KUALA LUMPUR - According to Nikkei Asia, about 45% of foreign workers who entered Japan through employment programs targeting university-level or highly skilled professionals earn wages that are equal to or below the average starting salary of Japanese university graduates.

An analysis by The Nikkei of the government’s 2024 Basic Survey on Wage Structure found that 45% of foreign workers holding professional or technical residence statuses earned less than 240,000 yen per month.

These professional and technical occupations include foreign nationals holding the residence status Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services.

This visa category is designed for foreign workers who use specialized knowledge or professional experience acquired through higher education or work experience to take up mainly white-collar positions in Japan.

Eligible occupations include IT engineers, planning and marketing professionals, accounting and human resources staff, translators and interpreters, and overseas sales personnel.

In principle, applicants are required to have an education equivalent to a university degree or a certain number of years of relevant work experience. 

In immigration screening, particular emphasis is placed on the relevance between an applicant’s field of study and their actual job duties.

Simple labor is not permitted under this status, and wages are required to be equal to or higher than those paid to Japanese workers. 

However, the wage data suggest that these formal requirements do not always translate into outcomes consistent with the policy’s stated intent.

The visa also offers relatively high flexibility in terms of renewal and job changes, and allows holders to bring their families to Japan.

“Many companies prefer the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa because the procedures are relatively simpler than other systems such as the Technical Intern Training Program or the Specified Skilled Worker program.

“It is also an easier option for administrative scriveners, recruiters, and staffing agencies involved in immigration applications to recommend,” said Koji Yamawaki, an attorney specializing in immigration law.

At the same time, cases involving unscrupulous brokers have been reported, highlighting a reality in which wage levels and working conditions do not necessarily match the expectations associated with highly skilled workers.

Moreover, even for professionals with advanced skills, public mechanisms for consulting on wages or long-term career development remain limited.

While the system grants foreign workers a certain degree of freedom and flexibility, it also carries the risk of deepening isolation by placing strong emphasis on individual responsibility.

As Japan moves to expand the acceptance of highly skilled foreign workers, the gap between the label “highly skilled” and the actual wages and labor conditions underscores a structural challenge within the country’s foreign labor policy.