← Back to all posts

Working in Japan: The SSW Route, Explained

NewsCareer PathGeneral

By iStart Editorial Team·Published August 6, 2026

Working in Japan: The SSW Route, Explained

Maybe a cousin already sent you a photo from a konbini in Osaka. Maybe you have been scrolling job posts for Japan and wondering whether "Specified Skilled Worker" is the real thing or just another too-good-to-be-true promise. If you are a Filipino weighing a move to Japan, this is the route most people mean — and it is real. But it works differently from how many agencies describe it, and that difference is the whole point of this guide.

What the SSW visa actually is

Specified Skilled Worker — SSW, or 特定技能 — is a Japanese status of residence created to fill labour shortages in specific industries. Japan's Immigration Services Agency, under the Ministry of Justice, launched it on 1 April 2019. It is not a training scheme or a student side-job. It is a work status built for people who can do a real job in a sector that needs hands now.

As of 2026, the Immigration Services Agency lists 19 fields for the entry-level status — from nursing care and food service to construction, agriculture, shipbuilding, and more recently road transport and logistics — and 11 fields for the higher tier. That list has grown several times since 2019 and keeps changing, so always check the current one on the Agency's site before you build a plan around a field.

The two doors: SSW(i) and SSW(ii)

The Agency runs SSW in two tiers, and the gap between them shapes how you plan your life.

SSW(i) is the entry door. You can work in Japan for a total of five years — and here is the hard part to hear — you cannot bring your spouse or children with you on this status.

SSW(ii) is the door that changes everything. On the Agency's rules, there is no upper limit to how long you can stay, it renews indefinitely, and you can bring your family to Japan. It is the route toward settling, reached by clearing a higher-level skills test in your field, usually after building practical or supervisory experience.

So think of SSW(i) not as the destination but as the first rung. The people who plan for the climb — from the five-year entry status toward SSW(ii) — are the ones building a career in Japan, not just taking a job.

The real gate: two tests (and a third for care)

Here is the reframe most recruiters skip. With SSW, the visa is not something an agency "secures" for you. It is something you qualify for by passing tests. That door is in your hands.

For SSW(i), the Immigration Services Agency requires two things: a skills evaluation test for your specific sector, and a Japanese-language test — either the Japan Foundation Test for Basic Japanese (JFT-Basic) or the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) at N4 or above. Pass both, land a genuine employer, and you have the basis for the status.

A couple of wrinkles are worth knowing. In road transport, the Agency accepts JFT-Basic or JLPT N4 for truck roles, but taxi and bus driving require JLPT N3 or higher. And if you have satisfactorily completed Technical Intern Training (ii) in the same field, the Agency exempts you from both tests — one of the clearest advantages a former technical intern carries.

Why care work is the widest door for Filipinos

For many Filipinos, nursing care is the field with the most room. Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare estimates the country will be short roughly 570,000 care workers by 2040, and nursing care is a designated SSW(i) field with its own test lane.

Be clear-eyed about what care asks, though. It carries three hurdles, not two: the Nursing Care Skills Evaluation Test, the standard Japanese test (JFT-Basic or JLPT N4 or above), and an additional Nursing Care Japanese Language Evaluation Test on top. The language bar is higher here for a reason — you are caring for elderly people who need to understand you and be understood.

One caution: SSW nursing care is not the same as the older government-to-government nurse and caregiver route under the Japan–Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement. They are separate programmes with separate rules. Don't let anyone blur them.

Care is also a career, not a ceiling. The entry role opens onto Japan's longer certified care-worker path — a profession with a ladder above the first job, not a dead end.

The Philippine side: no shortcuts, no self-deployment

This is where Filipinos get hurt, so read it twice. You cannot self-deploy for SSW, and no one can legally hire you directly off a chat message. On the rules of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), before any contract is signed the Japanese employer must conclude a recruitment agreement with a DMW-accredited Philippine sending organization, process through the Migrant Workers Office in Tokyo or Osaka, and register with the DMW as an accepting organization. A contract arranged outside that process — whether you are hired from the Philippines or already in Japan — is not permitted.

That paperwork exists to protect you. Japan and the Philippines signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on SSW on 19 March 2019, with the Philippines the first country to sign it. Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists its purpose as including the elimination of malicious intermediary organizations — the illegal recruiters. The system was built partly to keep them away from you.

So protect yourself the way we would tell our own family to. Verify any agency on the DMW website before you pay a single peso. Deal only with DMW-accredited sending organizations. Never pay for a "guaranteed slot" or a job that skips the Migrant Workers Office and the DMW — because no one, not even a legitimate agency, can guarantee a Japanese visa. Approval always rests with the Immigration Services Agency, and it rests on real tests and a real employer. Keep every official receipt.

The honest realities before you commit

A few truths to sit with.

Language is the real gate. Not the paperwork, not the plane ticket — the Japanese. Every route above runs through a language test, care runs through two, and some driving roles demand N3. The workers who make it are the ones who start studying long before they book anything.

The life is real, too. Japanese winters are cold in a way many Filipinos have never felt, the cost of living in the cities is high, and a contract is a document to read slowly, not sign quickly. Check your role, your pay, your hours, and your deductions before you agree. On the SSW framework, the Immigration Services Agency requires that you be paid at least the same as a Japanese national doing equivalent work — so if an offer sits oddly low, ask why.

None of this is meant to scare you off. It is meant to make sure that if you go, you go ready.

So start building now, not on the day a job appears. Begin Japanese today and aim honestly at JFT-Basic or JLPT N4, higher if your field needs it. Pick a field and study its skills test. Get your documents clean and current. With SSW, readiness is not the thing you do after you get in — it is how you get in. If you want an honest read of where you stand before you commit to a pathway, iStart's free Career Readiness check at istartinternational.net/summit will tell you plainly what to build first.

Before you start: a readiness checklist

  • Start Japanese now — aim for JFT-Basic or JLPT N4 or above (N3+ for taxi or bus roles).
  • Choose a field from the current SSW(i) list on the Immigration Services Agency site, and study its skills test.
  • If you are a former technical intern, check whether your completed TITP(ii) exempts you from the tests.
  • Verify any agency on the DMW website before paying anything.
  • Confirm your employer is going through a DMW-accredited sending organization and the Migrant Workers Office.
  • Read the contract line by line — role, pay, hours, deductions.
  • Walk away from anyone selling a "guaranteed" slot or visa.

The Questions Filipinos Ask Us Most

How long can I stay on SSW? On SSW(i) you can work in Japan for a total of five years, per the Immigration Services Agency. SSW(ii) has no upper limit on length of stay and renews indefinitely.

Can I bring my family? Not on SSW(i). The Immigration Services Agency allows family accompaniment on SSW(ii) — the longer-term status you reach through a higher-level skills test.

What tests do I need? A sector skills evaluation test plus a Japanese-language test (JFT-Basic or JLPT N4 or above), per the Immigration Services Agency. Nursing care adds a third, the Nursing Care Japanese Language Evaluation Test. Completing Technical Intern Training (ii) in the same field can exempt you from the tests.

How many fields are covered? As of 2026, the Immigration Services Agency lists 19 fields for SSW(i) and 11 for SSW(ii). The list keeps expanding, so check the Agency's site for the current one.

Can an agency guarantee me a Japan job or visa? No. Visa approval rests with Japan's Immigration Services Agency and depends on your tests and a genuine employer. Anyone charging for a "guaranteed" slot is a warning sign — verify them on the DMW site first, and only work with DMW-accredited sending organizations.

Sources