Japan’s Points System, and What 70 Points Actually Buys

How does Japan’s points system work?

Seventy points gets you a five year Highly Skilled Professional status and permanent residence after three years. Eighty points gets permanent residence after one year. The score is built from salary, age, degree, experience and a set of bonuses, and it is recalculated at every renewal. A salary floor of JPY 3,000,000 (2026) applies in the technical and business categories, which means a high score earned mostly on a doctorate and youth can still fail if the pay is low.

The table

Points are awarded in four main blocks, with bonuses on top.

Bonuses exist for Japanese language ability, a degree from a Japanese university, patents, research funding, work in a designated growth sector, and an MBA or MOT. The ordinance sets them, so they can change without any amendment to the Immigration Control Act.

A worked example

An engineer aged 32 with a master’s degree, six years of experience and a salary of JPY 7,000,000 scores 20 for the degree, 10 for age, 25 for salary and 10 for experience. That is 65. Add Japanese at N2 and a growth-sector employer and the same person clears 70 without changing job.

Take the same person at 41 with no Japanese. Age drops to zero, which removes ten points at once. This is why the route is described as a youth subsidy. A competent engineer in their forties often cannot reach the threshold on merit alone, and has to buy the difference with salary.

What 70 points does and does not buy

It buys a five year status of residence, which is the longest single grant in the system. It buys dependants, and a spouse who can work with permission. It buys a three year clock to permanent residence instead of ten.

It does not buy permanence by itself. The status renews in five year blocks, and the score is examined again each time. A pay cut, a move to a smaller employer, or a change of job category can drop you below the line and force a transfer to an ordinary work status, which resets the clock.

It also does not detach you from your employer. The sponsoring employer has to pay the salary that earns the points. Change employer within the same category and it is a notification. Change category and you need permission first, and working while that is pending puts the status at risk.

Type 2, and why almost nobody holds it

Highly Skilled Professional Type 2 has no expiry and almost unrestricted work rights. It is the closest thing Japan has to a permanent status without going through the permanent residence application.

It is also rare, because it requires holding Type 1 for three years and continuing to meet the criteria. Most people reach permanent residence first, which makes Type 2 an academic option for the small group who want an indefinite status without the PR screening.

J-Skip, which is not a higher score

J-Skip is a separate gate for people whose income makes the points table irrelevant. A master’s degree or ten years of experience plus JPY 20,000,000 of income qualifies, as does five years of management experience plus JPY 40,000,000. It grants a five year HSP Type 1 and permanent residence after one year.

The distinction matters because J-Skip is not a shortcut for someone close to the threshold. Eighty-five points on a JPY 9,000,000 salary does not qualify, while a JPY 20,000,000 earner with a master’s does. If you are choosing between the two, compare the income test first and the points second.

Watchpoints

1. The salary floor is separate from the score. A candidate can clear 70 points and still be refused for earning below JPY 3,000,000 in the technical or business category.
2. Points are re-checked at renewal. A restructuring, a pay freeze or a move to a smaller company can end the status.
3. Age points vanish at 30, 35 and 40. Ten points at each step, which is the single largest cliff in the table.
4. The bonus list is set by ordinance. Growth-sector and Japanese-language bonuses have changed before and can change again.
5. The business-management variant is tied to Business Manager standards. Since 16 October 2025 that means JPY 30,000,000 of capital, so a company that fails the new rules can block renewal and permanent residence together.
6. J-Skip requires the income, not the score. Do not assume a high points total substitutes for it.

Sources

• Immigration Services Agency, Highly Skilled Professional status and points criteria, checked 2026-10-23
• Immigration Services Agency, J-Skip outline, checked 2026-10-23
• Immigration Control Act, Appended Table 1-2, checked 2026-10-23