Nepal sends more people through the JFT-Basic and Specified Skilled Worker route than almost any other country, and that shapes everything about sitting the exam here.
Demand is the defining fact
Seats in Nepal are among the most competitive anywhere. Popular dates can disappear within days of being released.
The practical consequence is simple and most people get it wrong:
Decide your target date before you feel ready, and book as soon as seats open. A date you can prepare towards is worth more than perfect readiness with no seat available. You can always prepare harder; you cannot conjure a session that has sold out.
Finding your centre
Go to Prometric’s pages for Specified Skilled Worker tests, not the global Prometric homepage, which will route you into an unrelated catalogue. The two pages that matter are the official test schedule, which lists Nepal’s reservation and test periods, and the JFT-Basic reservation page, where you book.
The centre list appears during the booking flow, not before it. This is the single most common source of “I cannot find the centres anywhere” — you have to start a booking to see them. You can back out before paying.
Centres are concentrated around Kathmandu. For candidates from outside the valley, budget for travel and, if you are more than a few hours away, a night’s accommodation. A cancelled bus should not be able to cost you the fee.
The agency question
Nepal has a large and active ecosystem of agencies and consultancies around the Japan route. Many are legitimate. Some are not, and the pattern is consistent enough to be worth naming.
Two things to hold on to:
You register for JFT-Basic yourself, directly with Prometric. Note that once a test is booked, Prometric does not allow it to be cancelled — check your date before you pay. Anyone telling you that you must book through them is misinforming you. See how to register.
Large up-front fees, especially financed as loans against future wages, are the warning sign that matters. Debt is what makes a worker unable to leave a bad placement. See agency red flags.
Our Nepali-language material
The site is published in Nepali, including all ten free mock exams, and every explanation in the practice test is available in Nepali, so you are not decoding English while trying to learn Japanese.
Centres, fees, dates and payment methods are set locally and change. This guide deliberately quotes none of them. The Prometric schedule and the Japan Foundation’s JFT-Basic page are the sources that bind — use them for anything you are about to pay for. Links last checked 7 October 2026.
A preparation checklist
- Find your level. Take the free practice test, then one full mock exam under real conditions.
- Pick a target date inside an upcoming test period on the Prometric schedule, and note when reservations open — Nepal’s booking start is published there in Nepal time.
- Plan the weeks in between with the study planner.
- Create your Prometric account early, so booking day is only choosing a seat. Expect a virtual waiting room in the first hours.
- Book as soon as reservations open, and double-check the date and centre — a booking cannot be cancelled.
- Rehearse weekly with the ten mock exams, reviewing each one with its answer guide.
- Plan the journey to the centre, including a night nearby if you are travelling from outside the valley.
What does not change
Wherever you sit it, the exam is identical: four sections, about fifty questions, sixty minutes, scored 10 to 250. Since August 2026 the result is reported as a CEFR level — A1 from 145, A2.1 from 175, and A2.2 (A2) from 200 — and 200, the A2 level, is what the Specified Skilled Worker route asks for. The sections are not separately timed, and only the total counts.
That means every guide on this site applies to you regardless of where you are. Start with what 200 points actually means.
Before you pay for anything
Find out where you stand. Our free practice test covers all four sections, reports by section, takes about ten minutes, and works on an inexpensive phone. It costs nothing, which is more than can be said for discovering the answer at the test centre.
Two full-length, timed mock tests a week apart, both at 200 or above, is a good sign you are ready. Remember that a practice score is an estimate: the official score is calculated by statistical equating, which no practice test can reproduce.