Currently, foreign nationals who have graduated from Japanese universities and are looking to work in Japan are limited to jobs related to their field of study – such as in engineering or humanities. These constraints are part of the residency requirements for foreign nationals to reside in Japan.

These requirements might soon be relaxed however, therefore making residency applications for international students easier in the future.

Photo by rawpixel.com [Free to use]. Retrieved from Pexels.
According to a recent article by the Nikkei Asian Review, the Ministry of Justice in Japan will be looking at multiple proposals to redefine the residency requirements for foreign nationals. The proposed program allows foreign graduates to be employed in any Japanese-speaking job as long as they meet the annual income threshold of 3 million yen (about USD $26,900).

Japan has for a time been faced with worsening labor shortage as well as a declining population. Proposed and accepted solutions have been to loosen Japan’s strict immigration rules and encourage more foreign graduates to remain in Japan, or more foreign workers to work in Japan.

Photo by Ben Cheung [Free to use]. Retrieved from Pexels.
Even with the relaxation of the legal hurdles to immigration however, foreign students and workers still face other issues such as language and cultural barriers.

Featured image is Shibuya Crosswalk, Tokyo by Joshua Damasio [CC BY 2.0]. Image retrieved from Flickr.