5-1 Paths after graduation
You’ll have three main paths waiting after graduation from a professional training college: finding a job in Japan, returning to your country to find a job or start a business, and continuing on to higher education. If you wish to work in Japan after graduation, you will need to change your visa status from student to another visa that allows you to work.
In the past, most foreign students obtained an engineer/specialist in humanities/international services visa for this purpose. Recently, however, securing employment with a nursing care or specified skilled worker visa also make this possible, as does working as a beautician in National Strategic Special Zones.
The number of international students who wish to work in Japan is also increasing.
Employment patterns from Japanese-language schools and professional training colleges
Employment of professional training college graduates in Japan
The key point for international students graduating from professional training colleges is that the content of the work they will be engaging in at the place of employment must be related to their studies at the school.
Employment with an engineer/specialist in humanities/international services visa
| Graduate with a diploma degree | Fields where work is permitted | Work related to field of study |
New work visa: “specified skilled worker”
This work visa was established to secure foreign talent that can become immediate assets in industrial fields experiencing a shortage of labor. Twelve specified industry sectors have been designated, including nursing care, automobile maintenance, construction, accommodation, and food service. Applicants must be eighteen years of age or older, and must have passed a skills test and a Japanese-language test.
Websites related to the “specified skilled worker” visa
- ● Specified Skilled Worker Program(Immigration Services Agency of Japan)
- ● Support website for the Specified Skilled Worker Program[in English, simplified Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and nine other languages]:
- ● Tokyo Specified Skill Job Matching [Japanese]
Identical employment seeking criteria as those for university graduates - Career Development Program for Foreign Students in Japan
Foreign students who graduate from vocational school departments certified by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology are treated the same as students who graduate from universities with respect to the "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services" status of residence.
Until now, work duties needed to be closely related to the contents of visa applicants' academic studies, and there were cases where permission was not granted to switch one's status of residence from a student status to a work status. Students from vocational school departments certified under this program are treated in the same way as university graduates, so the program is expected to greatly expand the range of occupations open to foreign students who graduate from vocational schools.
