Vietnamese workers in Japan have been sending out SOS calls. All of them came to Japan under a visa category for skilled workers, and many now face serious problems under the current system.

Win-win situation

More foreign workers are coming to Japan with the visa status called "Engineer/Specialist in humanities/International services." Their number has tripled over the past decade to over 400 thousand.

The visa covers a variety of professions, including business managers, engineers and interpreters. Applicants must have either a college degree or at least 10 years of work experience.

Takasago Fluidic Systems, a parts manufacturer in Nagoya City, employs 12 skilled workers from overseas. The company makes various products including valves, pumps, and fluid systems for aerospace, cell culture, and medical fields.

Nguyen Dang Dung studied machinery engineering at a university in Vietnam. He is responsible for programming machines to make precision parts for medical equipment and rockets.

"There are many things to learn from Japanese technology. It's a rewarding experience," says Nguyen.

The company says it also benefits from employing workers like Nguyen.

"By hiring people from various countries, we get to learn about overseas markets and use that knowledge to expand our company globally," says Nakano Saki, one of the company's human resources professionals.

Unpaid wages

While the visa system seems to work well for some employees and companies, individual experiences vary. Other Vietnamese workers have been speaking up about the problems they face.

A video posted on social media last December reveals some of these issues.

The video shows Vietnamese workers calling on a staff agency to give them their unpaid wages. Some say they were forced to engage in work that did not meet the requirements for residential status.

Problems among people hired with this visa category have been increasing, according to the Japan Vietnam Tomoiki Association, a non-profit organization in Tokyo which supports Vietnamese workers.

"I've been surprised to have so many young people coming to us who have lost their jobs and need help," says Yoshimizu Jiho, the representative director of the association.

She says job mismatches between the visa requirement and the actual work have also led to problems.

One of the organization's clients came to Japan from Vietnam as a skilled worker, after she paid more than 7,000 dollars as a commission fee to a broker.

She says the company that hired the client put her to work cleaning restaurants and hotels. She claims it then stopped giving her any assignments at all and she could no longer support herself.

"This kind of work has to be done by people who came to Japan under the technical intern training program," Yoshimizu says, not by skilled worker visa holders. She says such situations could be illegal.

Yoshimizu also emphasizes the lack of a proper support system for the people with this visa. The category does not require a high level of language ability, and some can't speak any Japanese.

NHK World followed Yoshimizu in March as she visited a 33-year-old Vietnamese man who lost his job and was not paid wages for three months of work.

She suggested that he change his visa category to find another job, as he lacks Japanese language skills. But he says he is reluctant to do so. He says the visa for skilled workers allows his wife to stay in Japan with him, while other types of visas would not.

"I can't make a living now. All I need is a job. I will do anything if someone hires me," he says.

Yoshimizu says the language barrier is often a source of problems.

"I found that many of them can't speak Japanese at all. Some companies end up taking advantage of them, and there's no place within the working visa system to provide the support they need. If something happens, it ends up becoming a major problem," she says.

Less oversight

One expert says problems among skilled worker visa holders have been rising since the government imposed stricter regulations on its technical trainee program, which is scheduled to get a complete overhaul by 2027. Some companies turned to the skilled worker visa category to fill their jobs.

"Some businesses struggling with serious labor shortages are taking advantage of a loophole in the system for skilled workers," says Ikebe Shoichiro, a consultant knowledgeable about employment issues faced by foreigners.

He says some Vietnamese workers with this visa category paid high commission fees to brokers, only to be assigned jobs different from their area of expertise.

"This visa category has been a new option for them to hire people from overseas, which is easier to apply for and has less oversight," Ikebe says.

The Japanese Immigration Services Agency has said it is aware of issues such as unpaid salaries and job mismatches. It says it is considering measures such as on-site inspections of businesses suspected of failing to follow the rules.

As Japan opens its doors to more foreign workers to help solve its labor shortage, experts say these workers need a safety net. They say the country's current visa system needs more oversight. (NHK WORLD)

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