Japanese-speaking Foreigners To Receive Favorable Treatment Tor Visas
It’s official:
The Foreign Ministry plans to give favorable treatment in visa applications and extensions to foreign nationals with a good command of the Japanese language.
Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura was to announce the plan Thursday afternoon.
The favorable treatment will include extending the resident status of foreigners with a certain level of Japanese language proficiency to a maximum of five years from the current three.
In addition, visa requirements on professional experience and academic qualifications will be eased.
The ministry expects the measures will motivate non-Japanese hoping to stay here long term to learn Japanese. That would lead to an increasing number of foreign nationals with higher professional knowledge and skills working in a country whose population is expected to decline because of low birthrates.
However, the new measures will not lead to any unfavorable treatment to foreigners with poor Japanese language skills, officials said.
The government will continue to permit entry by foreign nationals even if they cannot speak a word of Japanese, they said.
The government plans to assess Japanese language skills based on the results of the Japan Foundation’s Japanese Language Proficiency Test and other tests.
The new measures will initially target foreign nationals in specialized professions, such as interpreters, translators and cabin attendants on international flights, who use the Japanese language at work.
Bloomberg’s article has this quote from Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura:
“This is to relax regulations, not to tighten them,” said Komura. “We will never deny those who were previously accepted to Japan simply because of their lack of Japanese ability.”


what’s going on here? the J-gov making a decision that is fair and actually makes sense? w.o.w.
I call this descrimination.
why?
This is great. People who make an effort should be rewarded. I see a lot of foreigners (especially Australians) here who expect everyone to bend over backwards for them and treat them like gods.
Has Debito got his panties in a bunch about this yet? Surely he must be able to somehow twist this into an issue of discrimination.
He’s down at Spin Alley having a pint, brooding.
This is great news! This is nothing but fair, those who actually make an effort should have a better chance than those who don’t. This also makes me wanna study even more, it’s good to know that you can make things easier just by studying the language.
I’d say that makes sense, but I kinda wonder if it’s fair because there are, for example, Japanese ppl not born in Japan and who maybe don’t know much Japanese, but they still get to retain Japanese citizenships if they wish.
If what they say is true and this really is a bonus, rather than a new restriction of some kind, I don’t see a down side here. I’m still curious to know what standards they’ll apply though.