News Faster track to permanent residency

Japan's permanent residency rules may be loosened to lure global talent

The requirement time for highly skilled foreign professionals to apply for permanent residency may be shortened under a move being considered by the government to help lure more global talent to Japan.

The current evaluation system, started in April last year, designates some foreign professionals, including entrepreneurs, technical experts and academic researchers, as "highly skilled" workers who are granted some privileges.

One is a fast-tracked application for permanent residency.

The current system allows highly skilled workers to apply for permanent residency after five years of living in Japan — half that of other foreign residents.

The government is now considering lowering this time frame "significantly" to create one of the fastest systems to issue "green cards" to top-level professionals, a Justice Ministry official said Tuesday.

The official said it has not been decided what the new time frame would be.

The Nikkei financial daily reported Tuesday that the term could be shortened to three years, or even one year for people deemed to have exceptional management or technical skills.

The newspaper said the new guideline will be put in place by the end of March.

Read full article here:
Japan's permanent residency rules may be loosened to lure global talent | The Japan Times

Wow! This could actually be very big for me! Thanks for sharing!

Though this Tokyo weather is making me reconsider this whole Japan thing...

WonkoTheSane said:

Wow! This could actually be very big for me! Thanks for sharing!

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My first thought was that this measure is going to have little effect on attracting new highly skilled workers to Japan. Highly skilled workers will tend to be employed by companies who will be willing to do all the paperwork to ensure that they can work in Japan. I would imagine that other factors such as pay, conditions, career opportunities, perceptions of Japan, and family circumstances would be much more important than whether you can become a permanent resident after 5 instead of 10 years.

I think this is a positive step. I think there would be a lot of people in Korea and China and Taiwan (not to mention other countries of South East Asia) who would be interested in permanent residency in Japan. The devil is in the detail, but I think this is a step in the right direction.

Lothor said:

My first thought was that this measure is going to have little effect on attracting new highly skilled workers to Japan. Highly skilled workers will tend to be employed by companies who will be willing to do all the paperwork to ensure that they can work in Japan. I would imagine that other factors such as pay, conditions, career opportunities, perceptions of Japan, and family circumstances would be much more important than whether you can become a permanent resident after 5 instead of 10 years.

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Being an entrepreneur, most of these facets, aside from perception of Japan, don't have much impact on me. But knowing that my immigration status is more stable has a huge effect.

If Japan wants to bring more business then this is a positive for those who want to be involved. Not just to get them here, but to keep them here and give them greater flexibility while they are here.