Study and Work in TOKYO
東京で学び、働く

According to a survey by the Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO), around 280,000 international students currently study in Japan, the first time the figure has grown year-on-year since 2019, before the pandemic.

There are 188,000 international students enrolled in professional schools or institutions of higher education such as universities and graduate schools, an increase of 8,000 from the 180,000 international students last year. The number of international students enrolled in professional schools is approximately 46,000, down from 6,000 last year.

By country/region of origin, 41.4% of the students are from China. This is followed by Nepal at 13.6%, followed by Vietnam, South Korea and Myanmar.

According to the “Survey of International Students Enrolled in Professional Schools" conducted in December 2021 (FY2021 Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [MEXT] Specialized Training Schools Globalization Promotion Support Project), 70% of the international students who responded said that they want to find a job in Japan.Nearly 80% of the second- to fourth-year students responded that their goal is to find a job in Japan.

What is the current employment situation for international students who graduated from an educational institute in Japan? International students wanting to work in Japan must change their status of residence from their current student visa. According to “2022 Employment Situation of International Students at Japanese Companies,” a press release from the Immigration Services Agency of Japan (Ministry of Justice), 35,363 international residents with a student visa applied for permission to change their status of residence in 2022 for the purpose of employment at Japanese companies, of which 33,415 were approved. Both figures are up from the previous year.

A breakdown of the number of permits by status of residence shows that 28,853 were for “Engineer/Specialist in humanities/International services,” or 86.3% of the total. Among those, 84.4% were employed in non-manufacturing industries and 15.2% in manufacturing. Their main duties were “translation and interpretation” (16.1%), "information processing and telecommunications” (7.7%), "planning and administration" (7.4%), and “management” (7.0%).

In terms of the final educational background of the international students who changed to work visas, 9,770 (22.9%) were university graduates and 16,191 (48.5%) were specialized training school graduates. Of those employed, 36.5% were employed by companies in Tokyo.

A new status of residence, “Specified skilled worker,” was established in 2019. This visa allows non-Japanese to work in fields they were not previously permitted to enter. However, only fourteen types of industries are permitted when applying for this visa. For more information on this visa, please visit the Immigration Services Agency of Japan websiteor the like.

Trends in acquisition of status of residence (2013 to 2022)

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Trends in acquisition of status of residence (2013 to 2022)

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International Student Employment Promotion Program - Treating Professional School Graduates as University Graduates with Respect to Employment Requirements

Foreign students who graduate from professional schools certified by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology are treated as university graduates when determining eligibility for an "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services" visa.
In the past, there needed to be a strong relationship between an applicant's course of study and the content of the work they would do at their desired place of employment, and applications to change from a student visa to a work visa were sometimes rejected. Under this program, students who graduate from certified professional schools are treated as having graduated from universities, which greatly expands the range of places where they can seek employment.
https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shougai/senshuu/1412546_00015.htm