Of the nearly 1,300 foreigners who have applied for the new residence status of Specified Skilled Worker, 271 have been approved as of Sept. 13, only a small fraction of the government's estimate of the number to be ultimately accepted in fiscal 2019.
The figures released cover the nearly six months since the revised Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law came into effect on Apr. 1 to accept more non-Japanese workers.
The 271 approvals, out of 1,283 applicants, represent just 0.5 percent of the government's estimate for fiscal 2019 of up to 47,550 to be accepted.
"We should not make a judgement based on figures for six months," Shoko Sasaki, the commissioner of the Immigration Services Agency, said in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun on the current situation.
"In some cases, it takes time to prepare application documents. We will make further efforts to establish an environment to allow the new system to operate smoothly."
According to the agency, of 547 applicants residing in Japan, 114 were permitted for the change of residence status. Of 736 residing overseas, 157 have been granted the residency status.
Foreign technical interns with a minimum of two years and 10 months of training experience are eligible to switch to the new status without taking the requisite skills exam and Japanese language test if they continue to work in the same field.
As such, most of those who acquired the new residence status are believed to be such technical interns.
Of the 14 specified industry fields for the new residence status, skills exams were implemented in the three fields of "care worker," "accommodation industry," and "food service industry," and over 2,000 passed the tests.
Skills exams in 11 other fields are expected to be conducted before the end of this fiscal year.
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