The National Police Agency will form a six-member expert panel to study adding security services to new foreign worker programs as staffing gaps grow and the workforce ages.
An NPA expert panel will examine allowing foreign workers into Japan’s security industry, advising on numbers, duties, qualifications and language requirements.
Security jobs face acute shortages and rapid aging: job openings per applicant are about five to six in recent years, and nearly half of security workers were aged 60+ at the end of 2025.
Decisions will target two incoming or revised programs: the Employment for Skill Development Program (starting April 2027) and the residence program for designated skilled workers.
# What's happening Japan's National Police Agency (NPA) announced plans to set up an expert panel to study allowing foreign workers to join the security industry. The panel will advise whether and how to add security services to two foreign-worker schemes: the Employment for Skill Development Program, scheduled to begin in April 2027, and the residency program for foreign workers with designated skills.
# Why this matters now
# What the expert panel will do The panel will include six experts with backgrounds in employing foreign workers, such as a lawyer, a university professor and an industry representative. Its tasks include:
# Current legal and social context Under Japan's current security services law there are no nationality restrictions on employment in the sector. Foreign residents and spouses of Japanese nationals already can work in security services. Still, the NPA noted possible public concerns about large numbers of foreign nationals entering the industry, and said a system must be established to address those concerns.
# Immediate next steps and timeline The expert panel will convene and produce recommendations, with the NPA aiming to compile them by January. If the panel supports changes, formal requests will go to the Ministry of Justice and other agencies to revise eligibility and residency rules within the two incoming foreign-worker programs.
# What to watch
# Bottom line Japan is considering a targeted expansion of foreign labor into its security sector to address severe staffing gaps and an aging workforce. The NPA's expert panel will weigh practical limits, duties and qualifications before recommending legal or programmatic changes early next year.
An expert panel will discuss how many foreign workers the security sector will be allowed to accept and which security tasks can be assigned to them.
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