The highly skilled visa is a special visa based on points. The Immigration Office has a pre-determined point chart (3 variations according to the different work categories), with points allotted to specific factors such as education, expected annual salary for the upcoming year and numbers of years of related work experience in the past, etc. The criteria is fulfilled when an applicant reaches 70 points or more, and these applicants will receive the preferential treatments tied to this visa.
Please note that this highly skilled visa system is scheduled to change effective from April 1, 2015.
Applicants with a Doctor’s Degree (regardless of area) 30 points
Applicants with a Master’s Degree (regardless of area) 20 points (25 points for MBA, MOT)
Applicants with a Bachelor’s Degree (regardless of area) 10 points
10 years plus of related work experience 20 points
7 years plus of related work experience 15 points
5 years plus of related work experience 10 points
3 years plus of related work experience 5 points
Applicants for the highly skilled visa may be awarded between 15 to 40 points depending on salary amount and age. This is generally the area where the majority of points are awarded. 40 points will be awarded to applicants of all ages with an annual salary of 10 million yen or more. Minimum requirement is annual salary of 3 million yen, applicants who do not meet this minimum will not qualify for this special visa even if they are able to score 70 points or higher in other fields.
Under 30 years old 15 points
30 – 34 years old 10 points
35 – 39 5 points
Additional points will be awarded to applicants with high Japanese language skills, or those who have graduated a Japanese university/graduate school or majored in Japanese language, etc.
Doctor’s Degree 20 points
Master’s Degree 20 points (25 points for MBA, MOT)
Bachelor’s Degree 10 points
10 years or more 25 points
7 years or more 20 points
5 years or more 15 points
3 years or more 10 points
Applicants may be awarded between 10 to 50 points depending on salary amount, for annual salaries of 10 million yen or higher.
Representative Director 10 points
Board Member 5 points
Additional points will be awarded to applicants with high Japanese language skills, or those who have graduated a Japanese university/graduate school or majored in Japanese language, etc.
A 5 year visa will be granted to all applicants meeting 70 points or more.
The Holders of this visa will be able to apply for Permanent Residency after around 5 years in Japan under this visa (more specifically, from the time they pass 4.5 years in Japan under this visa, with the aim that the result will have been granted by the time the applicant hits the 5 year mark). This is half of the standard 10-year requirement for standard work visa holders, and is expected to change from April 1, 2015.
Visa processing time will be much faster than for standard visa holders. Processing time will generally be less than half of the standard processing time.
