A new work permit introduced by Japan for overseas workers to help alleviate chronic labor shortages in certain industries has made an unexpectedly poor start, with only 3,987 of them obtaining the "specific skills visa" in the first year of the program, or less than 10 percent of the government's target. The weak start has exposed the insufficient preparations for the program launched in April 2019. With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic unavoidable, the new system is already at a turning point. There are two ways for foreign workers to obtain the new visa. One is to pass an exam that measures Japanese language proficiency and the skills needed for the industry in which the applicant wants to work. In the other route, for the Type 1 visa for less sophisticated jobs, people who went through technical training in Japan for three years or more can change their visa status to specific skills without taking the exam.

The government is likely to fall far short of its target of issuing work permits under a new visa system to 340,000 non-Japanese over the next five years to alleviate acute labor shortages in 14 sectors. As of the end of September, only 219 foreign residents had obtained the "specified skills" visa introduced last April, according to the Immigration Services Agency. The number of people holding the status abroad stood at 1,024 as of Nov. 15. Non-Japanese wishing to obtain the specified skills visa are required to pass a test on the skills needed in their desired work sector as well as a Japanese-language proficiency examination. People who have completed the government's three-year technical intern training program are exempt from taking the test and are allowed to change their visa status to the new one.

The use of multilingual translation tools is expanding in Japan, where foreign workers are expected to increase in the wake of April's launch of new visa categories. A growing number of local governments, labor unions and other entities have decided to introduce translation tools, which can help foreigners when going through administrative procedures as they allow local officials and other officers to talk to such applicants in their mother languages. "Talking in the applicants' own languages makes it easier to convey our cooperative stance," said an official in Tokyo's Sumida Ward. The ward introduced VoiceBiz, an audio translation app developed by Toppan Printing Co. that covers 30 languages. The app, which can be downloaded onto smartphones and tablet computers, will be used in eight municipalities, including Osaka and Ayase in Kanagawa Prefecture, company officials said.

The central government plans to ease language requirements for foreign technical interns in the nursing care sector as part of its efforts to bring in more laborers from abroad, government sources have said. Japan opened up its nursing care sector to foreign nationals willing to work as trainees from November 2017. But the number of such trainees has seen sluggish growth apparently due to Japanese-language proficiency requirements, which have been set higher than those for interns in other sectors. Currently, care workers must have either reached the N4 level on the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test before entering the country or pass N3 a year after they arrive. Those who fail the N3 test have to return to their home country.

While a new visa system approved by the Diet, set to take effect in April, has been welcomed by Japan's labor-short nursing care businesses, questions remain about how to provide sufficient Japanese-language education for foreign workers. Despite steps taken by the government in recent years to relax rules on foreign workers in the sector, language skills have been a major barrier. Vu Thi Thu Trang from Vietnam is among those who could obtain working status after the government eased the requirement for foreign nationals to work as caregivers. The 31-year-old certified caregiver, who came to Japan in 2014, said she first found out about nursing care work while studying at a Japanese language school. She then entered a caregiver vocational school and finished a two-year curriculum earlier this year.