Nepal is one of the largest source countries for Specified Skilled Worker candidates, and the route is well established. It is also the route where intermediaries are most numerous, so the order of steps is worth knowing for yourself.
Procedures change. Confirm current requirements with the Department of Foreign Employment, the Japanese embassy and the official Japanese bodies rather than with an agent.
The steps
1. Language test. JFT-Basic or JLPT N4 and above. JFT-Basic is held regularly at Prometric centres in Nepal - JFT-Basic in Nepal and how to register.
2. Sector skills test. Separate from the language test and specific to your field. The skills test explained, and which to sit first - usually the language test.
3. Find an employer. Directly, or through a licensed recruitment agency. This is where most problems begin: agency red flags.
4. Contract. Read it before signing, in a language you understand: reading an SSW contract.
5. Nepali government process. Foreign employment from Nepal runs through the Department of Foreign Employment, including labour approval and the associated requirements. Use licensed agencies only and keep every receipt.
6. Certificate of Eligibility. Applied for in Japan by your employer, then sent to you: Certificate of Eligibility explained.
7. Visa at the Japanese embassy, using the CoE.
8. Fly, register, start. Your first month of Japanese at work.
Where time is lost
Waiting to start Japanese. The language test gates everything and is entirely in your control. Candidates who wait for an agency to “arrange” the exam lose months for nothing.
Choosing a sector late. The skills test is field-specific, so an undecided candidate cannot prepare for it. The sectors list.
Paperwork inconsistencies. Your name must be spelled identically on the passport, the certificates and every form. A mismatch stops a CoE application.
On fees
You should not be paying enormous sums. Some costs are legitimate and regulated; many are not, and debt-funded migration is how people end up trapped in jobs they cannot leave.
Get every fee in writing before paying anything, and read agency red flags first. No legitimate employer or agency holds your passport.
Start with the exam
It is the step you can begin today, at no cost, and it determines the rest of the timeline.
Sit our free exam demo - a full 48-question JFT-Basic mock under the real exam’s rules - and you will know within an hour how far away you are. The practice test explains every answer in Nepali.