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The 13 November 2026 expert panel settled the sector operating policy revision and attached eight conditions to snow removal work by construction skilled workers, including a one-third cap on working time.
ISA's 10 November 2026 update leaves food service Specified Skilled Worker certificates being issued only on applications received up to 16 February 2026, with 6,983 waiting behind the cut-off.
The 9 November 2026 Japan–Viet Nam Joint Vision Statement opened talks on mandatory consular notification and a social security agreement, but Vietnam is still absent from the Employment for Skill Development memorandum list.
The Cabinet Secretariat's working group on accepting foreign nationals was given a seven-jurisdiction comparison of intake limits on 6 November 2026, with the basic policy due by 31 March 2027.
The Immigration Services Agency begins receiving tax, pension and insurance records directly from other government bodies in March 2027, with national health insurance premium payment data following in June 2027.
A draft revision of the sector operating policies put to the Immigration Services Agency's expert panel on 19 October 2026 would add work categories and tasks across four Specified Skilled Worker fields and make aviation an Employment for Skill Development field.
A 26 October 2026 revision to the food service field's operating annex adds anti-hosting duties where a Specified Skilled Worker is placed in a licensed entertainment venue inside a hotel, renames both of the field's skills tests, and states A2.2 and B1 as the Japanese-language levels.
A draft put to the Immigration Services Agency's expert panel on 19 October 2026 would move 20,000 care-sector acceptance places from Employment for Skill Development to Specified Skilled Worker (i), to keep the field from hitting its ceiling in the second half of fiscal 2027.
In papers dated 20 October 2026, Keidanren asked the government not to tie residence renewals to the planned Japanese-language and daily-life learning programme, while the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry asked for attendance to be counted at screening and renewal.
Designated clinics in Indonesia start accepting bookings for Japan's pre-entry tuberculosis screening on 2 November 2026, and from 4 January 2027 a certificate of no active tuberculosis must accompany a certificate of eligibility or visa application, while residents returning on a re-entry permit stay outside the programme.
A draft put to the expert panel on 19 October 2026 would move medical and welfare facility catering out of the suspended Specified Skilled Worker food service field and into food and beverage manufacturing from FY2027.
The Immigration Services Agency's updated Employment for Skill Development Q&A sets out the conditions for a worker-initiated change of employer from 1 April 2027, including a restriction period of one to two years set by sector and a compensation payment whose amount has not yet been issued.
Japan's half-year immigration statistics, released on 16 October 2026, show a record 4,281,026 foreign residents at the end of June, a 4,034-holder drop in the Business Manager status, and overstayers down 4.8 per cent.
From 1 April 2027 one support staffer may cover fewer than 50 Specified Skilled Worker (i) workers and, at a registered support organisation, fewer than 10 client employers, while organisations whose registration expires by 31 July 2027 must file renewals before that date to be judged under the current rules.
A cabinet-level basic policy on how many foreign nationals Japan accepts is due in March 2027, preceded by a population strategy at the end of 2026 that will set the labour-force figure it has to fit.
The Immigration Services Agency has consulted on adding a five-year period of stay to Specified Skilled Worker (ii), with the government planning a January 2027 start, while the five-year cumulative cap on Specified Skilled Worker (i) stays where it is.
The Immigration Services Agency has set 1 April 2027 as the start of the "B1 or above" Japanese standard for Specified Skilled Worker certificate of eligibility applications, and says the timing for change-of-status and renewal applications is still under consideration.
The Employment for Skill Development programme begins on 1 April 2027, the employer and supervising-organisation filing windows are already open, and the Immigration Services Agency confirms that Technical Intern Training holders cannot transfer into it.
The Immigration Services Agency's end-June 2026 figures put Specified Skilled Worker residents at a record, with food service at 98.1 per cent of a ceiling that has been closed to new entrants since 13 April 2026.
The education ministry and the Immigration Services Agency have asked language schools to point students at tests other than the JLPT, after the December sitting in Japan closed early for lack of seats.
The government presented a plan on 9 September to open the aviation field to Ikusei Shuro. The programme's overall ceiling does not move, so the new field draws on the existing allocation.
Japan signed a memorandum of cooperation with Thailand on the Ikusei Shuro programme in June, part of the bilateral groundwork that has to be in place before the 2027 start.
A run of Immigration Services Agency notices in late May covered the new residence card design, photo rules for children, Specified Skilled Worker reporting, and the questions the agency is fielding most on keiei kanri.
The Immigration Services Agency released the operating manual for Ikusei Shuro, the programme replacing technical intern training from April 2027, along with revised standards for two Specified Skilled Worker sectors.
The Immigration Services Agency's end-2025 figures put the foreign resident population at 4,125,395 — up 9.5% in a year, and the first time the total has cleared four million.
A government expert panel's final report in January 2026 recommended structured language and civics learning for foreign residents, and floated tying it to long-term status.
Worker intake targets, a naturalisation review and a fee overhaul were all settled before the year began. Here is what foreign residents in Japan should expect in 2026.