The Immigration Services Agency published its count of Specified Skilled Worker residents as of the end of June 2026 on 29 September, and the headline is a record: about 440,000 people, 13.8 per cent more than six months earlier, according to Jiji Press. The number that matters more sits in the field-by-field table. Food service holds 49,060 of the 50,000 places allotted to it for the five years ending 31 March 2029, or 98.1 per cent.
That field has been closed to new entrants since 13 April 2026, and the closure reaches further than the Agency's own notice explains.
Food service: 49,060 places used of 50,000
Every Specified Skilled Worker field has an acceptance projection, a 受入れ見込数, which the field's operational policy runs as an upper limit rather than a forecast. For food service it is 50,000 for the five years to the end of March 2029.
Across all Specified Skilled Worker (i) fields, the Agency's preliminary end-June table shows 425,961 residents against ceilings totalling 805,700, or 52.9 per cent. Food service is the outlier.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries set out the arithmetic on 27 March 2026: about 46,000 residents in the field in February 2026, with the 50,000 limit projected to be passed around May. It asked the Justice Minister to act on 3 April 2026, and the Agency imposed the measure under Article 7-2(4) of the Immigration Control and Residence Management Act.
What the 13 April measure actually blocks
The Agency's notice describes one thing: food service applications for a certificate of eligibility received on or after 13 April 2026 are not granted. That is the overseas recruitment route, and the only part most coverage mentions.
The agriculture ministry's 27 March document goes further. Applications to change status of residence into food service Specified Skilled Worker (i), filed from inside Japan on or after 13 April 2026, are refused as a rule. So are applications to change into the designated activities status used as a holding position while a Specified Skilled Worker (i) application is prepared.
Applications accepted on or before 12 April 2026 continue to be processed against the headroom left under the 50,000 cap.
If you already hold food service status
Renewals are not affected. Extension of period of stay proceeds as normal for someone already holding Specified Skilled Worker (i) in food service, and so does a change of employer within the field, including the transfer application a job move requires.
The restriction is on entering the field, not on staying in it.
If you live here on another status and want to move into food service
This is the group the Agency's notice does not address at all. A student finishing a culinary course, or a technical intern trainee completing a food service programme, cannot move onto Specified Skilled Worker (i) in that field by changing status of residence while the measure stands. Holding a residence card does not help, and neither does having passed the skills evaluation test.
Two routes remain: a different field with room on its ceiling, food and beverage manufacturing being the obvious candidate, or a different status of residence altogether. Anyone with a pending application should check its acceptance date, since one logged on or before 12 April 2026 sits on the other side of the line.
Food and beverage manufacturing is the field to watch next
Food and beverage manufacturing stands at 100,769 residents against 133,500, or 75.5 per cent, the highest of the fields still open. Construction is at 68.6 per cent (52,132 of 76,000) and care work at 63.0 per cent (79,884 of 126,900).
Several fields have barely started: automobile transport has 558 residents against 22,100, railways 64 against 2,900, forestry 19 against 900.
Employment for Skill Development brings a separate quota from FY2027
The successor programme to technical intern training, 育成就労, carries its own allocations. Food service is assigned 5,300 places for the two years from FY2027 to the end of FY2028, a quota distinct from the 50,000 and untouched by the suspension.
Employers who have shelved food service hiring should read the field's operational policy for that allocation rather than wait for the Specified Skilled Worker (i) cap to reopen, which does not happen before April 2029 unless cabinet resets the number. The field list and eligibility rules sit on our Specified Skilled Worker visa page.
Sources: Immigration Services Agency: Specified Skilled Worker residents, end of June 2026, Immigration Services Agency: temporary suspension of certificate of eligibility issuance in the food service field, Immigration Services Agency: SSW (i) acceptance projections and resident numbers, end of June 2026, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: operation of the acceptance ceiling in the food service field, Jiji Press: Specified Skilled Worker residents at a record 440,000
