As far as I know the only nationalities barred from the visa are Iran and possibly Turkey (may have been removed from the blacklist since).
In addition to N4 or the other equivalent test they made for the SSW visa, you would need to pass a specific skills test in order to be able to be sponsored for the visa, and a grand total of zero of the skills tests are held in America (they are held in Japan and in certain countries in Asia).
Therefore, while you might not be barred from applying if you pass the right tests, it would be a massive pain for an American living in America to apply for it, which is probably why there were only 3 Americans holding the SSW visa in Japan as of year end 2021.
Not to mention it is not a great visa and has a hard cap of 5 years and is not renewable after that by the current system, so if you are thinking of living in Japan long term it isn’t a great path.
Are you interested in slave labor? If so, then feel free to learn Vietnamese and take the SSWV examination in Vietnam!
Americans are not *barred* from using the visa, but… It’s basically impossible at the current time for an American to participate.
In order to get the SSW, you have to take a skills test. The only place the skills tests are available in English is the Philippines, but they’re restricted to citizens.
Plus… Why? Why would you want to subject yourself to a visa/job that is borderline slave labor and has a history of abuse?
There is nothing officially stating nationality requirements, but the program is not aimed at wealthy western nations. It’s aimed at specific developing southeast asian countries. The associated skills tests are conducted in Japanese and the local languages of those countries, and they’re only conducted in Japan and those southeast asian countries. The only country where the tests are conducted in English is the Philippines and they do not process applications for non-residents.
So, yes in theory anyone who can pass the skills and language tests can do it but in practice if you’re not from the target market you’re probably not going to get it.
As a side note, the program itself is a bit of debacle with failures to meet quotas and failures to address the human rights violations that plagued the Technical Intern Trainee program. It’s a mess all around.
>I heard Americans cannot obtain this visa is this true?
Yep.
The Specified Skilled Visa is for people in the 3-World, especially SE Asia.
>Or can anybody that passes the JLPT N4 get it?
You have to pass the skills test in one of the targeted 3rd World countries—How good is your Nepalese or Vietnamese? Only The Philippines offer the skills test in English but they changed/tightened the rules and you have to be a Philippine citizen. You *could try* to take the Specified Skilled Visa tests in Japanese (but you will need to know Japanese at a better than N2 Japanese level).
5 comments
As far as I know the only nationalities barred from the visa are Iran and possibly Turkey (may have been removed from the blacklist since).
In addition to N4 or the other equivalent test they made for the SSW visa, you would need to pass a specific skills test in order to be able to be sponsored for the visa, and a grand total of zero of the skills tests are held in America (they are held in Japan and in certain countries in Asia).
Therefore, while you might not be barred from applying if you pass the right tests, it would be a massive pain for an American living in America to apply for it, which is probably why there were only 3 Americans holding the SSW visa in Japan as of year end 2021.
Not to mention it is not a great visa and has a hard cap of 5 years and is not renewable after that by the current system, so if you are thinking of living in Japan long term it isn’t a great path.
Are you interested in slave labor? If so, then feel free to learn Vietnamese and take the SSWV examination in Vietnam!
Americans are not *barred* from using the visa, but… It’s basically impossible at the current time for an American to participate.
In order to get the SSW, you have to take a skills test. The only place the skills tests are available in English is the Philippines, but they’re restricted to citizens.
Plus… Why? Why would you want to subject yourself to a visa/job that is borderline slave labor and has a history of abuse?
There is nothing officially stating nationality requirements, but the program is not aimed at wealthy western nations. It’s aimed at specific developing southeast asian countries. The associated skills tests are conducted in Japanese and the local languages of those countries, and they’re only conducted in Japan and those southeast asian countries. The only country where the tests are conducted in English is the Philippines and they do not process applications for non-residents.
So, yes in theory anyone who can pass the skills and language tests can do it but in practice if you’re not from the target market you’re probably not going to get it.
As a side note, the program itself is a bit of debacle with failures to meet quotas and failures to address the human rights violations that plagued the Technical Intern Trainee program. It’s a mess all around.
>I heard Americans cannot obtain this visa is this true?
Yep.
The Specified Skilled Visa is for people in the 3-World, especially SE Asia.
>Or can anybody that passes the JLPT N4 get it?
You have to pass the skills test in one of the targeted 3rd World countries—How good is your Nepalese or Vietnamese? Only The Philippines offer the skills test in English but they changed/tightened the rules and you have to be a Philippine citizen. You *could try* to take the Specified Skilled Visa tests in Japanese (but you will need to know Japanese at a better than N2 Japanese level).
Read about it more in the previous threads:
[r/movingtojapan/search?q=Specified+Skilled+Visa](https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/search?q=Specified+Skilled+Visa&restrict_sr=on&include_over_18=on)