Employment Certificate in English for a Chef's Visa File

A Japanese employment certificate (在職証明書) works as visa evidence once it names dates, position, hours and concrete duties rather than a job title, and is translated the way your destination requires: certified for the US, with an affidavit for Canada, certified for the UK, accurate (not necessarily certified) for Australia and Singapore, and usually from a sworn translator for Germany and most of the EU. Because it is a private document, it also needs a Japanese notary before Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs will apostille it.

1. Why the visa file needs these documents

The job title on your application is only a claim. Immigration officers, and the schemes that assess skills before a visa is filed, look for documents that prove the experience behind it. Two examples: Australia's Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) Core Skills stream requires at least one year of relevant work experience, and any foreign-language document submitted to USCIS must carry a full English translation certified by the translator (8 CFR 103.2(b)(3)).

Check the document list for the exact visa you are using, and ask the chef to start collecting early. Some items take weeks, and a closed former employer (section 4) adds more.

2. What a useful employment certificate says

Japan has no single official form for a certificate of employment. An officer needs a document that can be checked. Ask for:

• The employer's letterhead, full legal name (for example 株式会社○○), address and phone number
• The restaurant or branch name, if different from the company
• The chef's full name as in the passport, and date of birth
• Start date and end date (or "currently employed")
• Position and section, and any promotions with dates
• Main duties, in a few concrete lines
• Employment type (full time, contract, part time) and weekly hours
• Date of issue, name and title of the signatory, and the company seal

Duties matter most. "Worked as a cook" proves little. "Responsible for the grill section, including fish preparation and seasoning, in a 40-seat kaiseki restaurant; supervised two junior cooks" is evidence, and section 3 gives ready phrasing by station.

3. The bilingual request pack

The blocker is rarely the rule, it is getting a Japanese employer to produce the right document quickly. Give the chef these three items in Japanese, matched to section 2, so the request takes one email rather than three rounds.

Request letter to a former employer

Certificate wording, Japanese and English side by side

Duties phrasing bank, by station

4. Getting it from a Japanese employer

If the chef has left

Labour Standards Act Article 22 says that when a worker leaves and requests a certificate covering employment period, type of work, position, wages or reason for leaving, the employer must issue it without delay, and it must not include anything not asked for. The chef should request exactly the items the visa needs, using the letter above.

If the chef still works there

Article 22 is about leaving. For a current employer a certificate is only a request, and the chef may prefer to wait until they resign. Plan for that in your timeline.

Ask for English directly

The simplest route is an English certificate from the employer itself, alongside the Japanese one, skipping a separate translation. If the restaurant will not do this, translate using section 5.

If the restaurant has closed

Ask the chef for pay slips, tax withholding slips (源泉徴収票), and a letter from a reachable former head chef or coworker. The chef can also request a 被保険者記録照会回答票 (insured person's record inquiry reply) from the Japan Pension Service, at a pension office or via ねんきんネット: it names past employers and enrolment dates regardless of whether the business still operates. It does not describe duties, so pair it with section 3's phrasing bank and a personal statement, and confirm with your immigration lawyer which combination is accepted.

5. Translation rules at the destination

The receiving country sets the rules, and they vary more than the site's earlier version showed. Confirmed as of September 2026:

Keep names and dates identical to the passport across all documents. A name romanised two ways can prompt extra questions.

6. Notarisation and apostille in Japan

Some authorities and some foreign employers' lawyers want Japanese documents authenticated. MOFA handles apostilles and official seal certification (公印確認), but only for public documents meeting its conditions: issue date within three months, issuing body named, and an official seal rather than a personal one.

An employment certificate is a private document, so MOFA cannot certify it directly. The route, with fee and time per step:

1. A notary (公証人) authenticates the signature, usually same day by appointment. Fee: ¥11,000 generally (¥6,500 if no amount is stated), plus ¥6,000 for a foreign-language document.
2. The Legal Affairs Bureau certifies the notary's seal (公証人押印証明). No fee; about 15 minutes in person, 3 to 5 days by mail.
3. MOFA issues its certification or apostille. No fee. MOFA does not publish a day count; agencies handling this route report roughly one business day at the counter, two to three days if collected by post, and around two weeks all-postal. Unconfirmed against an official figure, so treat as a planning estimate.

For a public document's translation, the translator can instead sign a declaration of faithfulness, which the notary authenticates. From 5 October 2026, Tokyo counter applications need an online reservation, and documents return by post only.

If the restaurant has closed, the notary route has nothing to attach to. Have the chef sign a written statement of their employment history, attach the pension record and pay slips from section 4, and ask the notary to authenticate the chef's own signature instead of a company seal. Confirm with your immigration lawyer whether the authority accepts this in place of an employer's certificate.

7. Graduation certificates from culinary schools

If the chef trained at a 専門学校 (a private vocational college), MOFA's table of issuers shows their certificates are not eligible for official seal certification or an apostille directly; they go through a notary first, like an employment certificate. National and public university certificates can receive official seal certification; public high schools can receive both.

Ask the school for a 卒業証明書 (certificate of graduation, issued on request) rather than the original diploma. For a cook's licence (調理師免許) in English, see English versions of the cook's licence.

8. Checklist

• Do you have the exact document list for the visa?
• Does each certificate show dates, position, duties, hours, signatory and seal (section 3's phrasing bank)?
• Do names and dates match the passport exactly?
• Is the translation in the form the destination requires (certified, affidavit, sworn or simply accurate)?
• If authentication is needed, has the chef allowed time for a notary, the legal affairs bureau and MOFA?
• If the former employer has closed, has the chef requested a pension record and secondary evidence?
• Have you added a police certificate if the visa needs one?

General information, not legal or immigration advice. Document requirements differ by visa and change over time; follow the instructions of the immigration authority handling the application and take advice from a qualified immigration lawyer.