Japan to receive 60,000 nurses in new visa program

TOKYO – Nursing is expected to experience the largest influx of foreigners as part of a Japanese visa program launched in April 2019 to address labor shortages, with up to the end of the year. 60,000 new workers expected in the first five years.

The Ministry of Justice presented to the Diet on Wednesday a breakdown of the number of foreign workers expected in each of the 14 sectors covered by the program. In total, the country will probably host between 263,000 and 345,000 foreigners through a visa program for low-skilled workers in five years, of which up to 53,000 in catering, 40,000 in construction and 36,500 in l & # 39; agriculture.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe previously told Parliament that these figures would be treated as ceilings.

The program would also create a second visa category for workers with advanced skills, but Tuesday's numbers did not include estimates for these workers.

"We only see these [advanced skill visas] will apply to the construction and shipbuilding industries at the present time and will not publish any estimate of the number of people we will accept, "Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press.

Unlike workers arriving with low status, those who receive second-class visas under strict conditions would be allowed to take their families and renew them indefinitely with the possibility of obtaining permanent resident status.

Japan is already facing a shortage of 586,000 workers, which could reach 1.45 million in five years. It is expected to attract between 32,800 and 47,600 foreign workers in the first 12 months of the new program, including 7,300 in agriculture, 7,000 in building cleaning and 6,800 in food and beverage processing.

Opposition parties had asked for a breakdown by sector of the figures before the lower house began deliberations on the necessary modification of the law on the control of immigration in Japan. The debate, which will begin shortly, will also focus on the possible impact of Japanese workers in the relevant areas, as well as on other concerns.