Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa (Japan)

What is an Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa?
Under a law revision in April 2015, “Engineer” and “Specialist in Humanities/International Services” were combined into one status.
Even though they were combined into one status, there were no particular changes to the permission criteria. It is a visa that can be obtained by a foreigner who has graduated from a university or vocational school and has been employed. Clerical jobs for sales and trade, interpretation, translation, designers’ work, work related to computers, such as SE, and engineers’ work for electronics and mechanical systems fall under “Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services.”

Points and conditions for being approved for an “Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services” visa

In both the case that a foreign student studying in Japan will be hired and the case in which a foreigner will be invited from another country, the criteria are the same.
First, a foreigner does not apply on his or her own for a working visa as an individual, but rather the company acts as a sponsor (documents from the company are necessary) and makes an application at the Immigration Bureau.
In the case of a large company, there are aspects that make it relatively easy to pass the screening because it is easy to prove the company scale and past results, but for small and medium-sized companies and tiny companies it will be necessary to submit many documents related to the company, and it is not easy. The smaller the business, the more difficult it becomes.

The relevance between the work content and the person’s major at university or vocational school

First, the content of work is specialized duty content, but there is a wide range of specialized work. Some examples include the things below.

The following are some types of jobs in the humanities.
・Sales
・General affairs
・Accounting
・Publicity and advertisement
・Product development
・Trade
・Interpretation and translation
・Language teacher
・Designer

The following are some general job types for engineering work in the sciences.

・SE
・Engineering engineer
・Architectural engineer

It is necessary for the previously mentioned duty content to have relevance to the content of the major that the person studied at the school (university or vocational school) that the person graduated from.
If the person’s academic background and the duty content do not match, permission for the visa will not be granted.
Therefore, when making an application to the Immigration Bureau, an important question is whether it is possible to thoroughly explain in a document that the work content matches the content of the person’s major.

There are many cases in which people make an application themselves and make an explanation that is difficult to understand or give an insufficient explanation, and as a result, permission is not granted
This happens even for cases in which permission would ordinarily be granted. If a poor explanation is made, permission will not be granted even for a case in which permission should ordinarily be granted.

• The person’s academic background

First, the person’s academic background is important. The person’s diploma and transcript will be checked to see what kind of content he or she majored in. When they are checked, the relevance with the work content of the company where he or she will take a job will be screened.
Next, for a person who does not have an academic background, for example a person who graduated from high school, it will be difficult to fulfill the criteria for permission. The condition will be that he or she has “at least three years or at least ten years of practical experience.”

There is duty content for which three years of practical experience is okay, and duty content for which ten years of practical experience is necessary.
In order to prove practical experience it is necessary to get various documents from past companies; therefore, if it is a person who cannot contact a previous company it will not be possible to prove practical experience. As a result, there will be no method of proving practical experience and it will not be possible to obtain permission for a working visa.

There is a contract between the company and the foreigner

This contract is ordinarily an employment contract. It means that employment has already been decided.
Please note that, in the first place, a visa will not be granted if employment has not been decided. Other than an employment contract, it is also possible to obtain a visa based on a worker dispatch contract or a service contract.

The company’s financial situation
It is necessary for the company’s financial situation to be stable. For that reason, things related to accounting documents are ordinarily submitted.
If the company has significant losses and seems to be on the verge of bankruptcy, it will be thought that it cannot pay salary to a foreign employee. However, it cannot be said that it is absolutely impossible to obtain a visa simply because the company is in the red.

Even if the company is in the red, it will be okay if it is possible to explain that this is the current situation, but the company will do certain things and be in the black in the future. In order to make such an explanation, a written business plan will be made and attached to the application documents.

In addition, a company that has been newly created does not have any past results; therefore, I think that it of course will also not have statements of accounts yet. In the event that the company has been newly established and cannot submit statements of accounts, it will be absolutely necessary to create and submit a business plan.

• There is a salary level that is equivalent to the salary level for a Japanese person.

This is to prevent unfair discrimination against foreigners. It means that it is necessary to pay salary of approximately the same amount as that of Japanese employees who work for the same company.

The person has no criminal record.

This is a question of whether the foreigner has ever been arrested by the police in the past. The Immigration Bureau’s policy is that it will not grant visas to undesirable foreigners.

Even though there was a law revision that combined “Engineer” and “Specialist in Humanities/International Services,” it does not mean that a person from a science background can take a type of job in the humanities, and it also does not mean that a person from a humanities background can take a type of job related to science. The question of whether there is relevance between the content of the person’s major in university or vocational school and the content of duties will be important as a screening point.