Japanese authorities have announced plans to relax criteria for nursing care facilities hiring foreign technical trainees. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare revealed on Wednesday its intention to amend regulations by fiscal 2025, making it easier for these facilities to employ foreign trainees.
Currently, only nursing care facilities operating for over three years can hire foreign workers under Japan’s technical intern trainee program. The proposed changes will allow facilities to hire foreign workers even if they haven’t met the three-year requirement, provided their managing organizations have been established for over three years.
Read more: Japan To Introduce Dating App To Boost Birth Rate
Facilities with operators established for less than three years may also hire foreign trainees if they meet certain conditions, such as offering training programs for foreign talent.
Additionally, Japan plans to expand the range of foreign workers eligible to provide home-visit nursing care services. This will include technical trainees, workers with specified skills visas, and certified care worker candidates from countries with economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with Japan, as long as they complete the necessary induction training.
Currently, only those with nursery care visa status and certified care workers from EPA countries can perform home-visit care under existing regulations.
Japan is simultaneously facing a labor and birth crisis. In 2023, the foreign population reached a new high of over 3.4 million, while the number of Japanese citizens decreased by 595,000 to 124,352,000 as of October 1, marking the 13th consecutive year of decline.
In response to the birth crisis, Japan’s government has launched an official dating app to encourage marriage and family formation, following record-low birth and marriage rates. Recent data from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported only 727,277 births last year.
