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Japan to Recruit Pakistani IT Professionals through Work Visa

Japan has finally started recruiting Pakistani information technology professionals through its new work visa immigration policy. According to a press release of the Japanese embassy in Pakistan, “A Japanese recruitment agency has earnestly begun the process of introduction and dispatch of IT human resources from Pakistan to Japanese corporations”. Most of the professionals will be recruited from the universities and from major work places. This simply means professionals with or without work experience can both benefit from this opportunity.

Japan is highly in need of IT engineers and Pakistan has so far become an appealing destination for their requirements. According to the statistics from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Japan, the country will be lacking almost 790,000 IT talents by 2030.

Pakistan is boasting more than 300,000 IT workers studied in English as a common language. It is one of the leading technology countries in southern Asia that educates 25,000 IT graduates a year. This means Pakistani professionals can fulfill the shortage of Japan in the IT sector. The selected candidates through this stream will be able to get the work visa of Japan.

The Government of Pakistan is actively promoting this industry as illustrated by the establishment of the “Special Technology Zones Authority” (STEZ). H.E.Mr. MATSUDA Kuninori, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, expressing hope and optimism, said, “There is a shortage of IT engineers in Japan, and I hope that young and abundant Pakistani IT human resources will solve this problem.”

The company that has started recruited Pakistani IT engineers is “Plus W” based in Tokyo (read here more about it here). It is running a joint venture with the Japanese Embassy in Pakistan to recruit young IT professionals to Japan. The company started working in 2020 and has already had 1,000 Pakistani IT engineers in their pool. The company also confirmed on their website that, “we collaborate with *Mr. Mahmood Zafar, who is well-acquainted with Pakistani and Japanese contacts, to recruit the IT talent from Pakistan. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, we will provide flexible work styles such as offshore development, as well as our hallmark, hospitable support by our Pakistani staff so workers may assimilate into Japan before and after the hiring. We will also endeavor to form a community of foreign workers in Japan to support and follow up with Pakistani talents there. In the future, we will collaborate with colleges and education facilities in Pakistan to bring awareness about the Japanese language, culture, and corporations. We will strive to secure better human resources and provide them the place to shine”.

The Japanese recruitment company hopes to start some good information sessions in near future in Pakistani universities and colleges to urge the students to also learn the Japanese language for their good careers in Japan as an IT specialist.

The company aims to send 50 professionals from Pakistan to Japan in 2021 and 1,000 in total by 2023. It also aims to register at least 10,000 IT professionals in its pool during the next 3 years. This target will be achieved easily or not, time will tell. On the other hand, the recruitment process seems to be quite tough and complex. It might have been better had the company started recruiting the professionals directly. The bureaucratic barriers will make it a bit difficult for the professional to reach the company timely. The staff arranged by the company in Pakistan might not be good enough to help it recruiting 10,000 professionals in the next three years. Hence the company with the collaboration with the Japanese embassy in Pakistan will have to find a more accurate and digitalized platform the make the recruitment process fast, easier, and barrier-free.

* Who is Mr.Mahmood Zafar?

Mr. Zafar Mahmood’s ties with Japan began when he started his studies at the Nagoya University through a scholarship program offered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) of Japan in 1979. After graduation, he extended his stay for over 10 years working for NEC. In 2000, he joined the MEXT Alumni Association of Pakistan (MAAP) and has been working to promote educational exchanges between Japan and Pakistan. He also assisted the Embassy of Japan to select talented Pakistani youth for future MEXT scholarship students and provided pre-departure sessions for the selected students.
He also contributed greatly to the promotion of the Japanese language in Pakistan. As a visiting professor, he taught in the Japanese Language Department of the National University of Modern Languages. His venture has now taken more popularity as he has begun conducting the Japanese Language Capability Test (JLCT) exam in different cities of Pakistan after becoming Pakistan’s only official agent in 2018. His relentless determination has already begun to bear fruits as the number of Japanese language learners in Pakistan is increasing with the passage of time.

Japan’s new immigration policy

Japan launched its new so-called ‘Specified Skill Visa’ (tokutei ginou, 特定技能) immigration policy from 1st April 2019. According to the law, the work permit category has been distributed into two types of permits: Visa type 1 (Specified Skills Visa 1- SSV1) and Visa Type 2 (Specified Skills Visa 2- SSV2). Initially, Japan did not include Pakistan in the eligible countries but later on, the confirmation came from a press release of the Japanese embassy in Pakistan on December 23, 2019, that Pakistanis also were able to apply for a work visa under the new immigration policy.

-Files from Umer Rasib (visa-guru.com), Japanese EmbassyPakistan, and Plus W