Hire a Japanese Chef in Brunei: Foreign Worker Licence Guide

A Brunei restaurant hires a foreign chef through a sequence, not a single visa: advertise locally at JobCentre Brunei for at least 2 weeks, apply for a Foreign Worker Licence (Lesen Pekerja Asing, LPA) through a registered employment agent, pay a security deposit on collection, then the agent files the visa and work pass. Budget two to three months from the first advertisement. Brunei publishes no security deposit amount, levy or minimum restaurant salary, so get those three figures from your agent in writing before you commit.

1. A very small market, and where it competes

• MAFF counted about 60 Japanese restaurants in Brunei in 2025, up 20 on 2023 (figures rounded to the nearest ten).
• MOFA recorded 117 Japanese nationals in Brunei on 1 October 2025, down 8.6%. Of those, 107 were long-term stayers and 10 permanent residents.

There is, in practice, no local pool of Japanese cooks. A restaurant that wants a Japanese trained chef will recruit from Japan or from Japanese kitchens in nearby markets such as Malaysia or Singapore, and will go through the full licence process. Most of the roughly 60 restaurants sit inside hotel food and beverage operations or shopping mall units around Bandar Seri Begawan, the venues with footfall enough to support a Japanese concept at this market size, with a smaller number of freestanding independents. Know which type you are competing against for the same small pool of candidates.

2. The sequence: JobCentre, licence, visa, work pass

Brunei's business portal (BusinessBN) sets out the steps for employing foreign workers.

1. Advertise locally first. Vacancies must be advertised at JobCentre Brunei for at least 2 weeks before you apply for the LPA, giving priority to local recruitment, with up to 30 further days allowed for that review.
2. Apply for the Foreign Worker Licence. Applications go through a registered employment agent. The portal gives an approval time of 7 working days (18 for construction).
3. Pay the security deposit. When you collect the licence, you pay a security deposit in cash, by banker's guarantee, or through foreign worker insurance/takaful cover (JITPA).
4. Visa and work pass. The Immigration Department's work pass section requires the LPA (form BUR 500), original and copy, with every application, a passport valid at least 6 months, and a medical examination (blood test and X-ray). The agency submits the visa and work pass application; once approved, the chef attends a Brunei mission abroad in person with travel documents and health reports to have the visa endorsed.

The Immigration Department is blunt about the end state: foreign nationals working in Brunei must hold a valid visa and a valid work pass (pas kerja).

3. Why you will need a registered employment agent

The portal routes LPA applications through a registered employment agent, and the Immigration Department describes the agency as the party that submits the visa and work pass application, so most restaurants will not file these themselves. Choose the agent before you advertise, and ask them in writing:

• their fee and what it covers (LPA, visa, work pass, renewals);
• the security deposit amount for your case and which form of deposit they recommend;
• any levy or other government charge per foreign worker, and how often it is paid;
• how long the licence and pass will be valid, and when renewal must start.

Agents handle this every week; the answers should be quick. Get them in writing so you can compare two agents and budget correctly.

4. A realistic timeline, and what runs in parallel

Adding up the stages the portal publishes, and marking which ones you can run at the same time:

Treat two to three months from the first advertisement as the realistic number, not the best case: the medical exam and final work pass step are sequential, not parallel, and neither the chef's notice period nor document back-and-forth is included. Use the wait well; our guides to relocation packages and onboarding a chef from Japan cover both.

5. No published salary: a neighbour benchmark

Brunei publishes no minimum salary for a foreign chef, so there is no local legal floor to anchor an offer against. The closest useful reference points are the published floors in two markets Brunei restaurants compete against for the same regional pool of Japanese and Malaysian-trained cooks:

Neither figure is a Brunei requirement, only a sense-check: a chef weighing Brunei against a Malaysian or Singaporean posting compares your offer with these, so a number well below both is unlikely to move someone out of Japan or a larger regional community.

6. What is still not published

We checked Brunei's official pages again in September 2026 and could still not find:

• the amount of the security deposit;
• any foreign worker levy amounts;
• a minimum salary for foreign workers in restaurants;
• the validity period of the LPA and the work pass.

The Department of Labour's Foreign Workers Licence page describes the service but not these details. Your registered agent and the Department of Labour are the people to ask; we will not fill the gap with unofficial figures. Most restaurants in Brunei serve a largely Muslim customer base, so if your concept needs halal handling, plan it into the chef's role from the start; see staffing a halal Japanese kitchen.

7. Step by step

1. Appoint a registered employment agent and get their fees, deposit and levy information in writing.
2. Advertise the vacancy at JobCentre Brunei for at least 2 weeks.
3. Consider local applicants in good faith and keep records.
4. Apply for the Foreign Worker Licence through the agent as soon as advertising closes; pay the security deposit on collection.
5. The chef completes the medical examination; the agent lodges the visa and work pass application with the LPA.
6. The chef attends the Brunei mission abroad for visa endorsement, then travels.
7. Diarise renewal dates as soon as the pass is issued.

General information gathered from official Brunei government pages in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Deposit, levy, salary and validity details were not published on the pages we could access; confirm them with the Department of Labour, the Immigration and National Registration Department or your registered agent.