Japan needs more foreign workers but many feel unwelcome

Published 26 June 2026 · india

While Japan faces a deepening labor shortage and growing demand for foreign workers, it has been moving to tighten visa rules and regulations. "I was

While Japan faces a deepening labor shortage and growing demand for foreign workers, it has been moving to tighten visa rules and regulations. "I was shocked. It is too much to pay 100,000 yen to extend my visa every three years," said Srijana Sunar, a 29-year-old Nepali woman who has been working at factories in Japan since 2018. She earns 145,000 yen ($900/€790) per month. In late May, the Japanese government enacted a bill raising the maximum fee for changing residency status or extending a period of stay tenfold from the current 10,000 yen to 100,000 yen by the end of March 2027. Srijana's husband, Spandan Sunar, who has worked in Japan since 2016 at a transportation company and a Japanese language school, told DW his long-term efforts have "not been rewarded" by Japanese society. "We are not newcomers. We have proper visa status, we follow the rules and we pay taxes, but our freedom to choose jobs and working conditions is very limited," he said in fluent Japanese. The young couple, who were married in Japan in 2022, hope to apply for permanent residency, but only if they can afford it. Under the same bill, the upper limit for permanent residency permit fees would be raised from 10,000 yen to 300,000 yen. This poses another big hurdle for the couple, as an annual individual income of more than 3 million yen has been generally regarded by most applicants as a requirement for permanent residency. Spandan Sunar and Srijana Sunar from Nepal say they have little choice but to stay in Japan Image: Srijana Suna Demographic decline in Japan As of April 2025, Japanese nationals numbered some 119.7 million, down 941,000 from a year earlier, according to the Statistics Bureau of Japan. Meanwhile, the number of foreign nationals in Japan has been rising at a pace that offsets roughly 40% of that decline.

According to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan, there were around 4.125 million foreign nationals in the country at the end of 2025, an increase of over 356,000 from the previous year. "Foreign workers are indispensable. Without them, society would not function," Toshihiro Menju, an expert on Japanese immigration policy, told DW. "It is impossible to fully make up for labor shortages through women's participation or the use of robots alone," said Menju, who is also a visiting professor at the Kansai University of International Studies. "The reality is that the number of foreign workers has been increasing across sectors, from highly skilled professions to frontline caregiving fields. The people who support the fundamental infrastructure of society are declining," he added. Japanese 'cafe movement' tackling loneliness, poverty To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Japan moves to tighten immigration policies In January 2026, the administration of Japanese Prime Minister agreed on a package of stricter measures regarding foreign nationals. The name of the package translates to "comprehensive measures for acceptance and coexistence of foreign nationals." It comes after the government established a "Headquarters for Foreign Nationals Policy" in November 2025. The tightened measures include doubling the residency requirement for naturalization to 10 consecutive years and introducing Japanese language proficiency requirements for permanent residency. "Many of our systems were not designed with such a large number of foreign visitors and residents in mind," Takashi Yamashita, a lawmaker from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who serves as a chair of one of the project teams under the Headquarters for Foreign Nationals Policy, told DW. "We draw a clear line; we will firmly support those who use the system correctly, while taking a firm stance against misuse, overuse and abuse. We work to eliminate the public sense of unfairness," said Yamashita. "It is also important to create an environment where legal foreign residents who seek to contribute to Japanese society can live with peace of mind and thrive as members of local communities," he added.