The Japanese government is considering granting new residence status to several hundreds of thousands of non-Japanese people. As there are severe labor shortages in various fields, including nursing, agriculture, and construction, the proposed changes could be implemented from next April. This time the goal here is to target those who have a certain skill set and knowledge of the Japanese language. The number of foreign workers in Japan reached its highest ever in 2017 with about 1.28 million. However, Japan is rather resistant to accepting immigrants, and official work visas were issued that year to only approximately 240,000 non-Japanese with specialist skills. In terms of limited work visas, approximately 300,000 foreign students are allowed to work part time up to 28 hours a week, and 30,000 people in fields in which limited work is allowed, such as working holiday, and amateur sports. Besides these, approximately 460,000 visas went to those with Japanese roots or a Japanese spouse, and in line with the Technical Intern Training Program, approximately 260,000 went to trainees in industries such as agriculture, fishing, and construction. The Technical Intern Training Program aims to help trainees acquire skills while working, but it has been pointed out that the companies that have embraced this scheme are using these workers as cheap labor. The purpose of the new residence status scheme is regarded as being to secure a workforce in fields experiencing labor shortages.