Japan implements language proficiency requirements for certain visa applicants

Post by andsoitis » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 10:21 PM UTC

Mainan_Tagonist wrote: post #39

kyleee wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Don't muslim citizens and foreign residents in Switzerland enjoy more rights than in pretty much any Muslim country? There is definitely some hostility to some aspects of Islam, aspects which seem to only recently have become central to the exercise of worship for some (the veiling of women for instance), yet this has not translated to some outright discrimination of muslims. Bosnian and Albanian immigrants for insta…

Post by platinumrad » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 10:33 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #56

GuB-42 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switzerland has a fertility rate of about 1.4 and decreasing, unless they do something, there won't be much of a country left in a few generations. Solutions can involve immigration or natalism, but something has to change. Japan is worse.

I don’t know anything about Switzerland, but immigration isn’t a solution to the prospect of Japan “not having a country left in a few generations.” There might be more or fewer people living on the islands, but “Japan” will be gone either way.

Post by m463 » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #52

freetime2 wrote: post #28

As someone who has been living in Japan for years now, and still has a long way to go learning the language, I generally support language proficiency requirements. First, it should be noted that these are fairly common sense requirements designed to reduce fraud - requiring people applying for work visas that require Japanese proficiency to actually be able to speak Japanese. I suspect there will be more requirements…

I did two years in Lausanne without speaking French and 9 years in Beijing with…maybe 2nd year proficiency in Chinese (better than most foreigners, but hardly fluent!). You can totally live in society without fluency, Switzerland being harder only because I never studied French before. If you are doing work with a world market, you are kind of expected to speak the language of that work and not necessarily the countr…

Post by felipeerias » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 11:01 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #56

GuB-42 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switzerland has a fertility rate of about 1.4 and decreasing, unless they do something, there won't be much of a country left in a few generations. Solutions can involve immigration or natalism, but something has to change. Japan is worse.

I don’t know anything about Switzerland, but immigration isn’t a solution to the prospect of Japan “not having a country left in a few generations.” There might be more or fewer people living on the islands, but “Japan” will be gone either way.

Post by TitaRusell » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC

vr46 wrote: post #32

kakacik wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not shocking, I see it implemented ie in Switzerland, where half of the world tries to get in. Since each part has their own language and none of that is english, its pretty important to exist in society for anything but brief visitors. Its not restrictive as this (B2 is pretty high level in any language, here its weak B1) and resefved for 'higher' permits like C, for which you anyway need 10 years of residency i…

Except the Swiss are total arseholes about it, they won't even grant citizenship to people born there or who've lived there for twenty years and speak the language. Many want to cap total population at 10 million, we'll see what happens in June. And twelve years ago, the Swiss voted to restrict EU FoM for itself and the backlash was instant. Can't blame the government, this is the Swiss voting public doing their best…