Preparations continue for the launch of the Employment for Skill Development (育成就労, Ikusei Shuro) system in April 2027. Since our earlier article (3 September), the Organization for Technical Intern Training (OTIT) published and revised sector-specific operational guidelines on 9 October, and on 13 October the Japanese government signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) with Timor-Leste.
- Operational guidelines published and revised: 「飲食料品製造業分野及び資源循環分野の公表並びに鉄道分野及び木材産業分野の改正が行われました」("The food and beverage manufacturing and resource recycling fields have been published, and the railway and timber industry fields have been revised," OTIT, 9 October). On 30 September, the vehicle maintenance and building cleaning fields were revised.
- Main content for food and beverage manufacturing (guidelines compiled by the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries): The work categories are food and beverage manufacturing and seafood processing, and employment is 「直接雇用に限られます」("limited to direct employment"). Before applying for accreditation of the plan, membership of the Food Industry Council for Employment for Skill Development is required. The period during which a transfer at the worker's own request is restricted is 「２年」("two years"), and an employer that sets a transfer-restriction period of more than one year must raise scheduled wages between the first and second years by at least the rate of increase set by the council. Before work starts, the worker must have reached A1-equivalent or above in the JFT-Basic (Japan Foundation Test for Basic Japanese) or N5 or above in the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test, or have completed 100 hours or more of Japanese-language instruction.
- MOC with Timor-Leste: The MOC is dated 13 October 2026. According to the ISA's provisional translation, the MOC provides that the Japanese side will not accept Employment for Skill Development workers sent by any organisation other than a certified sending organisation. The countries that have concluded MOCs are now five: Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Laos.
- "Certified" and "provisional" sending-organisation lists: Under the system, 「原則として、二国間取決め（MOC）を作成した国からのみ受入れを行う」("as a rule, workers will be accepted only from countries that have concluded a bilateral arrangement (MOC)"). OTIT's list marks a sending-organisation list as "certified" if it was formally submitted after the MOC was concluded, and as "provisional" if it was submitted earlier. A provisional list for Myanmar was published on 17 September. Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia are also at the provisional-list stage; none of them has an MOC yet.
Permission for Supervising Support Organisations is granted after the list of certified sending organisations has been submitted by a country that has concluded an MOC. Anyone planning to accept workers should check the MOC and list status of the relevant country in OTIT's list. For the full picture of the system, see our explainer on Employment for Skill Development.
Source: Organization for Technical Intern Training, "[Employment for Skill Development] Operational Guidelines Published (Food and Beverage Manufacturing and Resource Recycling Fields) and Revised (Railway and Timber Industry Fields)" / Organization for Technical Intern Training, "Sector-Specific Operational Policies, Public Notices and Operational Guidelines" / Organization for Technical Intern Training, "List of Sending Organisations Certified by Foreign Governments (Employment for Skill Development System)" / Immigration Services Agency, "Bilateral Memoranda of Cooperation on Employment for Skill Development"