📑 Visa & Law
What Is the Training Employment (Ikusei Shuro) System? — How Technical Intern Training Is Changing
Starting April 2027 — what current trainees need to know
📖 8 min read📅 2026-07-16
"Is it true that technical intern training is going away?"
Htet (23) from Yangon, Myanmar works as a Technical Intern Training Level 2 trainee at a food processing factory in Ibaraki. One night in 2026, messages started flowing through his hometown friends' group chat.
"They say the Technical Intern Training program is being abolished." "I heard all the trainees will be sent home."
Htet was in his second year of training. He had just started thinking about whether to advance to Level 3 in a year, or switch to Specified Skilled Worker. And now the program itself might disappear? What would happen to him? He hadn't even finished repaying the fees he paid to his sending organization. He couldn't sleep that night.
The next week, he worked up the courage to ask his supervising organization's representative. The answer was completely different from the rumors in the chat.
"The program is changing into a new system called 'Ikusei Shuro' (Training Employment). But people in training now can continue their training as is. And the new system has a lot of changes that favor workers."
On April 1, 2027, the Technical Intern Training program will be reborn as the Training Employment (Ikusei Shuro) System. This schedule is already fixed by law and cabinet order. "Everyone gets sent home" is false. And under the new system, the rule that has hurt technical intern trainees the most — "in principle, no job changes" — is changing in a big way.
What exactly changes? What should current trainees do? Here is the accurate information, in FAQ form.
The following is based on the laws, cabinet orders, and Q&A published by the Immigration Services Agency (as of June 2026). Detailed numbers vary by sector, so for the exact conditions in your own sector, check with the consultation services introduced at the end.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Q.What is the Training Employment system? How is it different from Technical Intern Training?
A.It's the new residence status and system replacing Technical Intern Training, starting April 1, 2027 (the start date was fixed by cabinet order in September 2025). The biggest difference is the purpose. Technical Intern Training was officially framed as "international contribution — taking the skills you learned back to your home country." Training Employment's official purpose is to "develop people to the Specified Skilled Worker Level 1 standard over 3 years, so they keep working in Japan's labor-shortage sectors." In other words, it is a system built from the start on the premise of building a career in Japan.
Q.I'm in technical intern training right now. What happens to me? Will I be sent home?
A.You will not be sent home. Technical intern trainees residing in Japan as of April 1, 2027 can continue their training as is, based on their current training plan (this is fixed by transitional provisions in the law). Moving from Technical Intern Training Level 2 to Level 3 will also be allowed within a certain scope (to advance to Level 3, conditions include having engaged in Level 2 activities for at least 1 year as of April 1, 2027). Social media rumors like "everyone will be sent home" or "you'll be forcibly moved to the new system" are wrong.
Q.I heard "job changes will become possible." Is that true?
A.It's true — and it's the biggest change. Under Technical Intern Training, changing employers (tenseki) was in principle not allowed. Under Training Employment, two routes are recognized. ① Transfer due to "unavoidable circumstances" such as violence, harassment, or unpaid wages — the recognized scope is wider than before, and the procedure becomes more flexible. ② Transfer at your own request — within the same work category, it becomes possible if you meet these conditions: (a) you have worked at the same company beyond 1–2 years (the period is set per sector), (b) you have passed an exam such as the Basic Grade skills test, (c) you have passed the Japanese language test set for your sector (around A1–A2 level), and (d) the company you transfer to is a sound company that complies with the law.
Q.I'm anxious about the new Japanese language requirements. What level is required?
A.The requirements come in stages. ① Before starting work: pass a Japanese test at A1 level or above (such as JLPT N5), or complete at least 100 hours of instruction at an accredited Japanese language institution. ② When transferring at your own request: pass the A1–A2-level test set for your sector. ③ When moving to Specified Skilled Worker Level 1 after 3 years: pass a test at A2 level or above (such as JLPT N4), plus a skills exam such as Skills Test Grade 3. A high level is not demanded from the start — the system is designed for raising your level step by step while you work.
Q.If I can't pass the exams within 3 years, do I have to go home?
A.Not immediately. If you fail the exams, the announced policy is to allow continued residence (an extension) of up to 1 year, during which you can retake them. Also note: moving from Training Employment to Specified Skilled Worker Level 1 requires passing both the skills exam and the Japanese exam (the "exam waiver" that existed for transitions from Technical Intern Training will, in principle, not exist from Training Employment). Preparing on a clear plan within your 3 years is what matters.
Q.What happens to the debt for coming to Japan (fees paid to sending organizations)?
A.Under the new system, there will be a cap on the fees you personally pay to a sending organization. The cap is "the equivalent of 2 months of the monthly salary (regular monthly pay) paid by your accepting company" — any costs beyond that must be borne by the accepting company or the supervising support organization. This is a head-on countermeasure to the biggest problem of the technical intern training era: arriving in Japan under heavy debt and being unable to quit even when you want to.
Q.Who do I turn to when I'm in trouble? Are supervising organizations going away?
A.Supervising organizations will become a new framework called "supervising support organizations" (kanri shien kikan). Licensing becomes stricter and external auditors become mandatory, strengthening their role of protecting trainees and Training Employment workers independently from the accepting companies. The Organization for Technical Intern Training (OTIT) will also be reorganized into the Organization for Training Employment of Foreign Nationals, with transfer support and consultation assistance officially added to its duties. If something is troubling you right now, contact the consultation services below (your own language OK, free) anytime.
🤝 Where to get help (free, multilingual, anonymous OK)
Organization for Technical Intern Training (OTIT) — Native-Language Consultation
Consult in your own language about technical intern training worries (wages, violence, changing training sites, and more). Consultation via web form is also OK.
🌐 Vietnamese, Chinese, Indonesian, Tagalog, Burmese, Nepali, and more ⏰ Days vary by language / Free
📝 Contact via web →FRESC — Foreign Residents Support Center (Ministry of Justice)
Comprehensive consultation on residence status, transitioning to the new system, and labor issues.
🌐 English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, and 10 other languages ⏰ Mon–Fri 9:00–17:00
📝 Contact via web →📞 0570-011000
