In March of last year, it was announced that Japanese policies had changed to allow immigrants to become permanent residents without waiting 10 years or longer. If you’re looking to run from the heat or rising cost of living, then Japan is the place for you. Read up below.

In 2012, the Ministry of Justice introduced a points-based system to shorten the wait for skilled individuals who were looking at residency. The system is broken up into three different categories: advanced academic research activities, advanced specialised/technical activities, and advanced business-management activities. If applicants scored enough points they could obtain residency in five years. This has now changed.

Updating the scoring system, those applicants who score 70 points only have to wait for three years and if you were to score over 80 points, you may only have to wait for a mere 12 months.

The change in scoring has been adjusted in the hopes that the country can introduce highly-skilled overseas workers.

The scoring system is based on a few categories including academic background, career achievements, salary, age, licenses, position, and special achievements. For example, having a PhD will score an extra 10 points higher than a masters degree and those with a large income can also gain points. If we have you interested, detailed information can be found here.