Hire a Japanese Chef in Manila: AEP, 9(g), NCR Wages 2026

About a third of Japanese nationals in the Philippines are permanent residents, so before filing an Alien Employment Permit and 9(g) visa, ask whether your candidate already has the right to work. If you do sponsor, budget PHP 9,000 for the first year AEP, at least PHP 10,130 for the 9(g), and set Filipino pay against Wage Order NCR-28, PHP 755 a day, while the prior order stays in litigation. There is no salary survey for a Japanese chef in Manila; price against the regional market instead.

1. Metro Manila in numbers

• 6,513 Japanese nationals lived in Metro Manila on 1 October 2025, up 9.6% on the year (MOFA). That is roughly half of the 13,342 in the whole country.
• Nationally, 4,592 of those 13,342 were permanent residents, about a third.
• MAFF counted 940 Japanese restaurants in the Philippines in 2025, up 180 on 2023. MAFF does not publish a figure for Manila, and we found no official city count.

2. Check the local pool first: four questions to ask

The share of permanent residents is the Manila specific opportunity. In Thailand and Vietnam almost every Japanese resident is a long term resident tied to another employer, not a pool to recruit from. In the Philippines about one in three has a form of permanent residence, and the capital's community is growing. Some of that pool may not need AEP sponsorship at all. Ask, in this order, before you start a sponsorship:

1. Is the candidate a dual citizen under RA 9225? A former natural-born Filipino who reacquired citizenship is legally Filipino, not an alien, and needs no AEP, no 9(g) and no visa at all. Ask for their Identification Certificate from the Bureau of Immigration or a Philippine passport.
2. Is the candidate married to a Filipino citizen and holding an Immigrant Visa (13(a)) or Permanent Resident Visa? DOLE Department Order 186-17, Section 3, exempts this category from the AEP. Ask for the marriage certificate, the spouse's proof of Filipino citizenship, and the visa itself.
3. Does the candidate hold an SRRV or SIRV (retiree or investor visa)? These exempt the holder only while they are retired or investing, not once they take paid employment as a chef. Do not treat an SRRV or SIRV alone as proof the candidate can work for you.
4. Does the candidate hold a plain Section 13 quota immigrant or permanent resident visa, unrelated to marriage? We could not confirm from DOLE's published exemption list whether this category is AEP-exempt on its own. Ask your DOLE regional office for a written ruling on this specific case before relying on it.

If you do proceed on the strength of an exemption, keep it on paper. Under DOLE's current guidelines, an employer relying on exempt status is expected to request a Certificate of Exemption from DOLE rather than self-assess; keep that certificate, the candidate's immigration documents and your own note of which category applies in the employee's file.

If you do sponsor, remember the 9(g) visa is meant for roles a Filipino cannot fill. The AEP for technical staff who are not managers has required a programme, the Understudy Training Program or Skills Development Program, to transfer the chef's skills to two Filipinos. See training local staff in Japanese cuisine.

3. Metro Manila's minimum wage in 2026, and how to budget it

Minimum wages in the Philippines are set by regional wage boards. For the National Capital Region (the 16 cities of Metro Manila plus the municipality of Pateros), the National Wages and Productivity Commission currently lists:

These rates come from Wage Order NCR-28, issued 7 September 2026 and published 11 September 2026. The prior order, NCR-27 (effective 25 July 2026), granted the same first increase plus a second tranche of PHP 25 from 20 January 2027, but NWPC's own notice says its implementation awaits a final ruling from two courts: Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 152 and Navotas Regional Trial Court Branch 287.

The budgeting instruction: pay the NCR-28 rate now, the current unlitigated figure. For a January 2027 budget, hold a contingency of PHP 25 a day per non-agriculture worker (about PHP 550 a month on a 22 day month) in case the courts revive NCR-27's second tranche, but do not commit to paying it until they rule or NWPC issues new guidance.

Two further points: a service or retail establishment employing 15 workers or less falls in the lower band, so count your headcount correctly; and these are floors for your Filipino team, including the two understudies in the AEP skills transfer programme, not for the Japanese chef, whose pay is set by the international market rather than NCR wage orders. We found no official Manila-specific salary survey for a Japanese or sushi chef; see sushi chef salary by country for the official figures that exist elsewhere in the region, and anchor the offer there.

4. Where the paperwork goes

• AEP. The employer applies to the DOLE regional office for the area where the company is located (JETRO). For a Metro Manila company, that is DOLE's National Capital Region office. Under DOLE Department Order 248-2025 (signed 20 January 2025), the application window runs from 15 calendar days after the employment contract is signed, with the vacancy published at least 15 days before filing.
• 9(g) visa. The Bureau of Immigration handles it at its Main Office and at other authorised immigration offices. The employer can apply before the chef enters; the visa order is then sent through the Department of Foreign Affairs to the embassy or consulate where the chef is, and the chef must travel within 90 days of issue. BI also lists a conversion route for a foreigner already in the Philippines.
• Short assignments. For a chef coming only to help with an opening, BI's Special Work Permit covers work of up to 6 months (valid 3 months, extendable once). If the chef will stay on, the AEP must be filed at least 21 working days before the SWP expires.

Japanese nationals can enter the Philippines without a visa for business or tourism for up to 30 days, useful for an interview or a cooking trial. It does not allow work.

5. Government fees for one chef

BI's published schedule is still the one dated 6 March 2014 as of September 2026; no newer schedule exists, and BI's own page warns fees may change without notice. Top 1,000 corporations pay slightly higher BI fees. Confirm both DOLE and BI amounts before paying.

6. The real cost of the mandated Filipino understudies

The AEP's skills transfer programme names two Filipino staff who learn the chef's skills. Costing them is not optional, since the programme is part of what justifies the permit. At the NCR-28 non-agriculture floor, on a standard 22 working day month:

This is a floor, not a real offer; pay above it to keep a cook worth training. It excludes the chef's own pay, the fees above, housing, flights and the contract, and is the minimum baseline your budget must clear before the hire is justified at all.

7. Checklist

1. Ask Manila candidates the four status questions in section 2 before assuming sponsorship is needed.
2. If sponsoring, publish the vacancy at least 15 days before filing, naming the chef.
3. File the AEP with DOLE NCR, with the Understudy Training or Skills Development Program for two Filipino staff, and request a Certificate of Exemption in writing if you are instead relying on an exemption.
4. File the 9(g) with the BI and plan the chef's travel within 90 days of the visa's issue.
5. Set Filipino staff pay against the current NCR-28 rate, with a contingency for NCR-27's contested second tranche from January 2027.
6. Budget the two understudies' pay as part of the hire's real cost, not as a rounding error.

Also in the Philippines: hiring for Cebu. Contracts: chef employment contract checklist.

General information checked in September 2026 against NWPC wage orders, Bureau of Immigration and DOLE information via JETRO, and Japanese government statistics, not legal or immigration advice. Wage orders in Metro Manila are subject to litigation and change. Confirm current rates and requirements with DOLE, the Bureau of Immigration or a Philippine lawyer before hiring.