Vietnamese trainee nurses and caregivers, coming to Japan in fiscal 2014 and 2015 under the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA), are now allowed to stay an additional year.

The decision, released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 3^rd, aims to give them another chance to sit for national qualification exams to work in Japan.

Vietnamese nurses attend a Japanese training course. (Photo: VNA)

The one-year stay extension is also applied to EPA-based Philippine and Indonesian trainee nurses and caregivers, who entered Japan during the same period, and who have achieved a certain score in the exams, without yet passing.

Under the EPA, the duration of stay for trainee nurses and caregivers is three and four years, respectively. Candidates arrive in Japan and take training before taking the qualification exams.

Passing the national examinations enables them to enjoy equal salaries and bonuses as their Japanese peers.

Japan has been accepting trainee nurses and caregivers from Vietnam since 2014. Currently, there are 53 nurses and 417 care workers from Vietnam working in Japan.

Japan has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the world. In the next ten years, the country will need up to 600,000 nurses and orderlies to take care of elderly people; hence the great demand to recruit from Vietnam.

Vietnam is the third country after the Philippines and Indonesia to cooperate with Japan in the exchange of nurses and orderlies./.

VNF/VNA