Ikusei Shuro Construction 2027: 123,500 Places, 3 Extra Gates

Construction was given the largest ikusei shuro intake of any sector, and it is the one wrapped in the most rules. Take 建設 (kensetsu) work under 育成就労 (ikusei shuro, the status replacing technical intern training) or 特定技能 (tokutei ginou, specified skilled worker) and you meet paperwork nobody in a food factory or care home sees: a plan a minister must approve, a government card carrying your skills and site history, and an industry body billing your employer monthly for you.

Those layers are not decoration: construction has the worst fatal-accident record of any industry in Japan. Here is each layer in order, and what to check on your contract, payslip and site.

Why construction has more gates than any other sector

Japan is projected to need about 3.12 million construction skilled workers in FY2028 and to have 2.76 million; even after productivity gains, roughly 200,000 are still missing (Cabinet decision, 23 January 2026), and of 4.78 million construction workers in 2025, 36.6% were already 55 or older (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 3 April 2026).

Hence the biggest quota — and the extra conditions. Employers must hold a construction business licence, because, in the government’s own words, absconding was frequent in construction occupations under the technical intern programme (Immigration Services Agency). Three things then exist in construction and nowhere else:

• An acceptance plan approved by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (建設特定技能受入計画), with seven criteria.
• CCUS registration — for the company and for you personally. This one applies under ikusei shuro too.
• Membership of JAC (建設技能人材機構), which collects a monthly levy per worker — a levy you must never be made to pay.

Already a technical intern here? See what happens to interns after April 2027 and the main ikusei shuro guide.

The three work categories, and the skill ladder

Construction’s 19 narrow job categories were consolidated into three (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), which matters for one practical reason: your category sets the range within which you can later change employers.

They classify the nature of the work, not the type of site, so you may work on any site as long as the work falls inside your approved category. The ladder below is your timetable.

Roughly, A1 compares to JLPT N5, A2 to N4 and B1 to N3 (Immigration Services Agency, December 2025), and JAC publishes free study texts in 15 languages, though the test itself is in Japanese. Both statuses are limited to direct employment, with dispatch (haken) not permitted (Cabinet decision, 23 January 2026), so an offer to set you up as self-employed is not legal on your visa.

Gate 1: the acceptance plan a minister has to approve

Under specified skilled worker status your employer needs a 建設特定技能受入計画 (construction acceptance plan) approved by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism under Notification No. 357 of 2019 before you start work. No other sector has this, and the seven criteria (JAC) matter because five are promises made about you:

1. It holds a construction business licence (Construction Business Act, Article 3(1)).
2. It and you are both registered in CCUS.
3. It belongs to JAC or a JAC member trade association and follows the code of conduct.
4. You are paid at least as much as a Japanese worker with equivalent skills, stably, with raises as your skills develop.
5. Wages and other key terms are explained in advance, in writing, in a language you fully understand.
6. It sends you to the training the minister designates after you arrive.
7. It cooperates with patrol visits by the state or FITS.

It must also issue you a written certificate of your work experience on request (Cabinet decision, 23 January 2026) — the document proving your years when you change employer. If you are moving up from technical intern training, the plan can be applied for from six months before your stay expires, so “paperwork later” is a warning sign, not a schedule.

And under ikusei shuro? The picture is unfinished, so be wary of anyone who sounds certain. In the Immigration Services Agency’s table of sector standards, the ministerial acceptance plan and JAC membership appear in the specified skilled worker column only; the ikusei shuro side instead has a plan approved by the new national ikusei shuro body (外国人育成就労機構) plus membership of the construction ikusei shuro council, with JAC members deemed to have joined. Ikusei shuro guidance for construction was unpublished when this was written, so do not assume the ministerial plan disappears. Ask which plan covers you, and to see the approval.

Gate 2: CCUS registration, for the company and for you

CCUS (建設キャリアアップシステム, the Construction Career Up System) is a national database of construction workers: a card and an ID accumulating your qualifications, sites and experience across four levels (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism). Company and worker must both register — and unlike gate 1, this is stated for ikusei shuro too: under ikusei shuro as well, companies must be registered in CCUS and workers must be registered in CCUS (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 3 April 2026). The purpose is to let pay follow objective skill and experience, and each site verify residence status and safety qualifications.

One detail decides more than it looks: registration comes as a simplified type at ¥2,500 or a detailed type at ¥4,900, and only the detailed type allows a level assessment (CCUS). On the simplified type you cannot be levelled, and because the published income targets attach to levels, that quietly caps your pay case. JAC supports CCUS fees for foreign workers (FY2025 JAC business plan), so ask before paying yourself.

Gate 3: JAC, and the ¥12,500 a month that is not yours to pay

JAC (建設技能人材機構) was registered by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in 2019 as the body implementing acceptance of specified skilled foreign workers in construction. The number to memorise: it bills employers an acceptance levy (受入負担金) of ¥12,500 per month for each SSW1 worker, about ¥150,000 a year (JAC), and states the rule plainly — the levy must not be borne by the SSW1 worker, whether directly or indirectly.

So read your payslip. Look for a deduction near ¥12,500, or a line labelled association fee, membership fee, support fee, or an unexplained “management” charge. It should not be there. Not theoretical, either: inspectors found a construction firm illegally deducting rent, utilities and tool costs from specified skilled workers’ wages with no labour-management agreement, then paying about ¥120,000 in unpaid overtime premiums (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 26 September 2025). Deductions are not something an employer may simply decide — see ikusei shuro wages, deductions and equal pay and recovering unpaid wages. If a payslip line makes no sense, ask someone already doing this work on LO-PAL before you accept it.

It runs both ways: JAC provides free Japanese courses and free safety education in your own language, on 0120-220353, weekdays 9:00–17:30.

Pay: why construction must pay you by the month

Construction goes beyond “at least the minimum wage”: the standards require a monthly salary, for a refreshingly direct stated reason — under a daily-rate system wages are swung by the season and by how much work the company has won, so a monthly salary system is required in order to pay stably every month (Immigration Services Agency). It appears in both the specified skilled worker and the ikusei shuro columns. Pay must also be at least equal to a Japanese worker with equivalent skills, with raises as skills develop (Cabinet decision, 23 January 2026), and for specified skilled worker level 1, pay below three years’ worth of raises is not accepted as equal, since SSW1 workers are treated as already having that experience (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism).

Three published numbers get quoted at workers, and they measure different things:

• Sector average pay: ¥4.65 million a year for production workers in construction in 2025, against ¥5.45 million across all industries excluding non-regular workers (3 April 2026) — about 85% of the all-industry figure, and an average for all construction production workers, overwhelmingly Japanese, not for foreign workers on these statuses.
• Level-based income targets: nationally ¥5.23 million or more at CCUS level 1, rising to ¥7.19 million or more at level 4 (December 2025). They carry no legal force — the document says so — but sit inside a labour-cost standard recommended by the Central Construction Business Council on 2 December 2025, under which firms paying below the standard value are checked for labour-cost dumping.
• The public-works labour unit price: ¥25,834 per day as a national weighted average from March 2026, above ¥25,000 for the first time (17 February 2026). This is not a daily wage: the ministry states it excludes personnel costs the employer must bear. Nobody is promising you ¥25,834 a day.

The overtime cap has applied to construction only since April 2024 — one reason unpaid overtime keeps surfacing in inspections.

Safety: construction is Japan’s deadliest sector, plainly stated

You deserve real numbers, not a reassuring paragraph. In 2025, 700 workers died in workplace accidents in Japan and 214 of them — 30.6%, more than any other industry — were in construction (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, confirmed figures, 27 May 2026). The biggest killer is falling: 91 of those 214 deaths, 42.5%, were falls from height, and falls were also the largest injury category, 4,343 of construction’s 13,437 injuries with four or more days off.

For foreign workers, the 2024 picture: of 39 foreign workers who died at work, 13 (33.3%) were in construction, the highest of any industry; of 6,244 injured, 1,165 (18.7%) were in construction; and across all industries the injury rate per 1,000 workers was 3.98 for technical interns and 3.91 for specified skilled workers against 2.3 for all workers in Japan (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) — roughly 1.7 times the national rate.

Then the compliance record, which nobody raises at interview. Of construction workplaces with specified skilled foreign workers inspected in 2024, 710 of 876 — 81.1%, the worst of the five main sectors — were in violation of labour standards legislation, the top findings being overtime premium pay (214 cases), safety standards (181) and failure to act on health-check results (148) (26 September 2025). In fairness, inspections target workplaces already suspected of violations, so that is not the industry’s overall violation rate. It does tell you that if something looks wrong on your site, you are probably right.

What you can do:

• Take the training you are owed. Ikusei shuro in construction carries a sector-specific condition that safety and health training must be included in the post-entry course, and every SSW1 worker must attend the FITS start-up seminar, roughly three to six months after arrival. JAC adds free safety education in your language. Not trained for a task? Say so first.
• Refuse work you are not trained and equipped for. Working at height without a harness, anchor point or guard rail is not a test of toughness — it is the exact circumstance behind that 42.5%.
• Know that injury is compensated. Workers’ accident compensation insurance covers you whatever your nationality or status, and the industry code requires prime contractors to ensure it applies to specified skilled foreign workers on their sites. See how to claim rosai, including what to do if your employer discourages filing.
• Report, in your language. FITS runs a mother-tongue hotline in seven languages — Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Filipino, English, Khmer and Myanmar — by phone, fax (03-6206-8889) and email (hotline@fits.or.jp). For wages and hours, see filing a labour office complaint and your rights as a worker.

Changing employers: two years, and the reasons given

Unlike technical intern training, ikusei shuro lets you change employer by choice once a restriction period ends. The basic policy aims at one year but lets each sector set one to two years for now (Immigration Services Agency). In construction the sector period is two years, the top of that range: the construction policy sets the transfer restriction period at two years (Cabinet decision, 23 January 2026). It is not automatically two at every company, though: where a sector is given a period longer than one year, the employer may decide to set one year instead (Immigration Services Agency, ikusei shuro Q&A), so ask which period your employer applies before you sign. Four reasons are given, better read as a description of the job than as bureaucracy: the skills take time; projects often run over a year; rural turnover is higher; and foreign workers’ accident rate in construction is higher than in other industries, so safety and health education needs a certain amount of time.

So the rule holding you in place exists partly because the work is dangerous. Something is given back: the construction sector council will publish a pay-rise rate each year based on the industry’s average wage increase, and an employer setting a restriction longer than one year must raise the worker’s scheduled wages from year one to year two by at least that rate. No figure exists yet, since the system starts in April 2027 — but once published it is a number you can hold your employer to.

Transfers are also limited to the same work category, another reason to check which category your contract names, and moving by choice needs the basic-grade skill test plus Japanese at A2.1 or above. Transfers for unavoidable circumstances such as abuse or unpaid wages are a separate route, not gated behind the two years.

You may see figures circulating about caps on how many transferring workers a company may receive, or on city firms taking workers from rural areas. Those come from an expert panel’s discussion materials, not confirmed regulations, so we do not state them as rules. Our guide to ikusei shuro job transfer rights tracks the cross-sector position, and ikusei shuro in manufacturing shows how the same two-year setting plays out in another sector.

After three years: specified skilled worker 1, then 2

The designed route is three years of ikusei shuro, then specified skilled worker level 1 for up to five years, then level 2 with no limit on renewals; SSW1 does not allow family to accompany you, while SSW2 allows a spouse and children if the requirements are met (Immigration Services Agency, December 2025). Fail the SSW1 test and you may be allowed one more year to retake it.

The long route demonstrably works here. At 31 December 2025 there were 49,323 SSW1 workers in construction and 1,799 SSW2 workers — 22.6% of every SSW2 resident in Japan, the second largest share of any field (Immigration Services Agency). Getting there means becoming a team leader: JAC describes the SSW2 requirement as team-leader or foreman experience for a ministry-defined six months to three years. In the ministry’s worked career plan, CCUS level, Japanese and trade qualifications rise together, reaching CCUS level 4 and JLPT N2 at SSW2 — which is why the registration type at gate 2 matters. See our specified skilled worker guide and the route from ikusei shuro to permanent residence.

Where you will work, and what we would check first

An honest note on geography: Japan publishes no prefecture-level counts for construction on its own. The prefecture table covers all fields combined — Aichi 29,854, Osaka 25,471, Tokyo 25,451, Saitama 24,518 and Chiba 23,560 lead it at 31 December 2025 — so anyone telling you construction workers concentrate in one prefecture is going past the data. The policy does require measures to prevent excessive concentration in major metropolitan areas.

Geography does show in pay. CCUS income figures are published by region, and the spread is wide: the level 1 target is ¥5.59 million in Kanto against ¥4.46 million in Chugoku, and at level 4 ¥7.69 million against ¥6.13 million. Living costs move too, so a higher target is not automatically a better life. For the practical side, see Tokyo, Saitama and Chiba.

What we would check first:

• The written explanation of your contract in your own language. An approval criterion, not a favour.
• Your CCUS card and registration type. Without the detailed type you cannot be assessed for a level.
• Your payslip, line by line. Monthly salary, not a daily rate; no deduction near ¥12,500; every deduction resting on a labour-management agreement.
• Your safety training record. Had the post-entry safety course or the FITS seminar? Do you have equipment for work at height?
• The FITS annual visit. FITS visits every accepting company at least once a year, and cooperating is a condition of the employer’s approval — your chance to raise something with an outsider in the room.

Construction holds more than a fifth of Japan’s SSW2 residents on a status they can renew indefinitely, and offers more ikusei shuro places than any other sector. It also killed 214 people in 2025. Both are true, and what sits between them, for you, is paperwork, training and speaking up early. On LO-PAL you can ask about your own contract and sector before a problem becomes a dispute. Rules below the Cabinet decision are still being finalised, so confirm with the Immigration Services Agency, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism or FITS before acting.

Frequently asked questions

When does ikusei shuro start in construction, and can I come earlier?

Ikusei shuro starts on 1 April 2027. The construction sector’s ikusei shuro allocation of 123,500 people covers the two years from FY2027, so nobody enters Japan on this status before then. Until then technical intern training continues, and transitional rules apply to interns already in Japan. Lower-level operational rules are still being finalised, so confirm the current position with the Immigration Services Agency.

Is my employer really required to pay me a monthly salary in construction?

Yes. The sector-specific standards require a monthly salary system in construction under both specified skilled worker and ikusei shuro. The official reason is that under a daily-rate system wages swing with the season and with how much work the company has won, so a monthly salary is required to pay stably every month. Pay must also be at least equal to that of a Japanese worker with equivalent skills, paid stably, with raises as skills develop.

My payslip shows a deduction of about ¥12,500. Is that the JAC fee?

It should not be on your payslip at all. JAC charges the employer an acceptance levy of ¥12,500 per month for each SSW1 worker (about ¥150,000 a year) and states that the levy must not be borne by the worker, directly or indirectly. Any deduction from wages needs a proper legal basis such as a labour-management agreement. Ask for a written explanation, and if you do not get one, contact the FITS mother-tongue hotline or your Labour Standards Inspection Office.

When can I change employers in construction under ikusei shuro?

The construction sector policy sets the transfer restriction period at two years (Cabinet decision of 23 January 2026), the top of the one-to-two-year range. Where a sector is given a period longer than one year, the Immigration Services Agency states that the employer may decide to set one year instead, so ask which period your employer applies. You also need the basic-grade national trade skill test and Japanese at A2.1 or above, and you must move within the same work category (civil engineering, building, or lifeline and equipment). Transfers for unavoidable circumstances such as abuse or unpaid wages are a separate route and are not subject to the two-year period.

How dangerous is construction work in Japan?

It is the most dangerous major sector. Construction accounted for 214 of Japan’s 700 workplace deaths in 2025, more than any other industry, and 42.5% of those deaths were falls from height. Among foreign workers in 2024, construction accounted for 13 of 39 deaths and 1,165 of 6,244 injuries, and technical interns and specified skilled workers were injured at roughly 1.7 times the rate of all workers in Japan. Take every safety course you are entitled to, and refuse tasks you have not been trained or equipped for.

Do I need my own CCUS registration, or is the company’s enough?

Both are required in construction: the company and the individual foreign worker must each be registered in the Construction Career Up System, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism states this applies under ikusei shuro as well as specified skilled worker. Ask whether you were registered under the simplified type (¥2,500) or the detailed type (¥4,900) — only the detailed type allows a level assessment, and levels are what the published income targets are attached to. JAC offers support toward these fees.

Can I bring my family to Japan on these statuses?

Not during ikusei shuro or specified skilled worker level 1. Specified skilled worker level 2 allows a spouse and children if the requirements are met, and it can be renewed without a limit on the number of renewals. Construction holds the second-largest share of SSW2 residents of any field. Reaching SSW2 requires the construction SSW2 evaluation test or a grade 1 trade skill test, Japanese at B1 level, and practical experience as a team leader.