Plan an Ikusei Shuro Intake: Timeline, Transfer Rules and Costs

Under Ikusei Shuro, after a set period a worker may move at their own wish to another employer in the same job category. The period is one or two years by sector; the eight two-year sectors are nursing care, industrial products manufacturing, construction, shipbuilding, automobile repair, food and beverage manufacturing, food service and resource recycling.

Employers that apply a two-year restriction must raise pay from year 1 to year 2 at the rate published each year for the sector (nursing care uses the pay improvement allowance). Choosing one year voluntarily removes the obligation.

The government plans to cap the fees a worker pays a sending agency at two months of their first-year base monthly wage, with any excess borne by the receiving side.

A1 (or an equivalent course) before starting work, A1 after one year, A2.1 or higher to transfer (higher in some sectors) and A2.2 at the end of Ikusei Shuro for Specified Skilled Worker (i).