The short answer: you need 200 points out of 250. That is the score accepted as proof of Japanese ability for the Specified Skilled Worker visa, and it corresponds to A2.2 on the CEFR scale.
Everything else on this page is the detail that decides whether you get there.
The full scoring scale
JFT-Basic is scored from 10 to 250 points. Since August 2026 the result also names your CEFR band, which is genuinely useful — a near-miss now tells you how near.
| Score | Level | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 200–250 | A2.2 (A2) | Pass. Accepted for the SSW visa. |
| 175–199 | A2.1 | Close. Usually one weak section away. |
| 145–174 | A1 | Foundations are there; exam vocabulary is not. |
| Below 145 | Not assessed | No CEFR level is shown. |
There is no section minimum — and that changes how you study
This is the single most important structural fact about JFT-Basic, and most people preparing for it do not know it.
Only your total matters. There is no rule that says you must score a minimum in Listening, or in Reading, or anywhere else. A strong Reading score can carry a weak Listening score all the way to a pass.
This is the exact opposite of the JLPT, where falling below the minimum in a single section fails you outright no matter how good your total is.
The practical consequence: in your last four weeks, put your hours where they buy the most points, not where you feel weakest. If you gain 15 points per study-hour in Script and Vocabulary and 4 points per study-hour in Listening, the arithmetic is not subtle. Listening is the hardest section to move quickly, and on JFT-Basic you are allowed to accept that.
How the 250 points are distributed
The test has four sections of roughly 12 questions each, about 50 questions in total, in 60 minutes:
- Script and Vocabulary (文字と語彙)
- Conversation and Expression (会話と表現)
- Listening Comprehension (聴解)
- Reading Comprehension (読解)
The sections are not separately timed. You are given the full 60 minutes and you manage it yourself. This sounds like a small detail and it is not: students who have never practised under a single 60-minute clock routinely spend too long on the early vocabulary questions and then rush the reading passages, where the points are.
How to know whether you are actually close
A number on its own is not a signal. Two full-length, timed mock tests in the same week are.
If both land in the 175–199 band, you are one section away and probably six to eight weeks out. If they land in the 145–174 band, the honest answer is that the exam vocabulary is not there yet, and booking a test date now means paying a fee to be told that.
If you clear 200 twice in a row under real conditions — full length, timed, on a computer — book the test.
After you pass
Your score appears on screen the moment you finish. The official result follows within about five business days through the Prometric site.
Bear in mind that passing JFT-Basic satisfies the language requirement for SSW. Most sectors also require a skills test, and most care-work roles additionally require the Nursing Care Japanese Language Evaluation Test. Confirm what your specific sector needs before you assume you are finished.