Japan Specified Skilled Worker (SSW / Tokutei Ginou) Eligibility Checker

The checker applies the eligibility rules published by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan (ISA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) for the Specified Skilled Worker (Tokutei Ginou) status of residence. It is pure rule evaluation — no scoring and no opinion — so the same inputs always give the same verdict. Four conditions decide the SSW(i) result:

1. Age gate. You must be at least 18 years old on application. Under 18, the visa is not available yet regardless of your test results — the checker still shows which other requirements you have already met so you know where you stand.
2. Language requirement. Met if you hold JLPT N4 or above, or have passed the Japan Foundation Test for Basic Japanese (JFT-Basic) at A2 level. JLPT N5 does not qualify. Nursing Care carries one extra item — the Nursing Care Japanese Language Evaluation Test — flagged in the result.
3. Skills requirement. Met if you have passed the skills-evaluation test for your chosen field. There is one test per field, administered through Prometric, and it certifies you can work immediately without training.
4. TITP(ii) exemption. If you satisfactorily completed Technical Intern Training (ii) in a related field, both the language and skills requirements are treated as already satisfied — this overrides steps 2 and 3.

The SSW(i) verdict is a plain logical AND: eligible = (age ≥ 18) AND (language met) AND (skills met). If any part fails, the tool lists exactly which items are missing and the next step for each. To keep the result trustworthy the same verdict is computed a second way in the code and compared; the calculator shows a “logic verified” badge only when both paths agree.

After the verdict, the tool looks up your field in the 11-field SSW(ii) set. If it is present, the long-term pathway is shown — no stay limit, family allowed, and time counting toward permanent residence. If not (for example Nursing Care, Automobile Transportation, Railway, Forestry, Wood Industry, Resource Recycling, Linen Services or Logistics Warehouse), the 5-year SSW(i) cap applies and any separate long-term status — such as the Nursing Care Kaigo route — is pointed out. The rules table maps max stay, family accompaniment, equal pay and the permanent-residence route for SSW(i) versus SSW(ii).

• Immigration Services Agency of Japan — SSW support portal (field lists, stay cap, family & pay rules)
• ISA — SSW program summary (age 18+, required tests, TITP(ii) exemption)
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan — Specified Skilled Worker overview
• Japan Foundation Test for Basic Japanese (JFT-Basic) — official page

The 19 SSW(i) fields and 11 SSW(ii) fields, the 5-year cap and the test rules were last cross-checked against the ISA and MOFA sources on 2026-07-18. Field lists change as Japan adds sectors, so the page is reviewed periodically. This tool is informational only and is not legal advice or a visa-application service.