Leaflet for Care Service Providers on Employment of Foreign Care Workers

Guidebook

Would you like to hire and work with foreign care workers?

Some care service providers are now employing foreigners as care workers. Those providers have commented that the workplace has becomecheerful, that it created a sense of unity among staff, and that the education of foreigners led to review of the quality of long-term care.
In addition, communicating the know-how and skills of Japanese long-term care to foreign care workers can lead to international contribution.
Would you like to hire and work with foreign care workers?

Four Systems for Employing Foreign Care Workers

There are four systems for employing foreign care workers as below. Please refer to the back for comparison of each system.

“Guidebook for Care Service
Providers on Employment ofForeign Care Workers ” introduces
detailed informationand case study on
the four systems foremploying foreigncare workers.

Points to note when hiring foreign care workers■To make sure that the users are comfortable, foreign care workers should

Employment of Certified
Care Worker Candidates
under Economic
Partnership Agreement(EPA)

Employment of foreigners
Nursing who graduated a certified
Care care worker training school
in Japan and have “NursingCare” status of residence

Technical Employment of foreigners
Intern using the Technical Intern
Training Program
Training(technical intern trainee)

Employment ofSpecified foreigners with
Skilled “Specified Skilled
Worker Worker (i)” status ofresidence

EPA aims to enhance economic
cooperation between Japan andthe partner country, accepting
certified care worker candidates
from Indonesia, Philippines andVietnam.
Care service providers can employ
these candidates.

Foreign students studying atJapanese certified care worker
training schools can obtain“Nursing Care” resident status
after graduating and obtaining
Certified Care Worker
qualification.
Care service providers canemploy these foreign nationals.

Technical Intern Training Programis a program intended fortransferring skills from Japan toother countries, by accepting
foreign nationals at Japaneseindustry for certain period tolearn skills and technologies, etc.,
through OJT.
Care service providers can employ
these technical intern trainees.

“Specified Skilled Worker (i)” isa s t at u s of r e s i d e nc e foraccepting foreign nationals forthe purpose of employment, tobe implemented from April 2019.
Care service providers can employ
for eign nationals who ar e
confirmed to have certain skill
level and Japanese language
proficiency with tests, etc.

Requirements“Graduated/completed nursing school/nursing course”, or “graduated university/
tertiary education organization andgovernment certified care worker athome country”*differs by country

Requirements(Requirement for entering trainingschool) Pass JLPT N2 or above, or study
at Japanese language education
organization for six months or longer
and can be confirmed to have JLPT
N2 equivalent or higher in Japanese
language tests, etc.

Requirements
Expected to engage in jobs requiring
acquired skills, etc., after returning tohome country; has experience in same
type of job as long-term care, etc.

Confirm skill level and Japanese
language proficiency with tests, etc.

Prior local selection bysending organization

Entry

workers are engaged in equivalent labor as Japanese, they should betreated the same.
■Confirm and respect the religion and culture, etc. of each foreign care worker.
■ Provide wide range of support including living aspects such as housing
support and administrative procedures, in addition to instruction andeducation on long-term care.
■Pay attention to residency management. Employment that differs from thecontents of application at the time of residency period renewal procedure,etc. (different job or hasty transfer between facilities, etc.), is not permitted.
■Understanding by co-workers who work together and provide educationis very important. Start hiring activity after providing detailed explanation
to the staff.
■When offering scholarship, etc. to foreign students attending certifiedcare worker training schools, etc., demanding employment by the careservice provider that offered the scholarship, etc. is not permitted.
■When offering casual employment to foreign students, relevant laws andregulations must be complied with. For example, hours of work must bewithin 28 hours per week.

Entry

Local interview, matching

Employment by Care Service Provider

Contact List for Employment of Foreign Care Workers

EPA

Japanese language training (6-12 months)
by Japanese language training
organization prior to entry and JLPT*Matching around this time

Entry

Training on Japanese language, etc.
by Japanese language training
organization (2.5-6 months) after entry

Employment/training byCare Service Provider
4th year from entry

Obtain Certified Care Worker qualification
by taking national examination

Continue employment as
Certified Care Worker*No limit to period of residence*differs by the school

Studying at certified care worker
training schools (some involve priorJapanese Language School attendance)

Local training and Japanese language
proficiency tests by sending organization
Entry

Obtain Certified Care Workerqualification

Training by supervising organization(two months in principle)

Employment by Care Service Provider(certified care worker training school
students may be employed on casual basis)

Training (employment) bycare service provider
At end of Written and practical exam
Year 1*No limit to period of residence

At end ofYear 3At end ofYear 5

Practical examination
Practical examination

Return to home country*Maximum of 5 year residence

Return to home country*Maximum of 5 year residence

acquire necessary level of Japanese language proficiency.

■Foreign care workers are not source of cheap labor. When foreign care

SystemDescription

Contact and Telephone Number

EPA

Employment ofCertified Care
Worker Candidates
under EPA

Japan International Corporation of Welfare
Services (JICWELS) Acceptance Support for
Foreign Professionals Department

Nursing
Care

Consultation on all
matters regarding
foreign students
aiming to become aCertified Care Worker

Japan Association of Training Institutions forCertified Care Workers, Helpline forInternational Students to Become Certified
Care Workers

TechnicalIntern
Training

Employment ofTechnical Intern
Trainees using theTechnical Intern
Training Program

TechnicalIntern
Training

Employment ofTechnical Intern
Trainees using theTechnical Intern
Training Program

HP03 - 6206 - 1138

0120 - 07- 8505

Organization for Technical Intern Training(OTIT) Call Center

03 - 3453 - 8000

Japan International Training Cooperation
Organization (JITCO) Technical Intern Training
Affairs Department, Consultancy Division

03 - 4306 - 1160

*For employment of foreigners with “Specified Skilled Worker (i)” status of residence,contact the Regional Immigration Bureau or District Immigration Office.

Summary of Four Systems for
Employing Foreign Care Workers•In this Leaflet, Foreign Care Worker refers to care workers
who are foreign nationals whose native language is notJapanese, such as foreign care worker employed as certifiedcare worker or certified care worker candidate under EPA;
foreign national with “Nursing Care” status of residence;
student under casual employment; and technical intern trainee.

EPA

Employment of Certified
Care Worker Candidates
under Economic Partnership
Agreement (EPA)

Employment of foreigners
who graduated a certified
Nursing care worker training school
in Japan and have
Care
“Nursing Care”
status of residence
Employment of foreigners
Technicalusing the Technical InternIntern
Training Program
Training (technical intern trainee)
Employment ofSpecified
foreigners withSkilled “Specified Skilled Worker (i)”Workerstatus of residence

Does the foreign care
worker available for
employment have

Does the foreign care
worker havequalification andstudy experiencein their homecountry?

What are the criteria forforeign care workers’

Permanent
employment
is possible

Graduate of nursing
related school or
has government
certification ascare worker inhome country

Vast majority has
about N3 levelat time of start of
employment *3

Certified
CareWorker

Permanent
employment
is possible

Dependingon theperson

N/A

5 years
maximum

Based on theselection criteriaof supervisingorganization

certified care
workerqualification?

N/AHowever,
the aim is to obtain
qualification

Eligible to takeexamination ifpracticalrequirements,
etc. are met

N/AEligible to takeexamination ifpracticalrequirements,
etc. are met

Can the foreign
care worker

workpermanently?
After obtaining
qualification,

if qualification is not obtained
within certain period,
return to home country*1*2

5 years
maximum

Dependingon theperson*1*2*1. Provided, however, status of residence “Nursing Care” can be selected when certification is obtained, enabling permanentemployment*2. Technical intern trainee who completed the third year is exempted from examination for obtaining “Specified Skilled Worker(i )” visa (if the status of residence is changed to “Specified Skilled Worker (i ),” maximum period of residence becomes tenyears, with technical intern and specified skills visas)*3. Requirement at time of entry is about N5 for Indonesian and Filipino nationals, but about 90% of Indonesian and Filipino candidates
acquire Japanese language skills of about N3 by the time six month Japanese language training is completed after entry (based onFY2018 data).
*4. “Some schools” refer to certified care worker training schools that require minimum Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT)
of N2 or confirmation of equivalent of N2 or higher level in Japanese language tests.

Japaneselanguage skills?

Requirements at time of entryfor Indonesia/Philippines:
about N5, Vietnam: N3Is there

support such as
acceptance
supportorganization?

Yes

Yes

N/A

N/A

Yes

Acceptance
support bysupervisingorganization

Requirements at time ofentry :• Certain level ofeveryday conversation
skills for living• Japanese language skills
necessary for working in
long-term carefor employment offoreign care workers?

Acceptance
support by
JICWELS

about N2 level

about N4 leveltypes ofservices

After obtaining certifiedcare worker qualification,
can engage in home-visit
services by providers
satisfying certain
conditions

Some schools *4
requireRequirements attime of entry is

Is there limitation toYes

Support byregisteredsupportingorganization

Yes

No home-visit services

Yes

No home-visit services■ Criteria for N1 to N5 in Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT )Japanese Language
Proficiency TestCriteria

Ability to understand Japanese used in a variety of circumstances
N1
Ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations, and in a variety of circumstances to a certain degree
N2
Ability to understand Japanese used in everyday situations to a certain degree
N3
Ability to understand basic Japanese
N4
Ability to understand some basic Japanese
N5
Qualification such as “about N4” refers to cases where the individual has passed JLPT N4 or is deemed to have equivalent skills.

Leaflet for Care Service Providers on Employment of Foreign Care Workers

Issued in March 2019Published by ■ Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd.

This Leaflet was prepared as part of the FY2018 MHLW subsidy for research study “Research on Establishment of Acceptance Environment for Foreign Care Workers.”