特定技能 (SSW) Visa: Sectors, Requirements, and the Resume You Need
The Specified Skilled Worker visa lets foreigners work full-time in 16 shortage sectors. What the visa is, the skill and Japanese tests it requires, and how to present it on a Japanese resume.
特定技能 (tokutei ginō, “Specified Skilled Worker” or SSW) is the visa that moved hundreds of thousands of foreign workers from part-time and trainee arrangements into proper full-time jobs in Japan's shortage industries. If you are working baito on a student visa now, SSW is one of the most realistic next steps.
What the visa is
SSW type 1 (特定技能1号) allows full-time work in designated shortage sectors for up to five years. It requires passing a sector skill exam plus a Japanese test, and unlike a student arrangement there is no weekly hour cap — it is normal employment with normal protections. SSW type 2 (2号), available in most sectors, is the advanced tier with renewable stay and the possibility to bring family.
The sectors
The programme covers 16 fields, including: nursing care (介護), food service (外食), food and beverage manufacturing, accommodation (宿泊), construction, agriculture, fishery, building cleaning, industrial manufacturing, shipbuilding, automobile maintenance, aviation ground handling, and — added in the 2024 expansion — road transport (driving), railways, forestry, and the timber industry. The exact list and exam schedules are on the Immigration Services Agency's site; check there for your field, as details change.
What you must pass
- Japanese: JLPT N4 or the JFT-Basic test (nursing care adds its own language exam). See what JLPT levels mean.
- Skill exam: a sector-specific test (評価試験) held in Japan and in several countries abroad.
- Completing a technical-intern (技能実習) programme in the same field can exempt you from the exams.
The resume for an SSW application
- State your status plainly: 在留資格：特定技能1号（外食） — and keep it identical to your residence card, as covered in residence status on your resume.
- List the exams in 免許・資格 with dates: 「外食業特定技能1号技能測定試験 合格」「JLPT N3 合格」.
- Baito experience in the same industry is real experience here — a year of izakaya kitchen work belongs in 職歴 for a food-service SSW application.
- Employers hiring SSW workers are used to foreign applicants, but a clean, correctly formatted rirekisho still puts you ahead — build it in the free editor.
A realistic caution
Visa rules change and brokers overpromise. Confirm anything that affects your status with the Immigration Services Agency or your school's support office, not a recruiter's flyer — and see our disclaimer: this guide is orientation, not immigration advice.