Japan has expanded its foreign worker visa programme to meet the shortage of workers in the country, news agency Kyodo News reported.

The expansion includes four new sectors: road and railway transportation, forestry, and timber industries, according to the Japanese news agency. Over the years, the East Asian country has seen a decline in the birth rate and shortages in the transportation and logistics sectors.

In order to address such shortages, the government was introducing new regulations aimed at limiting overtime hours for drivers. The Japanese government plans to admit up to 820,000 foreigners under the skilled worker visa programme over the next five fiscal years, starting from April. This number surpasses the previous estimate for the five years leading up to fiscal 2023, which concluded in March.

The government also intends to revise relevant regulations, including those under the justice ministry, to facilitate the acceptance of skilled workers in the newly added sectors.

Under the new programme, skilled foreigners can work as bus drivers, taxi drivers, and truck drivers in the transportation sector, provided they are employed by companies certified by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism.

They should have proficiency in Japanese at the N3 level to have positions involving communication with passengers.