How to Stay and Work in Japan After Graduation: Designated Activities and Specified Skilled Worker Visa Guide

What Happens to Your Student Visa After Graduation

Your Student status of residence does not extend past your graduation date, and the Immigration Services Agency expects you to leave Japan or switch status within about one month. Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University tells graduating students directly that the Student visa is not valid for post-graduation residence, and immigration bureaus typically accept work visa change-of-status applications around three months before the employment start date in practice.

If you hold a job offer at graduation, you transfer to a work visa. If you have no offer, you apply for the Designated Activities (Job Hunting) visa. If your skills match one of 16 designated industries, the Specified Skilled Worker route opens.

The Three Post-Graduation Pathways

• Designated Activities (Job Hunting): six month period of stay with one renewal allowed, giving you a maximum of one year to keep searching after graduation
• Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services: the standard white collar work visa requiring a job offer aligned to your academic major
• Designated Activities No. 46: introduced in 2019 for graduates of Japanese universities or graduate schools (junior colleges and vocational schools are excluded) whose role does not fully meet the criteria for a standard work visa
• Specified Skilled Worker (Type 1 or Type 2): industry route requiring a skills test and JLPT N4 or equivalent

The Designated Activities Job Hunting Visa in Detail

The Designated Activities (Tokutei Katsudou) visa for job hunting gives graduates of Japanese universities, graduate schools, junior colleges, or vocational schools with a Senmonshi title up to one year of legal residence to keep searching. The initial grant is six months and a single renewal is permitted in principle, as confirmed by the Study in Japan official FAQ run by JASSO and MEXT.

Kyoto University's International Support Center lists the documents you must bring to the immigration bureau, including your residence card, passport, diploma, financial evidence, the prescribed application form, a 4 by 3 cm photo, and the processing fee in revenue stamps.

Required Documents

• School recommendation letter in the format approved by the Immigration Services Agency
• Diploma or graduation certificate
• Job hunting activity records such as application emails, entry sheets, interview correspondence, and rejection or acceptance notices
• Financial documents proving you have funds to cover living expenses, from savings, family support, or part time income
• One ID photo (4 by 3 cm, taken within six months)
• Processing fee: JPY 6,000 at the office or JPY 5,500 online

Rejection Trends Since 2024

Immigration officials have tightened review of these applications. According to the practitioner guide at english.visajapan.jp , denials are rising when schools refuse to issue recommendations, attendance falls below 80%, applied companies are minimal, target jobs are unrelated to the major, the application arrives close to visa expiry, or the applicant has a history of unauthorized work.

The Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services Visa

This is the standard work visa for graduates entering white collar roles. It covers three buckets of jobs.

• Engineer: natural science and IT roles including software engineer, system engineer, programmer, and project manager
• Specialist in Humanities: law, economics, sociology, accounting, planning, marketing, and similar fields
• International Services: roles drawing on foreign language and cultural knowledge such as translation, interpretation, overseas trade, language teaching, and international PR

The Immigration Services Agency requires the role to be objectively related to your academic major, supported by transcripts, syllabi, and a job description. Immigration bureaus typically accept the change of status application up to three months before your start date per APU career guidance .

Designated Activities No. 46 as an Alternative

If your offer is a graduate role mixing some manual or service tasks the standard work visa does not cover, the Designated Activities No. 46 status created by the Ministry of Justice in 2019 allows graduates of Japanese universities or graduate schools (junior colleges and vocational schools are excluded) to take such positions. Compensation must be equivalent to Japanese peers performing the same duties. The role must still draw on your academic background and language ability.

The Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) Visa Route

The Specified Skilled Worker programme was launched in 2019 to address chronic labour shortages and does not require a university degree, making it a route for vocational graduates or for university graduates who want to enter one of the 16 covered sectors. The programme has two tiers.

SSW Type 1 vs Type 2

Source: Immigration Services Agency SSW status of residence page and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Working Visa: Specified Skilled Worker page .

The 16 Designated Industries

1. Nursing care
2. Building cleaning
3. Industrial manufacturing
4. Construction
5. Shipbuilding and ship machinery
6. Automobile maintenance
7. Aviation
8. Accommodation
9. Automobile transport
10. Railway
11. Agriculture
12. Fisheries
13. Food and beverage manufacturing
14. Food service
15. Forestry
16. Timber and wood industry

SSW by the Numbers

• 336,196 foreign nationals held SSW status as of end of June 2025 according to the Immigration Services Agency, the highest total since the programme launched
• Vietnam accounts for about 44% (44.2%) of all SSW holders, followed by Indonesia at 20.7%, Myanmar at 10.6%, the Philippines at 9.7%, and China at 6.0%
• Food manufacturing employed about 70,000 SSW workers as of end of June 2024, one of the largest single sectors
• The SSW Type 1 cap is 805,700 workers, with a combined SSW plus training based status total of 1.23 million planned for fiscal year 2026 per The Japan Times reporting from December 2025 (paywalled)

Fees and Recent Policy Changes for 2025 and 2026

The Change of Status of Residence and Extension of Period of Stay fees rose on April 1, 2025. The previous JPY 4,000 fee is gone.

In March 2026 the Cabinet approved a bill raising the statutory upper limit for immigration procedure fees to JPY 100,000, though the actual fees in force remain those set on April 1, 2025. Related: part-time work in Tokyo.

Applicants targeting April 2026 start dates should consult the latest Immigration Services Agency guidance before filing, as application criteria for changes from Student to Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services and to Designated Activities No. 46 are periodically updated.

Japanese Hiring Cycle and What Employers Expect

Japan runs a synchronised graduate recruitment system called shukatsu. Companies open applications for April hires roughly 18 months before the start date, with major firms beginning information sessions in March of the year before graduation and offers (naitei) issued from June onwards. Browse all universities in Japan.

The Study in Japan official site reports the number of international students seeking employment in Japan grew from 8,584 in 2011 to 33,415 in 2022. Most international graduates join smaller employers, with only 10.1% landing at firms with 2,000 or more staff. The average starting salary cited on the same page is around JPY 200,000 per month.

Job Offer Rates

According to a Nippon.com summary of a Disco Inc. Career-Tasu survey conducted in July 2023, 52.5% of international students surveyed had received a job offer, up from 48.0% the year before. The comparable figure for Japanese students was 86.0%. The sample size was 362 international students.

Sectors Hiring International Graduates

Non-manufacturing sectors collectively accounted for about 84.4% of hires.

Source: Study in Japan employment environment page .

Where to Find Jobs as an International Graduate

• Hello Work for Foreigners offices in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka run by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
• University career centres, which issue the recommendation letter you need for the Designated Activities visa
• Job boards focused on bilingual roles such as Daijob, GaijinPot Jobs, Jobs in Japan, and CareerCross
• Mynavi Global and Rikunabi for the mainstream Japanese shukatsu cycle
• The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) Career Forums, which run in major international hubs in Japan, North America, Europe, and Asia (check JETRO for the current year's schedule)

CV and Interview Format

Japanese employers expect the rirekisho (standardised personal history form) and a shokumu keirekisho (work history form) for experienced hires, both in Japanese unless the employer is fully bilingual. Interviews typically run two to four rounds, starting with a group seminar, moving to written tests including SPI aptitude tests, and ending with executive interviews. The naitei (informal job offer) is usually issued months before the April start date.

Sources

• Study in Japan FAQ for International Students (JASSO/MEXT)
• Study in Japan Employment Environment chapter
• Immigration Services Agency SSW Status of Residence page
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs Working Visa: Specified Skilled Worker (i)/(ii)
• Kyoto University Designated Activities visa guidance
• Ritsumeikan APU Visa Status Change Guide
• Designated Activities (Job Hunting) guide and 2024-2025 rejection trends
• Designated Activities No. 46 guide
• How Japan's Residence Procedure Fees Are Changing (visajapan.jp)
• Nippon.com summary of Disco Career-Tasu international student job offer survey
• The Japan Times: Japan aims to take in 1.23M foreign workers under labor migration programs (paywalled)
• The Japan Times: Skilled worker visa holders hit record high (paywalled)
• Immigration Services Agency of Japan main site