Japan has now finally planned to hire many Pakistani labor workers for skilled visas (The News International). Japan has been facing a lot of problems due to a lack of skilled labor force.
The good news came from the residence of Japanese Ambassador Kuninori Matsuda on Friday, 18 October 2019, where he met with select journalists. He said, “we are about to open working visas for skilled Pakistan workers. We are planning to hire Pakistani skilled workers in good numbers. We need skilled workers, as our population is shrinking by each passing day. We are to sign an MOU with the Pakistan government in a month’s time, enabling the Pakistan skilled workers to have an indefinite visa of Japan”. A good thing Mr. Kuninori Matsuda added that Pakistan was among those 10 planned countries which were selected after the newly announced immigration policy in April 2019. He also admired Pakistani workers who are devoted, honest, and skillful.
“Japan launched its new so-called ‘Specified Skill Visa’ (tokutei ginou, 特定技能) immigration policy on 1st April 2019. According to this new law, Japan will accept a large number of foreign workers. As an estimate, *345,150 international workers will be able to move to Japan to serve its labor market. This scheme was initially announced for 9 countries Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Cambodia, and China. However, Japan is (likely) going to make Pakistan 10th country in this list for labor import”.
According to the Japanese Ambassador, the only important thing for interested applicants to get the visa is to learn the Japanese language. Furthermore, the candidates successfully completing their first five years of the visa in Japan will be able to bring their families too. High-level exchanges by a prime minister and president would soon be materialized. Pakistani president Dr. Arif Alvi will be visiting Japan on 20th October to participate in the coronation ceremony. It is highly likely that this issue will be raised and the Pakistani president will bring something with for the countrymates. The new immigration program could be a copy of South Korea. That already is recruiting labor force from Pakistan through success in the Korean language proficiency test. The same will be true in this new scheme. It is likely that candidates will have to pass test of the Japanese language organized by the Japanese government and then selected through a proper procedure.
In addition, the radio Pakistan also reported a development about this matter int he first week of October 2019, where it was confirmed that talks have been going on between Pakistan and Japan about skilled labor export. Minister and Deputy Head of Mission at Embassy of Japan in Pakistan ‘Yusuke Shindo’ said the MoU could be signed between the two countries next month. He also added that Japan has opened recruitment for 14 working sectors which are:
1. agriculture
2. materials processing
3. nursing care
4. shipbuilding
5. restaurants
6. airport ground handling & aircraft maintenance
7. food and beverage
8. hotels
9. industrial machinery
10. electronics and electric machinery
11. building cleaning
12. construction
13. vehicle maintenance
14. fishery
*INDUSTRY-WISE LIST OF VISAS DISTRIBUTION
| Sector Name | Number of Visas Allocated |
| Nursing care | 60,000 |
| Restaurants | 53,000 |
| Construction | 40,000 |
| Building cleaning | 37,000 |
| Agriculture | 36,500 |
| Food and beverage | 34,000 |
| Hospitality | 22,000 |
| Materials processing | 21,500 |
| Shipbuilding | 13,000 |
| Fishery | 9,000 |
| Automotive Parts Manufacturing | 21,500 |
| Industrial Machinery | 7,000 |
| Electronics and Electrical equipment | 4700 |
| Aviation | 2200 |
Read here full details of Japan’s new immigration policy announced in April 2019.