On 20 August 2026, the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) revised the "Specified Skilled Worker Operational Guidelines" (a comparison table of the old and new text has been published). The main changes affecting the day-to-day operations of accepting (host) organisations are as follows.
- Eligibility documents — the company profile, certificate of registered matters, records of tax and social insurance payments, officers' written undertakings and the like — could already, provided certain criteria were met, be submitted once a year through periodic reporting rather than each time with a change or renewal application. The new element added by this revision is a condition that user registration for online application or electronic notification must be completed at least three months before the submission deadline; organisations that have not done so may be required to submit the eligibility documents again with each application.
- Where a change occurs in the corporate status of the accepting organisation (for example, the death of a sole proprietor, incorporation, or an absorption-type merger or split), the worker may need to file an application to change status of residence. A new provision has been added requiring the organisation to consult the relevant regional immigration services bureau promptly once it becomes aware that such a change is going to occur.
- A new provision has been added for SSW (ii) workers stating that the duties they normally perform must not be the same as those performed by Technical Intern Trainees or SSW (i) workers. They must instead be engaged in supervisory or managerial duties, or in specialist/technical duties performed on their own judgement, and must be supervising at least the minimum number of people specified for their industry field (this excludes people working at a different worksite from the SSW (ii) worker, people not working full-time, and people already being supervised by another SSW (ii) worker). Alongside this, submission of a new "Written Undertaking Concerning the Duties of an SSW (ii) Worker" (reference form No. 1-32) is now required.
Separately, what was abolished on 28 August for the building cleaning, railway, and food and beverage manufacturing sectors was the old, independently issued "sector-specific operational guidelines"; the "operational guidelines supplements" that set the acceptance criteria for each field were updated on the same date and remain in effect.
For procedures relating to Specified Skilled Worker, please see our Specified Skilled Worker services.
Source: Immigration Services Agency, "Specified Skilled Worker Operational Guidelines"