Opening in Sydney: Staffing a Japanese Restaurant from Head Office

For a Japanese restaurant company, Sydney is one of the few cities abroad where you can realistically hire Japanese staff locally. Most Japanese residents are permanent residents, and young cooks arrive on working holiday visas. Bringing a head chef from Japan, on the other hand, means a work visa with a high salary threshold, and Australia's award system sets pay floors down to weekend penalty rates.

This guide is for the head office team deciding where the staff for a Sydney opening will come from. For reading the award and the day to day hiring process, see Hiring a sushi chef in Sydney. For the visa process in detail, see our Australian chef visa guide (in Japanese).

1. Sydney in numbers

• Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) counted 31,673 Japanese nationals in the Sydney metropolitan area on 1 October 2025, up 1.5% on the year.
• Australia as a whole had 105,566, of whom 65,085 (61.7%) were permanent residents and 40,481 long-term stayers.
• Japan's agriculture ministry (MAFF) counted about 2,800 Japanese restaurants in Oceania in its survey published on 28 November 2025, roughly 10% more than in 2023. MAFF links this to inbound tourism to Japan.

A permanent resident share above 60% stands out among the countries with large Japanese communities. Permanent residents have no work restrictions and can work full time for any employer. You do not need to plan on the assumption, as you would in Dubai or Singapore, that every Japanese staff member comes from Japan.

2. A city where local hiring does most of the work

Japanese restaurants in Sydney generally recruit Japanese staff from three groups.

• Permanent residents and citizens: no work limits, and able to stay long term. Many are settled with families and expect market pay and stable rosters.
• Working holiday makers (subclass 417): aged 18 to 30. Many are young cooks with kitchen experience in Japan, available immediately. According to the Department of Home Affairs, tourism and hospitality, including restaurants, is a critical sector, so they can work for the same employer for more than six months without asking permission.
• People on a work visa sponsored by another employer: to hire them, you need to lodge your own nomination.

A job ad in Japanese reaches both permanent residents and working holiday makers more easily. See how to write a job ad (in Japanese), and for working holiday staff, our guide to hiring working holiday makers (also in Japanese).

3. Visas for the people you bring from Japan

For a head chef or a counter chef from Japan, the main route is the Core Skills stream of the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), which replaced the TSS visa on 7 December 2024. The key points:

The CSIT is higher than the top cook grade in the award (Cook grade 5, A$1,221.10 a week) annualised for full time work. The realistic structure is to bring from Japan only the people who set the food, the head chef and the counter chef, and hire everyone else locally.

4. Secondees: Japanese pension and superannuation

The Japan and Australia social security agreement took effect in January 2009. According to the Japan Pension Service, the schemes it coordinates are Japan's public pension and Australia's superannuation. The Australian Taxation Office sets the super guarantee rate, paid by the employer, at 12% for 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027.

The Australian agreement differs from most of Japan's other agreements in several ways.

• Five years regardless of the expected period: even if the assignment is expected from the start to last more than five years, the employee stays in the Japanese pension system only, and is exempt from the Australian scheme, for the first five years.
• Extensions are case by case: an extension beyond five years is possible where there are unforeseen circumstances and both countries agree. If not, the employee moves to the Australian scheme only after five years.
• A certificate of coverage is needed: the Japanese employer submits an application for a certificate of coverage to a pension office (or by post to Japan Pension Service head office), and the employee gives the certificate to the Australian workplace. Applications can be made from about six months before the planned start date.

Local hires, by contrast, are covered only by the Australian scheme. Two chefs in the same kitchen can therefore carry different employer social insurance costs, so estimate secondee and local hire costs separately. On tax, the Japan and Australia tax treaty has been in force since 3 December 2008. For how a secondee's residence status is decided, see tax for employees working abroad, and for the agreements in general, social security agreements and chefs.

5. Know the pay floor first

For local hires, the Restaurant Industry Award 2020 sets the minimum. From the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, adult full time and part time weekly rates are A$1,119.10 for Cook grade 3 and A$1,221.10 for Cook grade 5. Penalty rates apply on weekends, public holidays and late nights, and the employer pays superannuation (12%) on top.

Sushi restaurants in Sydney tend to do most of their trade on Friday nights and weekends, exactly when penalty rates apply. A labour budget built on weekday hourly rates will be well short of what you actually pay. Worked penalty rate examples by grade are in our Sydney hiring guide.

6. Where each role comes from, and in what order

1. Check that the concept does not fall under the 482 caveat for limited service restaurants.
2. Decide how many people come from Japan, then start sponsorship and the labour market testing ads.
3. For secondees, apply for the certificate of coverage from about six months before the start date.
4. Set the local roles and award grades, and cost the roster including weekend penalty rates.
5. Advertise in Japanese and English and check each candidate's work rights.

The full opening timeline is covered in our overseas opening staffing plan (in Japanese).

General information, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Australian visa requirements, charges and award rates change every year. Check the official sources below, verified in September 2026, and consult a registered migration agent, the Japanese pension office or a tax adviser as needed.