Visa Sponsorship for Japanese Chefs: Six Markets Compared

"Do restaurants sponsor visas?" is the wrong question. The right one is whether your country still lets a restaurant sponsor a chef, and at what salary. In two of the six markets below the answer changed within the last eighteen months, and in one of them it changed from yes to no.

Everything here is drawn from official government pages and legislative instruments, checked in September 2026. It is background, not legal advice.

1. The short version

2. Australia — open and workable

The Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) replaced the Temporary Skill Shortage visa on 7 December 2024. It has three streams: Core Skills, Specialist Skills and Labour Agreement. A restaurant chef goes through Core Skills.

Chef (ANZSCO 351311) is on the Core Skills Occupation List, as is Cook (351411). Both carry two caveats in the current legislative instrument: the position must not involve mass production in a factory setting, and it must not be in a "limited service restaurant" — which the instrument defines to include fast food and takeaway, fast casual, drinking establishments with only limited food service, limited service cafés, and limited service pizza restaurants. A full-service Japanese restaurant is outside those exclusions.

Worth knowing: when the instrument was first made in December 2024 it carried a third caveat on Chef requiring the position to be provided for under an international trade obligation, which would have blocked most nominations. That caveat has since been removed.

What the employer must deliver:

• Pay both the Annual Market Salary Rate for the role and no less than the Core Skills Income Threshold, which is A$79,423 for 1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027 (A$76,515 the previous year). Thresholds are indexed every 1 July, and the one that applies is the one in force when the nomination is lodged.
• Non-monetary benefits such as accommodation or a car do not count towards the threshold and must be paid on top.
• Pay the Skilling Australians Fund levy: A$1,200 per year of proposed stay if turnover is under A$10 million, A$1,800 otherwise.

What the chef must have: at least one year of relevant work experience in the nominated occupation or a related field — reduced from two years under the old TSS — plus English requirements unless exempt. Stay is up to four years, with a pathway to permanent residence.

One practical advantage for Japanese candidates specifically: the mandatory Trades Recognition Australia skills assessment for Chef applies only to passport holders from a listed set of countries. Japan is not on that list, so a Japanese passport holder skips the skills assessment step entirely.

3. Canada — depends on the wage

Under NOC 2021, Chefs are code 62200 (TEER 2) and Cooks are 63200 (TEER 3). Absent an exemption you will need a Labour Market Impact Assessment. Which stream you land in is decided by the wage you offer, not by the job title.

The dividing line is the provincial or territorial median hourly wage plus 20%. Thresholds effective 17 July 2026:

At or above the threshold (high-wage stream): advertise for at least four consecutive weeks within the three months before applying; you may apply up to six months before the start date and request an employment duration of up to three years. Provincial registration certificates are required in British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia; Quebec requires a parallel provincial application.

Below the threshold (low-wage stream): this is where it gets hard. A 10% cap applies on the share of low-wage temporary foreign workers at a work location. Since 26 September 2024, ESDC does not process low-wage LMIA applications for positions in a census metropolitan area with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher. Maximum employment duration is one year. The employer must pay round-trip transportation, ensure suitable and affordable housing is available, and in some provinces buy private health insurance for the worker.

The planning implication is simple: if you can get the offer above the provincial threshold, do it. The cost difference is usually smaller than the cost of the restrictions below it.

4. Singapore — salary is the gate

Start with the route that is not available. MOM's services-sector Work Permit lists its permitted source countries as Malaysia, the People's Republic of China, and North Asian Sources (Hong Kong SAR passport, Macau, South Korea, Taiwan), plus Non-Traditional Sources for a restricted occupation list. Japan is not among them, so a Japanese chef cannot come in on a services-sector Work Permit at all.

That leaves two passes.

The new rates apply to new applications from 1 January 2027 and to renewals of passes expiring from 1 January 2028.

The Employment Pass also requires 40 points on the COMPASS framework unless the fixed monthly salary is at least S$22,500. For a chef, the criterion that stings is C2 Qualifications: a degree from a top-ranked university scores 20 points, another degree-equivalent scores 10, and no degree-equivalent qualification scores zero. Many excellent chefs have no degree. They can still reach 40 points through salary, diversity and firm-level criteria — but it needs planning, not hope.

S Pass carries a services-sector sub-quota of 10% of total workforce and a levy of S$650 per month, a single harmonised rate since 1 September 2025.

MOM does not publish an occupation eligibility list for EP or S Pass, so there is no official statement that chefs do or do not qualify. It is a salary and points question, not an occupation-list question. More detail in hiring a Japanese chef in Singapore.

5. Malaysia — thresholds doubled in 2026

The Ministry of Home Affairs revised the Employment Pass salary policy for all new and renewal applications submitted on or after 1 June 2026. Salary means basic monthly salary taxable in Malaysia — allowances, incentives, bonuses and salary paid outside Malaysia do not count.

A mandatory succession or replacement plan applies to Category II and III applications from 1 January 2027. Existing passes remain valid until expiry.

The low-skilled foreign worker route is closed here too: Malaysia's Visit Pass (Temporary Employment) scheme permits workers from a specified list of source countries, and Japan is not on it. The Employment Pass is effectively the only way in.

Process runs through the Expatriate Services Division: register the company with ESD, clear the JTKSM / MYFutureJobs prerequisite, obtain a support letter from the relevant approving agency for regulated sectors, then lodge the expatriate application. ESD's published turnarounds are five working days for company registration, ten for the JTKSM step, three to ten for the support letter, and two to five for the EP application itself. Full detail in hiring a Japanese chef in Malaysia.

6. United States — no chef visa, four workarounds

There is no occupation-specific chef visa. Four routes are realistically used, and which one fits depends more on your company than on the chef.

E-2 treaty investor — usually the best fit for a Japanese-owned restaurant

Japan is a treaty country for E-2 purposes, with the treaty in force since 30 October 1953. The US enterprise must be at least 50% owned by treaty-country nationals, the investment must be substantial and the business real and operating. Employees qualify if they work in a supervisory or executive capacity, or possess specialised skills essential to the efficient operation of the enterprise — and they must share the treaty nationality. For a Japanese-owned restaurant bringing in a Japanese chef, that "essential skills" category is the workhorse. No annual cap, no labour certification.

O-1B extraordinary ability — for a genuinely distinguished chef

The federal regulation at 8 CFR 214.2(o) expressly defines "arts" to include culinary arts. The standard is distinction: recognition substantially above what is ordinarily encountered, such that the person is renowned, leading or well known in the field. Evidence is either a significant national or international award, or at least three of six documented criteria — lead or starring roles at distinguished establishments, published critical coverage in major press or trade journals, a record of major commercial or critical success, recognition from recognised experts, or a high salary relative to others in the field. A peer-group advisory opinion is required. Approved petitions run up to three years, with no numerical cap.

EB-3 skilled worker — the long game

Permanent residence via PERM labour certification, then Form I-140. The Department of Labor must certify that there are not sufficient US workers able, willing, qualified and available, and that the hire will not adversely affect wages and conditions. The September 2026 Visa Bulletin showed the EB-3 Skilled Worker final action date for all chargeability areas — which includes Japan — at 1 September 2024, a roughly two-year backlog stacked on top of PERM and I-140 processing.

Watch one thing here: DOL published a proposed rule on 27 March 2026 that would raise prevailing wage levels for PERM (and H-1B, H-1B1, E-3) from the 17th/34th/50th/67th percentiles to the 34th/52nd/70th/88th. As of September 2026 it remains proposed, not final. It would not affect H-2B.

H-2B — the one people ask about, and the one that usually fails

The cap is 66,000 a year, split between halves of the fiscal year, with supplemental allocations in some years. The blocker is not the cap, it is the definition of temporary need at 8 CFR 214.2(h)(6)(ii)(B): the employer must establish that the need will end in the near, definable future, generally a year or less. A year-round restaurant's permanent chef position does not meet that test. H-2B suits a genuinely seasonal or one-time need, not a standing role.

7. United Kingdom — effectively closed

This is the change most likely to catch a restaurant out. SOC 2020 code 5434 Chefs is classified "Medium Skilled", and code 5435 Cooks is "Ineligible". GOV.UK's rule for medium-skilled codes is that you can only use the Skilled Worker route if the job is on the Immigration Salary List, on the Temporary Shortage List, or you are extending a visa whose first Certificate of Sponsorship was issued before 22 July 2025.

Code 5434 is on neither the Immigration Salary List nor the Temporary Shortage List. The practical result: a chef newly recruited from overseas cannot be sponsored as SOC 5434. Only chefs already in the system, extending continuous Skilled Worker permission, remain on the route.

For completeness, the figures that still apply to those transitional cases: general threshold £41,700 a year or the going rate, whichever is higher; going rate for 5434 is £33,400 (£17.13/hr), or £25,000 for those whose first CoS pre-dates 4 April 2024. Sponsor licence £611 small, £1,682 medium or large, with processing usually around eight weeks.

If you run a Japanese restaurant in the UK, your realistic options today are candidates who already hold UK work rights, the Youth Mobility Scheme where the candidate qualifies, or training locally.

8. Five mistakes that cost restaurants months

1. Advertising before checking the route. Every week spent interviewing candidates you cannot legally hire is a week wasted, and it damages your reputation with the candidates.
2. Budgeting the market rate instead of the visa floor. In Australia the threshold is roughly A$16,000 above the top award cook grade. Discovering that after making an offer is painful.
3. Forgetting the recurring costs. A Singapore S Pass levy of S$650 a month is S$15,600 over two years. It belongs in the model from day one.
4. Assuming last year's rules. The UK closed the route in July 2025. Malaysia doubled its thresholds in June 2026. Singapore raises its floors in January 2027. Australia indexes every July.
5. Leaving the sponsor-side registration to the end. Sponsor licences, ESD registration and labour market testing all take weeks and all have to happen before the candidate can apply.

This is general information collected from official sources in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Immigration rules change frequently and are applied case by case. Verify against the linked official pages and take professional advice before acting.