Health Japan to accept more foreign home care workers

A severe shortage of home care workers compels the Japanese Welfare Ministry to relax the regulations concerning the employment of foreign caregivers.


A panel of specialists from the welfare ministry has proposed a plan to address the shortage of caregivers by opening up the home-care industry to more foreign workers. During a recent meeting, they outlined a strategy to relax job restrictions, allowing for an increase in caretakers. The typical home-care service model involves one-on-one care. The proposal suggests that foreign technical intern trainees could be eligible for these roles if they fulfil specific criteria, such as completing relevant training courses. The initiative would broaden the scope for foreign technical trainees, specified skilled workers, and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) care workers awaiting certification. Upon completing a preliminary home-care course, all three categories would be eligible for employment. The plan could be implemented starting from the fiscal year 2025, commencing 1 April of the following year. According to the welfare ministry's data, there were 15,909 technical trainees in the nursing care sector as of March and 31,453 specified skilled workers as of February.

Currently, foreign individuals who want to work in home care must either be those who hold a nursing care visa and be certified as a care worker, or come to Japan under the EPA system and already hold an EPA caregiver qualification. The sticky reality is that business owners in home-care services often face difficulties in securing sufficient training and establishing support systems for employees. Based on this, non-Japanese technical trainees and individuals with "specified skilled worker" visas were unable to apply for these positions. The committee will require business owners to explain the training background of new international workers to their assigned service users and their families.

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