Japan to restart accepting foreign workers for meal services at some facilities

The government plans to resume accepting foreign workers for meal services at medical and welfare facilities, as well as schools, as an emergency measure starting next April, it was announced Monday.

The government presented the plan at a related expert panel meeting on the day. It aims to adopt the plan at a Cabinet meeting in December.

The plan calls for moving meal services from the restaurant industry category to the food and beverage production category for Type 1 residency status for foreign workers with designated skills.

In April, the government suspended accepting foreign workers in the restaurant industry category as the number of Type 1 status holders in the category was approaching the upper limit of 50,000.

However, the shortage of meal service workers at hospitals and other facilities has worsened.

Since meal services primarily involve preparing ingredients and cooking, rather than interacting with customers, as is required in the restaurant business, the government has decided to incorporate these services into the food and beverage production category.

The upper limit for foreign workers in the food and beverage manufacturing category is 133,500. As of the end of July, the number of these workers stood at 76% of the limit. The agriculture ministry believes that the planned resumption is not expected to have a significant impact on the category.

The government also seeks to raise the upper limit on the number of Type 1 holders in the elderly care sector by 20,000 to 146,900 while maintaining the upper limit for the overall sector at 160,700.

The government plans to keep the upper limit for foreign nationals in all categories at 1,231,900 until the end of fiscal 2028, including 825,400 Type 1 holders and 406,500 workers under the Employment for Skill Development program, which begins next April.