https://unseen-japan.com/foreign-elderly-care-workers-japan/
I shit you not, this is the plan.
SSW1 is a max of 5 years, non renewable. Somewhat similar and somewhat different from TITP (training) allows a path to SSW1 readiness and completion of TITP qualifies workers without testing for SSW1, SSW1 is intended to prepare workers for SSW2, which requires documented work and a test.
After 3 years employment as SSW1 (or two years if workers role includes supervisory management and is documented properly) every SSW1 worker is eligible to take a single test for SSW2. The SS2 visa is also a 5 year max but is RENEWABLE indefinitely. This isn't 'permanent residency' but a rolling work visa with it's own eligibility.
Now, if a worker cannot acquire the proficiency to pass the SW2 test before 5 years is over; then perhaps they should return, because they do not seem to be studying the job they are engaged in and not engaging in becoming more proficient in helping their employer's business grow. They may remain at the same job with the SSW2 visa, continue at the same pay, and perform the same work; so there is no motive for their employer to make obtaining the SSW2 visa difficult other than that they may regret having that employee after seeing their work ethic and output.
However the SSW1 and SSW2 visas do not lock you into a single employer. Workers are free to quit and/or find another place to work, are eligible for unemployment if your employer fires or lays you off not-for-cause, and have 90 days to get new employment in either event (quit or fired) with significant systemic assistance (HelloWork among them) for finding a new employer.
The 'specific' company aspect is for the initial application for SSW 'eligibility certificate' but workers are eligible to work for any employer from day one of their visa issuance. Yes, these SSWs are industry specific, as the tests for each type of 'specific skills' is independent and unique, but one can take additional, different industry tests while in country on one kind of SSW1 visa and then apply for 'designated activities' to engage in cross industry work, and this would allow continuation of SSW1 without moving to SSW2 by reapplication for 'eligibility' in the second industry at the end of the 5 year non-renewable SSW1. Some industries have more applicants than allowed visas, some industries never get over about 30% of the needed SSW1/2 workers.
It is not predatory, does not take advantage of workers who are diligent and studious. It certainly is not a route to work-play in a bar and doing casual part time host work. It is for serious workers in specific high need fields who may otherwise lack degrees and professional work experience which would qualify for the higher level visas.
Framing it as abusive or predatory is to not understand the system at all. The principal guardrails are actually on the applying employer, with strong requirements for a third party (Registered Support Organization) to make sure that the work conditions and terms are safe and honest, pay and compensation rates are not lower than standard for natural employees, participation in insurance, tax, retirement, and banking are proper, access to safe clean housing and other necessary social needs are met, such as Japanese language study, social integration and participation ~ neighborhood regular clean up, and local matsuri festival invites.
Sidebar - The clean up might sound like work, but is a time to meet and socialize with your neighbors and be seen as a participant who 'helps out'. There is usually so little actual trash that it's more like an Easter egg hunt than anything else - find a discarded nicotine-gum wrapper or a smashed plastic bottle if you're lucky - my last clean up day we didn't get even half of an office waste-bin worth for the whole block among 20 plus people over 45 minutes. But I do meet new people almost every time and have become 'old acquaintances' to others. In the event of an earthquake or other natural disaster, these are the people you will probably be with, so it's best to build some friendship just in case, if for no other reason.
In general, the citizens and communities all over Japan are some of the most welcoming, appreciative, and encouraging places anywhere. Yes, Ive checked. I have been to, lived in, and have family who live in or have lived in North and South America, Southeast Asia, Polynesia, Scotland (Shetland), England, Western Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. They all seem to agree with my assessment, Japan is the nicest and most livable place of all, at least for me and my wife.
Yes there are particular difficulties and established 'why cant it be easier' aspects to life here, and even the locals will admit to consternation abut some rigid formalism, but on the whole it is a wonderful place to live and work. The further one gets from the middle of Tokyo and Osaka the gentler life is, period. Get more than half an hour by bus or car away from a Shinkansen station and it's a very different worldview, that 99.5% of foreigners never see. I highly recommend it, even if it requires learning to speak some Japanese to get by. They are so surprised by anyone who would make the effort and travel off the main path to see the place.
郷に入ってば郷に従う Go ni ireba Go ni shitagau "When in Rome, do as the Romans"
Look, on one hand I'm glad that it worked out for you, that you had enough work-life balance to study and get certified for the SSW2 program and you're content to stay on it until you're physically unable to work anymore or somehow find a way to qualify for a permanent residence under the new guidelines for both you and your wife.
On the other, the story is full of caveats:
- company hiring in that sector has to be well-managed and well-behaved (oversight is often superficial compounded by the fact that in a lot of cases, the hiring company and the employer-of-record are actually 2 different entities);
- you have sufficient time and energy to skill-up after work, especially if it's physical labor;
- you have sufficient funds to skill-up;
- in case you need to change your job, you're not in distress from the current employer or financially.
I don't know what your cultural background is. In my worldview, these programs are inhumane. Humane variant is this: if you (collective "you", Japan) deem the person worthy of coming here and changing the bedpans of your elderly when none of the Japanese youth wants to do it for the same salary, you get the fuck out of the way unless this immigrant breaks your laws, and at that point you deport them. But if they come here and obey your laws they should have the reciprocal security in their old age, not conditional on how well they test on JLPT and for sure not conditional on unrealistic expectation of earning significantly more than an average Japanese worker.
P.S. Socializing is nice. You can still go and pick up the non-existent trash when you're on a Eng/Intl/Humanities visa and even on PR. Just saying.
Abuses will exist wherever oversight is insufficient.
Planning to remain in Japan after reaching the age of 'no longer able to work' is a condition that permanent resident visa, if the proposed changes actually occur and persist, may no longer provide. Given that, then contributing to the national retirement/pension plan and preparing for naturalization would seem to be the proper route to that long term expectation of reciprocal security.
If the job pay is 'lower than a Japanese worker would accept' then that does indeed classify as abuse of the SSW1 designated rules. As they have been explained to me by legal council, SSW1 rules state explicitly that employees must receive at least as much pay as would cost for a local laborer, in order to not depress local labor values.
If this is the condition that you or persons known to you are working in, that is a reason needed for a change in employment.
A JLPT test is not typically part of the SSW2 requirement, at least for the industries I have studied the test material for, but the tests are in Japanese at about JLPT4/3ish level. Each tests specific vocabulary (the kanji portion) are very specific and one can focus on learning the necessary content which is a much lower threshold than JLPT3, but studying for that does become dependent on the work-life balance aspect. Clear communication with an earnest and fair employer is important for establishing that; and it sounds like you are having some difficulties with this side of things. That is unfortunate.
I don't have any magic tricks for not getting taken advantage of; but know that it appears your experience with the SSW1 is not necessarily typical of the program as intended, and there may be some alternatives to feeling trapped or not valued in the long term here.
Is your 登録支援機関 (tōroku shien kikan) Registered Support Organization an active participant in the necessary oversight, or have they effectively been rubber-stamping the actions that have led to this situation?
That was where I was leaning on the socialization aspect. The RSO has some responsibility in making sure SSW workers are aware of the scheduled community building events in order to facilitate socialization and acculturation - these can always be done independently, but there's an obligation to facilitate these for the RSO.
Having active opportunities to interact (again work-life balance) can be a big help in working toward fluency, which I feel should be a goal for anyone planning a long term habitation in any country. In Samoa this is fa'asamoa, "Fesili muli mai ia mua mai" when arriving follow who came first, the "When in Rome do as the Romans" and in Japanese 郷に入ってはば郷に従う go ni iteba go ni shitagau.
If there is anything you think I might be able to do to help, I am willing to try. もし手伝う事があれば遠慮なくネ
It isn't obvious that the SSW program itself is designed with abuse as an intended outcome. I also don't get the strong sense that these changes to the PR process, at least what actual documentation is on https://www.moj.go.jp, are going to have much real impact other than prompting those with a real long term commitment to life in Japan to look more closely at the naturalisation process and possibly motivate SSW1 workers to be more serious about upskill to SSW2.
Because SSW1 time no longer applies to the 10 year PR eligibility (which can be shorter with "contribution to Japanese society" https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/930003503.pdf), this makes staying at SSW1 for longer than 2-3 years a bit wasteful if the goal is PR.
Perhaps there is some room in this system for well-managed RSOs to take a more active role in helping current SSW1 employees take the necessary steps to prepare for transition to SSW2 and perhaps this kind of action is something that rural townships should look at as a mechanism to improve their local workforce options.
I wonder if there's any employers in your extended network who could gain from having access to workers already holding SSW1 visas with 2+ year remaining on visa and helping prepare those workers for SSW2 testing and retention along with long-term work contracts. It would seem to be a real opportunity for companies struggling to meet production objectives due to labor shortages without the potentially high initial capital cost of finding those workers from abroad and the cost of turnover and training that come from short term new workers.
I'm just kinda thinking out loud here; it seems to me that where there are avenues for abuse which appear to offer little recourse for the workers, then there may be an avenue to offer that recourse and in turn benefit from the ready capability and earned loyalty of those workers. Sure, your bed-pan example is a worst case job scenario, but that field of SSW is not restricted to only bed-pan level work, and surely there are companies who need quite a range of ready workforce for many tasks that would fit the same visa which can pay a decent wage for skilled labor which are not 'black companies'.
I'll try to introduce some of this into the discussions at my next informal soudan kikai. The shiyakusho team heree has been great at facilitating the network of contacts and interested parties which has enabled our current opportunities, and been very involved in every step from the moment we showed interest in living out here in the 'inaka'.
I think that a lot of them feel they should patriotically starve to death.
https://www.deseret.com/2007/10/12/20046650/starving-man-s-d...