TL;DR: Planning to move to Japan on an HSP visa (tech). I currently have a Bachelor's degree and I'm considering an MBA in Poland, but it’s issued as a postgraduate certificate rather than a full Master’s degree. I suspect it doesn't count for 25 HSP points, but I'm looking for some clarification or firsthand experience.
This is the scoring sheet I used for reference: https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/001398882.pdf
Holder of a master’s degree (including professional degrees) (See Note 7)
(Note 7) An additional 5 points will be awarded in cases where
the applicant is the holder of a professional degree in business
management (MBA, MOT).
Hi All.
I'm planning a move to Japan in ~5 years and aiming for the HSP (technical) visa. Long-term goal is 80 points to qualify for PR after 1 year.
Background:
- I'm a software engineer, current job title Principal Software Engineer, experience in backend, cloud, architecture.
- 35y/o, 40y/o by the time I'm planning to move
- 10y of experience now, 15y by the time I'm planning to move
- Bachelor's of Science degree (in another, non-IT field)
HSP points:
- 10pts for BsC
- 0pts for age
- 20pts for work experience
- 40 pts for salary – will be aiming hard for ¥10M+
- 0pts for Japanese – I am learning the language but unlikely to hit N2/N1 by that time
This gives me 70 points, assuming I will get a ¥10M job. To hit 80 points, I'm looking at getting a Master's degree (20 pts) or an MBA (25pts) instead of 10 for the BSc, which would additionally relax the salary requirement down to ¥9M.
I'm not particularly interested in a regular MSc – while I could do one, I'm already somewhat experienced in my field and it wouldn’t meaningfully impact my career. An MBA would be much more relevant, but I’m unclear how European postgraduate MBAs are evaluated.
The MBA I'm currently considering is a postgraduate study and is issued as a "Postgraduate Certificate / Diploma". I'm yet to confirm the exact wording with the university. Most, if not all, MBAs in my country are postgraduate studies which are not equivalent to a full Master's degree, which I understand is the case eg. in the US. This means I would technically have a Bachelor's of Science degree and an MBA Postgraduate Certificate.
Questions:
- Would such MBA count for the 25 HSP points, or is a formal Master's degree in a business/administration field required?
- Has anyone successfully used a European / non-Japan / non-US MBA for HSP points?
- Should I assume that this kind of MBA is not counted towards HSP at all?
I am worried this doesn't qualify for HSP and I will need to either do a MsC or chase an MBA in a country where it does count as a Master's degree rather than a postgraduate. I will be contacting a professional immigration advisor, but I don't have one yet – any recommendations welcome.
Thank you.
by the-kontra