Japan stopped new Specified Skilled Worker (i) intake in food service in April 2026, after the sector came close to the 50,000-worker cap. Now the government is weighing a partial reopening. According to the Mainichi Shimbun on 13 October 2026, officials plan to move meal preparation at hospitals, welfare facilities and schools into the food and beverage manufacturing field, which still has room under the quota system.
Restaurants and pubs stay closed to new foreign hires under the plan. The proposal is not yet law. Officials intend to present the quota merger to an expert panel within October and aim for a Cabinet decision by the end of 2026.
What the government is proposing
Under the current rules, meal preparation counts as a food service job for Specified Skilled Worker (i), or SSW(i), status. A cook at a ramen shop and a cook preparing lunch at a nursing home fall under the same field and the same cap. Once the food service field filled up, hospitals, care homes and school kitchens lost access to new foreign staff along with restaurants.
The proposal splits those two groups. Meal service work at medical and welfare facilities and schools would move into food and beverage manufacturing, the field covering food factories. Restaurants and other eating and drinking establishments would stay in food service, where the suspension of new acceptances continues.
The timeline reported by the Mainichi:
- October 2026: the quota merger proposal goes to an expert panel.
- By the end of 2026: the government aims for a Cabinet decision.
- After the decision: intake of meal preparation workers for hospitals, welfare facilities and schools resumes.
Why food service hit the wall
In January 2026, the government set the SSW(i) acceptance cap through the end of fiscal 2028 at 805,700 people across all fields. The food service share was 50,000.
On 27 March 2026, the Immigration Services Agency (ISA) reported about 46,000 SSW(i) residents in food service at the end of February (preliminary figure) and projected the field would pass the cap around May. Under Article 7-2, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, a temporary suspension of Certificate of Eligibility (COE) issuance applies when a field is expected to exceed the cap. The ISA and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) put the measure in place from 13 April 2026.
By the end of July, Japan had about 430,000 SSW(i) residents in total (preliminary). Food service accounted for 49,290 of them, or 98.6% of the cap. Medical and welfare operators then made a series of appeals about severe labour shortages. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare ran a fact-finding survey, since gaps in hospital and care home meal service hit patients and residents who depend on those kitchens every day.
The catch: manufacturing is filling up too
The receiving field is not empty. According to the Mainichi, 101,922 foreign residents worked in food and beverage manufacturing as of the end of July, against a cap of 133,500. The paper warns the field stands ready to hit the limit at an early stage. Adding hospital, care home and school kitchens to the same pool speeds up the count.
The official ssw.go.jp portal separately lists expected numbers of 53,000 for food service and 139,000 for food and beverage manufacturing for April 2024 to March 2029. These planning figures differ from the operational caps behind the current suspension.
Which applications still move today
The ISA status page for food service SSW(i), last posted on 10 September 2026, sets out the current position:
- COE applications from overseas: change of status cases get priority. COEs are issued in order of receipt when monthly resident numbers allow. As of the 10 September update, issuance covered applications received up to 31 January 2026. COE applications received on or after 13 April 2026 are not issued.
- Change of status from Technical Intern Training (medical and welfare facility meal production): granted for applications received up to 31 August 2026.
- Change of status from Designated Activities (preparation for SSW(i)) in food service: granted for applications received up to 31 August 2026.
- Job changes within food service SSW(i): all applications examined, with no receipt-date cut-off.
- Change of status from any other status: granted for applications received up to 12 April 2026. Applications received from 13 April are refused in principle.
- Extensions of stay: examined and granted as normal.
Cut-off dates shift as the ISA works through the queue. Check the latest dates on the official ISA processing status page at https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/10_00259.html before you file or plan travel. Immigration offices and MAFF do not answer individual questions about issuance status.
One more point from the ISA notice. If your current stay is expected to end before your turn in the queue arrives, the ISA often guides you to switch to Designated Activities (preparation for SSW(i)) in food service. An extension of this Designated Activities status is allowed only once.
Skills tests and SSW(ii)
Bookings for the food service SSW(i) skills evaluation test stopped from 27 March 2026, both in Japan and overseas. No restart date has been announced. The food and beverage manufacturing tests No.1 and No.2 are still held as planned.
Workers already on food service SSW(i) keep one path open. A move to SSW(ii) in food service sits outside the cap measure. SSW(i) carries a total stay limit of five years across fields, and family members generally do not accompany SSW(i) holders. SSW(ii) allows a longer stay, and spouses and children are allowed to join. For a cook nearing the five-year limit, SSW(ii) is the route to plan around.
What workers should do now
If you hold food service SSW(i) status in Japan:
- Change jobs inside the field. Moving from one food service employer to another food service employer remains under normal examination.
- Report contract changes on time. Notify the ISA within 14 days when a contract ends, and again within 14 days of signing a new one.
- Watch the three-month rule. Going three months or more without the activities of your status puts your residence at risk, so line up the next job before you leave the current one.
- File before your residence card expires. A change or extension application filed before expiry gives you special period protection while the ISA decides.
If you are outside Japan and planning a restaurant job, assume no new route opens under this proposal. If your target job is meal service at a hospital, care home or school, follow the expert panel discussion and the Cabinet decision. The Mainichi report does not say which skills test the merged route requires, so hold off on paying agents for test preparation tied to a route not yet confirmed.
What employers should do now
Hospitals, care homes, school lunch operators and contractors should prepare now:
- Join the right council early. Employers must join the Food Industry Specified Skilled Worker Council for the relevant field before filing. MAFF says screening takes about two to three months. Membership is currently free.
- Hire directly. Dispatch (haken) employment is banned in food service. Direct employment is required.
- Budget for the new fees. For change of status and extension applications received from 1 October 2026, the ordinary government fee depends on the period of stay granted: ¥10,000 to ¥75,000 at the counter, or ¥10,000 to ¥65,000 online plus a settlement fee of ¥330 or ¥550. The fee is paid when permission is granted. Applications received by 30 September 2026 keep the previous fee. COE issuance remains free.
- Retain current staff. Extensions and in-field job changes continue, so keeping existing SSW(i) cooks is the most dependable source of labour until the merger takes effect.
Questions still open
As of 13 October 2026, the reports leave several points unanswered:
- Whether meal service workers under food and beverage manufacturing need the manufacturing skills test, the food service test or a new test.
- Whether current food service SSW(i) holders at hospitals and care homes move to the manufacturing count automatically.
- Whether the 133,500 manufacturing cap rises to absorb the added work.
- The date new COE applications open under the merged route.
Until the Cabinet decides, the April suspension rules on the ISA status page remain the rules to follow.
The bigger picture
The food service freeze shows the strain of a fixed quota. Restaurant demand pushed the field to 98.6% of the ceiling by July 2026, with the cap period running to the end of fiscal 2028. The government has chosen to protect meal services for patients, older residents and students first, and to leave restaurants waiting. With food and beverage manufacturing already at about 76% of the manufacturing cap, the next pressure point is easy to see. Workers and employers in both fields should plan for tight quotas through fiscal 2028.
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