Ministerial Order for Defining the Criteria in the Right-Hand Column of the Entry for Highly Skilled Professional in the Appended Table I(2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act
出入国管理及び難民認定法別表第一の二の表の高度専門職の項の下欄の基準を定める省令
A Ministry of Justice Order (法務省令) that sets the criteria for the status of residence Highly Skilled Professional (高度専門職): the points tables in which a foreign national must score 70 points or more for item (i), and what a holder of item (i) must meet to move on to item (ii).
- Text in force since
- Promulgated
- Articles
- 2
- Amendments on the way
- 1
What this law does
- To be granted Highly Skilled Professional (i), a foreign national must, when the permission is granted, either be a special highly skilled professional (特別高度人材) — someone meeting criteria for especially high specialist ability that a separate Ministry of Justice Order sets — or score 70 points or more on the table for their kind of work. There is one table each for research, research guidance or education (item (i)(a)), work needing knowledge or skills in the natural sciences or humanities (item (i)(b)), and running or managing a business (item (i)(c)). For items (i)(b) and (i)(c), the total annual pay from the Japanese organization and any foreign organization the person is transferred from must also be 3 million yen or more, whatever the points.(Art. 1(1), Art. 1(1)(i), Art. 1(1)(ii), Art. 1(1)(iii), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Appended Table 1) (the provisions it rests on)
Read the full overview
- In the tables for items (i)(a) and (i)(b), academic background scores 30 points for a doctorate, 20 for a master's degree or professional degree (専門職学位) — 25 in the (i)(b) table for a professional degree in business administration — and 10 for a university degree or equivalent education, with 5 more for doctorates, master's or professional degrees in more than one field. Work experience scores, in the (i)(a) table, 15 points for 7 years or more in the research or education the person does, 10 for 5 to 7 years and 5 for 3 to 5 years; in the (i)(b) table, 20 points for 10 years or more in the work the person does, 15 for 7 to 10 years, 10 for 5 to 7 years and 5 for 3 to 5 years.(Art. 1(1)(i), Art. 1(1)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- In the same two tables, annual pay (from the Japanese organization and any foreign organization the person is transferred from, added together) scores 40 points at 10 million yen or more, 5 points less for each million yen less, down to 10 points at 4 to 5 million yen. Pay scores only down to a floor set by age when the permission is granted: 4 million yen under 30, 5 million from 30 to 34, 6 million from 35 to 39 and 8 million from 40. Age itself scores 15 points under 30, 10 from 30 to 34 and 5 from 35 to 39.(Art. 1(1)(i), Art. 1(1)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Research achievements are a patented invention, research funded by a foreign government three times or more, three or more papers as the responsible author in journals on an academic paper database Japan's national bodies use, or another achievement the Minister of Justice recognises as equal to these: two or more score 25 points in the (i)(a) table and one scores 20, while one or more scores 15 in the (i)(b) table. The (i)(b) table also scores Japanese national qualifications (国家資格) related to the work, and the information-processing examinations and qualifications the Minister of Justice names by public notice (告示) under the Order on landing criteria (Ministry of Justice Order No. 16 of 1990): 10 points for two or more of these together, 5 for one.(Art. 1(1)(i), Art. 1(1)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- In the business table (item (i)(c)), a professional degree in business administration scores 25 points, a doctorate, master's degree or other professional degree 20 and a university degree or equivalent education 10, with 5 more for degrees in more than one field; experience running or managing a business scores 25 points for 10 years or more, 20 for 7 to 10 years, 15 for 5 to 7 years and 10 for 3 to 5 years. Annual pay scores 50 points at 30 million yen or more, 40 at 25 million, 30 at 20 million, 20 at 15 million and 10 at 10 million, and the table has no row for age. Running or managing the organization as its representative director, representative executive officer or an executing member with power of representation scores 10 points, as another director, executive officer or executing member 5, and having personally invested 100 million yen or more in a trade or other business one runs at a Japanese organization adds 5.(Art. 1(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- All three tables add bonus points (特別加算): 10 for a degree from a Japanese university or graduate school; 15 for graduating from a foreign university with Japanese as the major, or for passing a test showing an understanding of Japanese in a wide range of situations, including somewhat logically complex Japanese; and 10 for a test showing that understanding to some extent, unless one of the first two applies. Where the person's Japanese organization receives innovation support the Minister of Justice names by public notice (告示), the person earns 20 points if it is a small or medium-sized enterprise (中小企業者) and 10 if not; separately, 5 points go where the organization is a small or medium-sized enterprise whose research and development spending was more than 3% of its revenue in the business year before the application (the one before that, if the application comes within two months of that year's end). Further points go to foreign qualifications or awards (5), a leading business in a growth field (10), a degree from a university designated by public notice (10), a government training course designated by public notice (5, not on top of the Japanese-degree points for a course run through Japanese university classes), and a Japanese organization receiving a local government's support for accepting highly skilled foreign nationals (10), each as the Minister of Justice recognises or designates; the (i)(b) and (i)(c) tables also give 10 for working in a finance business the Minister designates by public notice.(Art. 1(1)(i), Art. 1(1)(ii), Art. 1(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- To move on to Highly Skilled Professional (ii) (高度専門職2号), the person must, when the permission is granted, have stayed in Japan on Highly Skilled Professional (i) doing its activities for 3 years or more — 1 year for a special highly skilled professional — and be a special highly skilled professional, or score 70 points or more on the table for the kind of item (i) work they did (with the 3 million yen pay floor for items (i)(b) and (i)(c)). Their conduct must also be good, and their residence must be found to be in Japan's interests.(Art. 2(1), Art. 2(1)(i), Art. 2(1)(ii), Art. 2(1)(iii), Art. 2(1)(iv)) (the provisions it rests on)
Amendments
A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . This law has 1 amendment on the way — , but . Its latest amendments are below. This law's amendments page lists every amendment e-Gov records and, for those whose changes this site has read, shows them provision by provision, in Japanese and English.
1 April 2027
in 5 months
Ministerial Order on the Arrangement of Ministry of Justice Orders and on Transitional Measures upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and the Act on Proper Technical Intern Training and Protection of Technical Intern Trainees
出入国管理及び難民認定法及び外国人の技能実習の適正な実施及び技能実習生の保護に関する法律の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う法務省令の整備及び経過措置に関する省令
7 amendments already in force
10 June 2024
The text on this site
Ministerial Order on the Arrangement, etc. of Ministerial Orders Related to the Ministry of Justice upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and the Special Act on the Immigration Control of, Inter Alia, Those Who Have Lost Japanese Nationality Pursuant to the Treaty of Peace with Japan
出入国管理及び難民認定法及び日本国との平和条約に基づき日本の国籍を離脱した者等の出入国管理に関する特例法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う法務省関係省令の整備等に関する省令
21 April 2023
Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Ministerial Order to Provide for the Criteria in the Right-Hand Column Corresponding to "Highly Skilled Professional" as Specified in the Appended Table I (2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and the Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act
出入国管理及び難民認定法別表第一の二の表の高度専門職の項の下欄の基準を定める省令及び出入国管理及び難民認定法施行規則の一部を改正する省令
31 March 2023
Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Regulation for Enforcement of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act and the Ministerial Order to Provide for the Criteria in the Right-Hand Column Corresponding to "Highly Skilled Professional" as Specified in the Appended Table I (2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act
出入国管理及び難民認定法施行規則及び出入国管理及び難民認定法別表第一の二の表の高度専門職の項の下欄の基準を定める省令の一部を改正する省令
30 July 2021
Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Ministerial Order for Defining the Criteria in the Right-Hand Column of the Entry for Highly Skilled Professional in the Appended Table I(2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act
出入国管理及び難民認定法別表第一の二の表の高度専門職の項の下欄の基準を定める省令の一部を改正する省令
17 January 2019
Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Ministerial Order for Defining the Criteria in the Right-Hand Column of the Entry for Highly Skilled Professional in the Appended Table I(2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act
出入国管理及び難民認定法別表第一の二の表の高度専門職の項の下欄の基準を定める省令の一部を改正する省令
31 July 2017
Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Ministerial Order for Defining the Criteria in the Right-Hand Column of the Entry for Highly Skilled Professional in the Appended Table I(2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act
出入国管理及び難民認定法別表第一の二の表の高度専門職の項の下欄の基準を定める省令の一部を改正する省令
26 April 2017
e-Gov gives no title for this amendment
e-Gov's record of amendments also lists the day this law as first made came into force, 1 April 2015. That is not an amendment.
Who it applies to
It applies to
- Foreign nationals seeking Highly Skilled Professional (i): on landing with that status, on a change of status, an extension or an acquisition of status, through special permission to stay (在留特別許可), or through the permission to acquire a status of residence under Article 61-2-5(1) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.(Art. 1(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Holders of Highly Skilled Professional (i) seeking Highly Skilled Professional (ii), whether through special landing permission under Article 12(1) of the Act or a permission under Chapter IV, Section 2 of the Act, such as a change of status.(Art. 2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Special rules and exceptions (1)
- Someone who stayed in Japan, before or after this Order took effect on 1 April 2015, on the status in Appended Table I(5) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act as it read before Act No. 74 of 2014, doing one of the activities listed in Article 3(5) of that Act's supplementary provisions, is treated as having stayed on the kind of Highly Skilled Professional (i) this Order matches to that activity for the item (ii) criteria, and their time on that status counts towards the 3 years.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1)(i), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1)(ii), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1)(iii), Suppl. Prov. Art. 3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
How it is enforced (4)
- The criteria are tested at the time the permission is granted, but someone who meets them on the day they apply — for landing, a change of status, an extension, an acquisition of status or special permission to stay for item (i), or for landing, a change or an acquisition of status for item (ii) — is treated as still meeting them when the permission on that application is granted.(Art. 1(1), Art. 1(2), Art. 2(1), Art. 2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Many of the points depend on decisions of the Minister of Justice: some by public notice (告示), such as which innovation support, universities, training courses and finance businesses count, and some case by case, such as which other research achievements, foreign qualifications, growth-field businesses and local-government support count — most of them after hearing the heads of the relevant administrative bodies.(Art. 1(1)(i), Art. 1(1)(ii), Art. 1(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
- A foreign national coming to Japan to do Highly Skilled Professional (i) work must prove by a Certificate of Eligibility (在留資格認定証明書) that their intended activity meets the landing condition on activities, which includes these criteria, as the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act requires.(Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 7(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
- Under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, a change to Highly Skilled Professional (ii) is open only to someone who has stayed on Highly Skilled Professional (i), and the Minister of Justice may permit it only if they meet the criteria of Ministry of Justice Order No. 51 of 2009, which include the criteria of Article 2(1) of this Order.(Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 20-2(1), Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act Art. 20-2(2), Ministerial Order to Provide for Criteria Pursuant to Article 20-2, Paragraph (2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (1), Art. 2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
How it connects to other laws
It also names 4 laws not yet held here.
Where the translation comes from
- 8
- 26
The Ministry of Justice's translation is shown only where the Japanese it translates matches the law in force today. Everywhere else the English is a machine translation, marked on the paragraph itself.
Only the Japanese is the law, and no lawyer has reviewed the machine translation.
Sources
Everything this page rests on
- e-Gov (Digital Agency)出入国管理及び難民認定法別表第一の二の表の高度専門職の項の下欄の基準を定める省令 — the text in force from 2024-06-10Original
- e-Gov (Digital Agency)出入国管理及び難民認定法別表第一の二の表の高度専門職の項の下欄の基準を定める省令 — revision historyOriginal
- Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of JusticeMinisterial Order for Defining the Criteria in the Right-Hand Column of the Entry for Highly Skilled Professional in the Appended Table I(2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act — Ministry of Justice translationOriginal
- Machine translation, not official
- Machine translation, corrected on review, not official
- Written for this site with AIEnglish titles of amending laws, written for this site
- Written for this site with AIDescriptions of each law, written for this site
- Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text