Passing JFT-Basic is the step most people spend months on, and it is the step that gets talked about. It is also, on its own, not enough to get you to Japan.
JFT-Basic satisfies the language requirement for Specified Skilled Worker (i). There are three more things between you and a boarding pass, and knowing about them now is the difference between a six-month process and an eighteen-month one.
The four things you need
| Requirement | How you meet it |
|---|---|
| 1. Japanese ability | JFT-Basic 200+ (or JLPT N4). Done. |
| 2. Skills for your sector | A sector-specific skills evaluation test |
| 3. An employer | A signed contract with a Japanese company |
| 4. Immigration status | Certificate of Eligibility, then the visa |
Step 2 is the one that surprises people, so start there.
The skills test is a separate exam
The SSW programme covers a defined list of industry fields — nursing care, building cleaning, food service, agriculture, construction, accommodation and others. Each field has its own skills evaluation test, run separately from JFT-Basic, with its own schedule, its own fee and its own syllabus.
Three things about it that matter:
- It is not a Japanese test. It tests whether you can do the job. The questions are usually in Japanese, which is one reason JFT-Basic is worth passing properly rather than scraping.
- It is scheduled independently. The skills test for your field may run a few times a year, not monthly, and not necessarily in your country. Look up your sector’s calendar before you assume the timeline.
- Nursing care needs a third test. If you are going into care work, most routes also require the Nursing Care Japanese Language Evaluation Test on top of JFT-Basic and the care skills test. Confirm this early — it is the single most commonly missed requirement in the whole programme.
Check the requirements for your own sector. They differ, and they are revised. What your cousin needed for construction three years ago is not evidence of what you need for food service now.
Then you need an employer
SSW is not a visa you are granted and then use to look for work. It is tied to a job: you need a signed employment contract with a Japanese employer before immigration will consider you.
In practice most candidates find that job through a registered support organisation or a licensed recruitment agency in their own country. Which brings up the part of this process that costs people the most money.
On agencies, plainly
This programme attracts intermediaries, and some of them are predatory. A few things that are worth knowing before you hand anyone a fee:
- Nobody can sell you a guaranteed job in Japan. An agency that promises placement in exchange for a large upfront payment is describing something it cannot deliver.
- Excessive pre-departure fees and debt contracts are a recognised problem in this system, not a normal cost of entry. If the amount being asked would take you years to repay, treat that as a warning rather than an inconvenience.
- Your employer is named on your status of residence. Ask who it is, and what the job is, before money changes hands.
- Check whether the agency is licensed in your country and whether the Japanese side is a registered support organisation.
None of this means every agency is bad. It means the ones worth using will answer these questions without irritation.
Certificate of Eligibility, then the visa
Once you have a contract, your employer or their support organisation applies in Japan for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) on your behalf. This is an immigration document confirming you meet the conditions for the status of residence.
With the COE issued, you apply for the actual visa at the Japanese embassy or consulate in your country. The COE is the slow part — plan in months, not weeks — and the timeline is largely outside your control once the application is in.
The realistic timeline
From a JFT-Basic pass to landing in Japan, assuming nothing goes wrong:
| Stage | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Skills test (scheduling + sitting) | 1–4 months |
| Finding an employer, signing a contract | 1–6 months |
| COE application | 1–3 months |
| Visa issue and departure | 2–6 weeks |
Six months is a good outcome. A year is common. The two stages you can compress are the first two, and you compress them by starting the skills test research now rather than after you have your JFT-Basic certificate in hand.
What we can and cannot help with
We teach Japanese. We can get you to 200 on JFT-Basic and beyond it to JLPT N4 and N3, which measurably widens which employers will look at you — see JFT-Basic or JLPT for why that is worth doing even after you have the visa handled.
We are not a recruitment agency and we do not place people in jobs. Anyone telling you a language school can guarantee you a Japanese employer is telling you something else as well.
For the requirements that apply to your specific sector and country, the Japan Foundation, the Immigration Services Agency of Japan, and your own country’s labour ministry are the sources that are actually authoritative. Use them.