Japan Immigration News

45% of 'high-skill visa' workers in Japan earn less than recent grads

Release Date: 2026-01-27
Media: NIKKEI Asia
Summary: Japan is recruiting foreign talent to ease labor shortages, but a Nikkei analysis suggests many “advanced-skill” visa holders are ending up in lower-paid work. Using a 2024 government wage survey, Nikkei found that 45% of foreign workers entering under specialized/technical white-collar visa pathways earned below ¥240,000 per month, roughly the average base pay for new Japanese university graduates, compared with 15% of workers in similar job categories nationwide.

The article argues that some foreigners who come on professional visas—meant to attract innovation-oriented, white-collar talent—are instead being used as stop-gap labor in onsite jobs such as restaurants, manufacturing and construction. A nonprofit that supports foreign workers reported a sharp rise in consultations, and Nikkei describes a case in which a Vietnamese woman on an engineering/humanities/international services visa was denied renewal after it emerged she was actually working at a ramen shop for ¥180,000 a month, allegedly after paying large fees to an intermediary and being misled about benefits like bringing family.
Tags: Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services

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