🗂️ Topic: Status & Visas (6 guides, in situation order)
HSP Points Calculator
Self-check against the official points table for Highly Skilled Professional 1(b): apply at 70 points, and at 80+ you can get permanent residency in as little as 1 year. Change any input and the result updates instantly.
🎯 Points self-check (live)
※ Income = your expected income for the coming year (bonus included; commuting allowance and overtime excluded). Lower income brackets have age caps — see the table below.
🗾 What is the Highly Skilled Professional visa?
Highly Skilled Professional (高度専門職 1号) is Japan's points-based residence status. Your degree, career, income, age, and Japanese ability are scored item by item, and a total of 70 points or more lets you apply. Compared with a regular work visa, the perks are significant:
- 5-year status of residence in one go (regular work visas are often 1 or 3 years)
- Your spouse can work full-time, with no permission-for-other-activity paperwork
- You can bring your parents to Japan if conditions are met (nearly impossible on a regular visa)
- PR fast track: keep 70 points for 3 years, or 80 points for just 1 year, and you can apply for permanent residency (the regular route takes 10 consecutive years)
This calculator covers the most common track, 1(b) (ロ) — for engineers and professionals employed by companies. Tracks 1(a) (researchers) and 1(c) (business managers) use slightly different tables (e.g. the business manager table has no JLPT points but weighs income more heavily).
📊 Points table
| Item | Condition | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Education | Doctoral degree | 30 |
| MBA / MOT or similar management professional degree | 25 | |
| Master's or professional degree | 20 | |
| Bachelor's degree | 10 | |
| Work experience | 10+ years | 20 |
| 7 - 10 years | 15 | |
| 5 - 7 years | 10 | |
| 3 - 5 years | 5 | |
| Age | 29 or younger | 15 |
| 30 - 34 | 10 | |
| 35 - 39 | 5 | |
| Japanese | JLPT N1 | 15 |
| JLPT N2 | 10 | |
| Bonus | Graduated from a Japanese university / graduate school | 10 |
| Top-300 world university (QS / THE / ARWU) or SGU-designated school | 10 | |
| Research achievements (patent / funded project / paper, 1+) | 15 | |
| Two+ master's / doctoral degrees in different fields | 5 |
Income points have age caps — past the cap, the lower income brackets score 0:
| Annual income (万円 / 10k JPY) | Points | Age limit |
|---|---|---|
| 1000 or more | 40 | None |
| 900 - 999 | 35 | None |
| 800 - 899 | 30 | None |
| 700 - 799 | 25 | 39 or younger |
| 600 - 699 | 20 | 39 or younger |
| 500 - 599 | 15 | 34 or younger |
| 400 - 499 | 10 | 29 or younger |
| Under 400 | 0 | — |
⚠️ Things to know
💰 Income means "expected income for the coming year"
Bonuses count; commuting allowance and overtime do not. Use the figure on your offer letter, not last year's actual pay.
🚧 ¥3,000,000 is a hard floor
No matter how high your score is, you cannot apply for HSP 1(b) with an expected income under ¥3M. Negotiate the salary first, then count points.
🗣️ N1 and N2 don't stack
With N1 you get 15 points — the N2 10 points are not added on top. Only the highest tier counts.
➕ These two bonuses do stack
"Japanese university graduate +10" and "top-300 / SGU-designated school +10" are independent — meeting both gives you 20 points. If you graduated from a Japanese university that ranks in the top 300, check both.
📋 Always check the latest official table
The points table changes with policy updates (new bonus schools, adjusted income brackets). Verify against the official source before applying: Immigration Services Agency of Japan (official points table)
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