Japan will take foreign workers in 19 fields on a visa of up to five years, Brussels has named 68 shortage jobs, and Norway's count of 34,000 missing workers is not a visa.
The Japanese list is a status of residence. The Brussels list can ease a work authorisation if you already have the job.
In October, more than 60 employers from Ghana, Germany and other European countries met job seekers at the Ghana Career and Migration Fair in Takoradi. Norway's figure is a labour-market survey, and a fair is not a permit.
Japan's 19 fields
The Specified Skilled Worker (i) status lets you work in Japan for a total of five years. You cannot bring your family.
You receive the same salary as Japanese workers, plus Japanese-language training and support from the company.
The 19 fields on the Immigration Services Agency's list are:
- Nursing care
- Building cleaning management
- Construction
- Industrial product manufacturing
- Shipbuilding and ship machinery
- Automobile repair and maintenance
- Aviation
- Accommodation
- Automobile transportation
- Railway
- Agriculture
- Fishery and aquaculture
- Food and beverage manufacturing
- Food service, where the agency says it is not accepting new applications
- Forestry
- Wood industry
- Resource recycling
- Linen services
- Logistics warehouses
The detail pages for resource recycling, linen services and logistics warehouses are still marked under construction.
Specified Skilled Worker (ii) covers building cleaning, construction, industrial product manufacturing, shipbuilding, automobile repair, aviation, accommodation, agriculture, fishery, food and beverage manufacturing, and food service.
There is no stay cap, and you can bring family. It needs its own skills test.
New applications are closed for food service only in category (i).
What you need before a Japanese employer can file
For category (i) you need a skills test in the field, and either the Japan Foundation Test for Basic Japanese or the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test at N4 or above.
Nursing care also needs the Nursing Care Japanese Language Evaluation Test. Taxi and bus driving, and train operation, need N3 or above.
Truck driving uses the general test. People who have satisfactorily finished Technical Intern Training (ii) are generally excused.
A move into a different field still needs that field's skills test. The tests cost money, and the site does not show a sitting in Ghana.
After a contract, the company can apply for a certificate of eligibility. The agency says it takes one to three months, and you then apply for a visa at a Japanese embassy or consulate.
You cannot start at a different company until the status is changed. A move into a different field is not allowed.
Japan has cooperation memoranda with 17 countries. Ghana is not one of them.
The agency says that does not bar a worker. There is no Ghana sending procedure on the site.
Anyone selling an official Ghana agency for this visa is not pointing at a document Japan has published.
Brussels: 68 jobs, and the permit they relate to
On 1 July 2026, Actiris published a new list of critical functions for the Brussels-Capital Region, including shortage professions.
Brussels Economy and Employment says the list is used to ease access for foreign workers who are qualified in one of those jobs. The English text is a translation.
Applications are assessed on the French or Dutch original.
The English list, as of 1 July 2026, has 68 roles in 10 groups.
Health and social (17): childcare worker, childcare centre manager, social worker, social welfare advisor, educational welfare officer, social economy instructor and facilitator, doctor, care worker, nurse, head nurse, social nurse, operating theatre nurse, paediatric nurse specialist, occupational therapist, speech and language therapist, medical laboratory technologist, medical imaging technologist.
Construction (14): building design engineer, technical construction inspector, construction calculator, site manager, site foreman, tower crane operator, site machinery operator, pitched roof roofer, flat roof roofer, residential electrician, outdoor joiner, heating maintenance technician, formworker and ironworker, mason.
Technical and industrial (14):
- safety, hygiene and environment expert
- electrical and electronics draughtsman
- maintenance electrician
- industrial electrotechnical installer
- maintenance mechanic
- lift maintenance technician
- industrial electronics maintenance technician
- industrial equipment technician
- industrial automation technician
- refrigeration and air conditioning technician
- industrial maintenance manager
- production methods and industrialisation manager
- head of production planning and management
- vehicle technician
IT (6): database administrator, ICT analyst and developer, ICT business analyst, ICT integration and implementation expert, IT operations manager, IT department manager.
Accounting, finance, insurance, law and real estate (5): insurance manager, senior accountant, accountant, chartered accountant, property manager.
Education (5): secondary school teacher, nursery or primary school teacher, educational coordinator, adult educator, driving instructor.
Trade (2): technical sales advisor, customer support technical advisor.
Transport (3): bus driver, lorry driver with trailer (CE driving licence), tractor-trailer driver (CE driving licence).
Horeca, hotels, restaurants and cafés (1): head chef. Personal services (1): security guard.
A cross-border commuter, or a person working from home outside Belgium, applies for a long-term authorisation to work.
A regional authorisation does not, by itself, mean the Immigration Office will issue the single permit.
Since 4 May 2026, applications for non-European workers must go through the federal One-Stop counter. PDF forms and email applications are no longer accepted.
This list covers jobs in the Brussels-Capital Region. The Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the German-speaking Community issue their own authorisations.
A vacancy in Antwerp is not on this list.
Norway's gap is not a visa
On 20 May 2026, the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, Nav, said businesses were short of an estimated 34,000 people.
The business survey took answers from 13,119 public and private employers between late January and mid-March.
Health, nursing and care is the largest gap, an estimated 9,200 people, 1,700 fewer than the year before.
Inside it, Nav puts skilled health care workers, the helsefagarbeider role, at 3,650, nurses at 1,850, and other health occupations at 1,350.
Industrial work is next, at 5,750. Nav names construction-machinery and industrial mechanics, energy installers and welders, without a separate headcount for each.
Construction is 4,750: carpenters and joiners 1,150, electricians 1,110, and other craft workers 950.
Acting director Eve Vangsnes Bergli said employers continue to face staff shortages, particularly in health and care, despite many people being out of work. That finding does not admit anyone.
For a Ghanaian, the route is a skilled-worker residence permit from the Directorate of Immigration. You need one concrete job offer.
From abroad, the employer confirms it first and you enter the code. The job is normally full-time, and an 80 per cent post is accepted.
The work has to require the qualification you hold. That is a vocational programme of at least three years at upper secondary level, with a Norwegian equivalent, or a completed university or university-college degree.
Long experience, generally six years, can be argued, with detailed certificates. UDI says many of those applications are refused.
Health workers also need authorisation from the Norwegian Directorate of Health.
Pay must not be worse than what is normal in Norway. Where a collective agreement applies, that rate is the floor.
The work-permit fee for an applicant over 18 is NOK 6,300. A visa centre can add its own service fee.
From 31 July 2025, the Norwegian embassy in Nairobi has handled residence permits from Ghana. You still submit in Accra, at VFS Global on the ground floor of The Grand Oyeeman, South Liberation Link, Airport.
Hours are Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 14:00. The centre's published service fee is €40.
A vocational permit is granted for up to one year at a time. A degree-level job is normally granted for up to three years at a time.
After three years you can apply for permanent residence. Family can usually apply at the same time.
If you lose the job, tell the police within seven days. You can stay for up to six months to look for another, if the permit is still valid.
What to do, and what to ignore
The fee goes to the authority that publishes it, or to the visa centre's published service charge. A promise of a guaranteed visa is the thing to walk away from.
On Thursday, October 29, Labour Minister Emmanuel Agyekum signed an agreement with Russia's Alabuga Special Economic Zone. The Labour Ministry is to verify the offers before workers travel.
That check does not cover Japan, Brussels or Norway.
FAQ
Is Japan's food-service visa open?
The agency is not accepting new applications for Specified Skilled Worker (i) in food service. Category (ii) lists the field and requires its own skills test.
Does a job on the Brussels list mean I can move?
It can ease the authorisation if you have the job, the qualifications, and work in Brussels. An employer still has to apply.
Use the French or Dutch list.
Can I go to Norway because they are short of nurses?
Nav estimated the shortage. UDI still wants one job offer, the qualification the job requires, pay at the Norwegian rate, and, for health work, authorisation from the Directorate of Health.
Who in Ghana checks the offer?
These three pages do not name a Ghana government desk. Japan's published sending arrangements do not include Ghana.
The Labour Ministry's check is the Russia agreement of Thursday, October 29, and it stops there.
Join the conversation