Skilled Labor Visa
The Skilled Labor visa is Japan's status for hands-on masters of specific trades: foreign-cuisine chefs first, plus pilots, sports trainers, animal trainers, sommeliers, and artisans.1 Ten years of experience in the exact trade is the standard price of entry, and cuisine-specificity decides chef cases more than total kitchen years, so the counting rules below matter before anyone gathers certificates.
This article serves two readers: a tradesperson abroad weighing eligibility, and a restaurant or employer sponsoring a hire into Japan.
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Immigration Services Agency's status pages and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs skilled-labor page. This article is general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice; for your specific case, consult a licensed gyoseishoshi (administrative scrivener) for an eligibility read, or an immigration lawyer for a contested renewal or appeal.
Last verified: 2026-09.
Overview
The Skilled Labor status, or 技能 (ginō, "skilled labor"), rewards practical mastery, not schooling.2 No degree is required; years of specialized experience open the door.31 Grants run 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, or 3 months, and renew without a total cap, which makes this a stable long-term vehicle for tradespeople.4
Eligibility is ordinance-based and national. Examiners judge depth case by case, but the thresholds themselves do not vary by region.3
Unlike the Engineer/Humanities/International Services status, academic knowledge is irrelevant here. A culinary-school specialization can count where a mismatched university degree would not.
The core misconception
The name misleads. This is not a general visa for skilled workers; it is a closed list of trades with per-trade experience terms. Chefs of foreign cuisines dominate the grants, alongside aircraft pilots, sports instructors, sommeliers, animal trainers, jewelry workers, and similar ordinance entries.1 A talented generalist with no listed trade does not fit, however impressive the resume.
The 10-year rule and the chef case
The standard threshold is 10 years of experience using the skill, and for chefs the cuisine must match the posting. A Spanish-cuisine posting needs 10 years as a Spanish-cuisine chef; 6 years Spanish plus 5 Italian totals 11 kitchen years and still fails, because only 6 count toward the claimed cuisine.5
What counts toward the decade is narrower than applicants expect. Periods specializing in the cuisine at a foreign educational institution count. Part-time work, apprenticeships outside a formal curriculum, and illegal-employment periods do not.1 The decisive evidence is employment certificates from every workplace across the decade; where a past employer has closed and no certificate exists, those years cannot be proven.35
Two employer-side tests run in parallel. The cook's pay must match what a Japanese national earns in the same post, and the restaurant must show stable business conditions through financials. Cooks on this status may do food preparation only; front-of-house or simple labor is outside the permission.3
Total cooking experience flatters almost every chef file and proves almost none of it. Reconstruct the timeline cuisine by cuisine first; if the target cuisine falls short of 10, the filing fails before the bureau reads anything else.
The Thai-chef exception
Under the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement, Thai chefs qualify on shorter terms: 5 or more years including qualifying education, a Thai Labor Ministry cook certificate at elementary level or higher, and reasonable remuneration as a Thai cook in Thailand during the year before application.35 All three conditions must hold together; the exception is a package, not a discount on years alone.
Other trades: pilots, trainers, artisans
Pilots, sports coaches, animal trainers, and artisans qualify on their own license-plus-experience terms rather than the chef decade.1 The evidence discipline is identical: certificates, licenses, and contracts spanning the claimed history. Confirm the exact ordinance line for the trade before filing, since year counts vary by entry (as of 2026-09).1
Required documents
Build the file around proof of the decade: employment certificates from each workplace, a CV mapping the timeline, the Japanese employment contract, the restaurant's registration or licensing copies, menus showing skill-demanding items (course-meal pages strengthen the file), and business-stability financials.35 Consistency across these papers decides close cases; a menu claiming haute cuisine against a certificate showing canteen work invites refusal.
Application process
Overseas entry runs through a Certificate of Eligibility filed by a proxy, with no application fee and electronic issuance available since March 2023.6 In-Japan applicants file a change of status instead.7 Once refused, re-application faces a higher bar, so the first filing should be the complete one.
Costs and timelines
Fees and processing times below reflect ISA's published figures. Confirm current fees and timelines with the Immigration Services Agency before filing, since both can change (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the Immigration Services Agency).
Fee schedule
| Item | Amount | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Eligibility application | No fee | 2026-09 | 6 |
| Status change grant (in person or paper) | ¥6,000 | 2025-04-01 | 8 |
| Status change grant (online) | ¥5,500 | 2025-04-01 | 8 |
| Period-of-stay extension grant (in person or paper) | ¥6,000 | 2025-04-01 | 8 |
| Period-of-stay extension grant (online) | ¥5,500 | 2025-04-01 | 8 |
Fees ride on a revenue stamp (収入印紙) under the April 1, 2025 revision (as of 2025-04-01).8
Former employers respond slowly or not at all, and closed ones never do. Start the employment-certificate hunt months before the COE filing, not after the offer letter sets a start date.
Processing times
| Application | Standard published range |
|---|---|
| Certificate of Eligibility | 1 to 3 months |
| Status change | 1 to 2 months |
| Period-of-stay extension | 2 weeks to 1 month |
These are ISA's standard published ranges, not guarantees (as of 2026-09).679
Period of stay and renewal
Grants arrive as 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, or 3 months at the examiner's discretion. File renewal before expiry, about 3 months ahead per ISA's general guidance, with updated employment and tax evidence.49
Good to know
The items below are the ones most likely to end a renewal, sink a chef filing, or strand a job change.
Tax and pension arrears sink renewals
Extension examination weighs tax and social-insurance payment history. Clear national and residence taxes plus pension and health contributions before filing. The Residence-Tax Year-Two Surprise explains the year-two bill; the Shakai Hoken Overview maps enrollment. Arrears follow the holder across restaurants, not just across years.
The 14-day employer-change notification
Under Immigration Control Act Article 19-16, affiliated-organization changes must reach the regional bureau within 14 days.10 Restaurant moves, ownership changes that alter the contracting party, and openings of second postings all count. File through Notifying Immigration of the Employer Change channels.
Job loss and the 3-month inactivity rule
Under Article 22-4, ISA can revoke a status where the holder continuously fails for 3 months or more to do the authorized activity without legitimate reason.11 A restaurant closure with no successor kitchen starts that clock, and the 3-Month-Unemployment Renewal Risk article traces how examiners read gaps. Line up the next kitchen fast and keep evidence of active same-trade job seeking.
Criminal penalties end this status fast
Convictions that trigger deportation grounds end residence with no trade-specific leniency. Anyone charged should consult an immigration lawyer before engaging with examiners; the Bengoshi, Gyoseishoshi, Shiho-shoshi, and Zeirishi: Who Does What guide sorts which professional fits which problem.
The menu must prove the skill
Simple-cooking-only menus fail the examination; examiners look for a significant number of items demanding high culinary skill, and course-meal pages count as a positive signal.3 Cuisine-to-nationality matching matters too: a chef must cook their own cuisine, so an Italian chef at a Chinese restaurant does not fit regardless of years.3
See also
- Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa
- Specified Skilled Worker Visa
- Inter-Employer Movements: Same Industry, Cross Industry, Cross Status
- Tenshoku Procedure: The Job-Change Sequence
- The Gyoseishoshi for Visa and Immigration