IT Certificate License, Usable in Japan

Domestic IT certificate licenses are now usable in Japan and employment of domestic license holders in Japan is likely to increase.

The Ministry of Labor announced on December 20 that the chief director of the Human Resources Development of Korea (HRDK), Koo Chun-Suh, and the president of the Japan Information Technology Engineers Examination Center, Tominaga Takao will sign the `Korea-Japan Mutual IT Certificate Memorandum` at the HRDK international conference room in Seoul on the 21st.

The three mutual certificates are: IT Management Engineer (Japan`s software development engineer), IT Management Production Engineer (Japan`s basic IT engineer), and the IT Systems Operation Technician (Japan`s primary systems administrator).

The two nations decided to relax visa application requirements in order to make it easier for individuals with IT management engineer or IT management production engineer licenses to get work in both countries. Furthermore, the current requirement that Japanese work visa for IT sector be granted to graduates of four-year colleges majoring in IT-related fields will be expanded to allow graduates of vocational colleges and four-year colleges with non-IT related majors to apply.

The Korean Ministry of Labor is planning to propose a mutual memorandum for non-IT fields such as computer graphics and others.

Jin Lee leej@donga.com