What is the Japan System for Special Highly-Skilled Professionals (J-skip)?

What is the Special Highly Skilled Professional System (J-Skip)?

J-Skip is a system that came into effect in April 2023 to promote the admission of foreign nationals with top-level skills among high-level foreign human resources and to bring innovation to Japanese industry amid the ongoing global competition for human resources. The “Special Highly Skilled Professional System” grants preferential treatment as “Special Highly Skilled Professional” to foreign nationals with a certain level of academic or professional background and annual income.

The Special Highly Skilled Professional System (J-Skip) simplifies the certification process compared to the conventional Highly Skilled Professional System. The scope of activities permitted in Japan is the same as that of the conventional Highly Skilled Professional system, and is equivalent to Highly Skilled Professional “I”, “RO”, and “HA”.

Specifically, the following three types of activities are covered.

1. (1) Advanced academic research activities
   1. Research, research guidance, or education activities conducted by university professors, researchers, etc. under contract with public or private institutions in Japan.
2. (2) Advanced specialized/technical activities
   1. Those who engage in work that requires knowledge and skills in the natural sciences or humanities.
3. (3) Advanced business activities
   1. Those engaged in business management or administration.

Requirements for the Special Highly Skilled Professional System (J-Skip)

Under the Special Highly Skilled Professional System (J-Skip), instead of calculating the number of points needed to qualify as a highly-skilled professional, those with a certain level of academic or professional background and annual income are eligible to obtain the status of residence as a highly-skilled professional.

However, the requirements for academic or professional background and annual income can be very high.

Requirements for those who engage in high-level academic research activities

[Activities]:

Activities in which university professors, researchers, etc. conduct research, supervise research, or provide education based on a contract with a public or private institution in Japan.

 [Requirements]:

Applicants must meet one of the following conditions.

• A master’s degree or higher and an annual income of 20 million JPY or more.
• Have 10 or more years of relevant work experience and an annual income of 20 million JPY or more.

Requirements for highly specialized/technical activities

[Activities]:

Those who engage in work that requires knowledge and skills in the field of natural science or humanities.

[Requirements]:

The applicant must meet one of the following conditions:

• A master’s degree or higher and an annual income of 20 million JPY or more.
• Have 10 or more years of relevant work experience and an annual income of 20 million JPY or more.

Advanced business/management activities

[Activities]:

Business management or administration.

[Requirements]:

• Have at least 5 years of work experience in business management or administration and an annual income of at least 40 million JPY.

Additional Privileges under the Special Highly Skilled Professional System (J-Skip)

Compared to the Highly Skilled Professional (the previous type of certification based on the point system), Special Highly Skilled Professional have additional privileges.

Specifically, the following preferential measures are available

• Up to two foreign domestic servants can be employed if the annual household income is 30 million JPY or more.
• In addition to “research,” “education,” “technical/humanities/international services,” and “entertainment,” spouses may engage in “teaching,” “arts,” “religion,” “media,” and “skilled labor” activities (in addition, spouses may work more than 28 hours per week without having to meet work experience and other requirements).
•  Access to priority lanes (*) at major airports for entry and departure.
  • *”Priority lanes” refers to priority lanes at security checkpoints and boarding gates, where eligible persons have priority access.
• Special Highly Skilled Professional System allows for the transition to Highly Skilled Professional II after one year of activity.
  • (Normally, more than 3 years of activity is required to transition from Highly Skilled Professional I to II)
• Expeditated Application
  • (The Special Highly Skilled Professional System (J-Skip) gives priority to the review of the equivalent Highly Skilled Professional, which is generally within 10 days of receiving the application).

For more information on the preferential treatment not found in other statuses, please refer to “Preferential Treatment for Highly Skilled Professionals”.

Summary

In this article, we introduced the Special Highly Skilled Professional (J-Skip) visa.

The Special Highly Skilled Professional System (J-Skip) is a system that makes it easier for Japan to attract foreign nationals with highly specialized knowledge and skills.

Those who have difficulty in obtaining the conventional “highly specialized professional” status of residence may still benefit greatly from J-Skip, as they do not have to go through a complicated point system and can obtain the status of residence by meeting specific requirements.

If you are unsure about the categories of activities under the Special Highly Skilled Professional System (J-Skip), or if you are concerned about proving your work experience in related fields, or have any doubts about the application procedures, please feel free to contact us.

We are Yanagi group, which have offices in Osaka (Abeno and Tennoji), and our affiliated offices in Tokyo (Shibuya and Ebisu) are also available for an on-site consultation. We have handled many applications for permanent residence permits, naturalization permits, work visas, college student visas, management visas, etc., as well as visa renewal procedures related to the status of residence with the Immigration Bureau (Immigration Bureau) as a one-stop service. Our experienced administrative scriveners are also available to help you with any problems you may have.

We also have staff members who can speak each of the native languages and can assist you in obtaining a visa.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about your status of residence or visa, even if they are trivial.

In addition to the information presented here, we have many more articles related to the Highly Skilled Professional visa. Click here to view them.

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