or with transitional treatment. There is equally none for assuming it will not, so anyone whose change of status is realistically a 2027 or 2028 matter should treat B1 as a live target.
What proves B1 is still open
The notice sets dates but does not name the tests that will be accepted as evidence of B1. The level labels come from the Reference Framework for Japanese Language Education, which the agency uses in its FAQ.
That gap matters because of what the agency posted on 5 October 2026: a notice on the same pages recommending that people considering a JLPT N4 or N5 application use the JFT-Basic instead. The JFT-Basic is run by the Japan Foundation as a computer-based test and reports results up to A2. It is built for the baseline Specified Skilled Worker (i) standard and cannot demonstrate B1.
The pressure behind that advice shows on the JLPT side. Applications for the second 2026 sitting at N3, N4 and N5 closed at noon on 27 August, days after opening, with the administrators saying only that N3 might be re-opened in Tokyo and Osaka if venues could be arranged.
For the three transport categories that is an awkward combination: the standard in force is JLPT N3 or above, N3 registration for December 2026 shut in August, and the test the agency is pointing people toward does not reach N3's level.
What to do before 1 April 2027
Candidates for Specified Skilled Worker (ii) or the three transport categories should get language evidence on file under the current standard where a certificate of eligibility is involved, and start studying toward B1 without waiting for the resident-route announcement. Our pages on Japanese language requirements and the Specified Skilled Worker visa track the accepted tests and the status itself.
Watch the agency's Specified Skilled Worker page for the change-of-status and renewal announcement. That is where the second date will appear, and it is the one that affects people already here.
Sources: Immigration Services Agency – 日本語能力水準「Ｂ１相当以上」の確認開始時期について, Immigration Services Agency – 特定技能制度, Immigration Services Agency – 特定技能制度に関するＱ＆Ａ, JEES – 2026年第2回日本語能力試験N3・N4・N5の申し込みについて, The Japan Foundation – JFT-Basic