If you are heading to Japan on a Specified Skilled Worker (特定技能) visa, you need to prove your Japanese. Two tests are accepted: JFT-Basic with a score of 200 or above, and JLPT N4 or higher. Either one satisfies the requirement. Neither is better in the abstract.
What follows is the honest comparison — not which test is “easier”, but which one fits your situation.
The short answer
Take JFT-Basic if you need the visa soon. It runs many times a year on computer, you see a provisional score the moment you finish, and you can retake it after 45 days. The JLPT runs twice a year, on paper, with results roughly two months later. Miss a JLPT sitting and you wait six months.
Take the JLPT if you want a credential that keeps working for you. N4 is a rung on a ladder that goes up to N1, and it is the qualification Japanese schools, universities and employers actually recognise on a CV. JFT-Basic does one job — proving basic ability for the visa — and does it well, but it is not a general-purpose credential.
If both are true, take JFT-Basic now for the visa and work towards the JLPT afterwards. Nothing stops you holding both.
Side by side
| JFT-Basic | JLPT N4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Japan Foundation Test for Basic Japanese | Japanese-Language Proficiency Test, Level N4 |
| Run by | The Japan Foundation | Japan Foundation & JEES |
| Level | A2 (CEFR) | A2 (CEFR) |
| Format | Computer-based (CBT) at Prometric centres | Paper, multiple choice |
| Length | About 50 questions, 60 minutes | About 115 minutes across three sittings |
| Sections | Script & Vocabulary, Conversation & Expression, Listening, Reading | Vocabulary; Grammar · Reading; Listening |
| Scoring | 10–250 | 0–180 |
| Pass mark | 200 for A2.2 (about 80%) | 90 (50%), plus sectional minimums |
| Frequency | Many sittings a year | Twice a year — July and December |
| Results | Provisional score immediately | Roughly two months later |
| Retake | After 45 days, and not once you reach 200 | Next sitting, up to six months |
| Accepted for SSW visa | Yes, at 200+ | Yes, at N4 or above |
One thing JFT-Basic now does that the JLPT doesn’t
Since August 2026, JFT-Basic reports three levels rather than one: A2.2 (200–250), A2.1 (175–199) and A1 (145–174). Below 145 you get a score but no level.
For a Specified Skilled Worker visa this changes nothing — 200 is still the number. But it does mean a JFT-Basic near-miss leaves you with something on paper, which an N4 near-miss does not. The JLPT records only pass or fail; score 89 out of 180 at N4 and the certificate you receive is no certificate at all.
Those lower bands exist for Employment for Skill Development (育成就労), the programme that replaces Technical Intern Training from April 2027. If your route into Japan runs through that rather than straight to Specified Skilled Worker, JFT-Basic is now the test that can evidence where you are.
Why the pass marks look so different
This is the part that confuses people. JFT-Basic asks for about 80% while N4 asks for 50% — which sounds like JFT-Basic is dramatically harder. It isn’t quite that simple.
The two exams use their score ranges differently. The JLPT applies scaled scoring: your raw marks are converted onto a 0–180 scale using equating, so that a given scaled score means the same thing whichever sitting you took. That is why you cannot calculate your JLPT score by counting correct answers. JFT-Basic reports on a 10–250 scale with the A2.2 bar at 200.
The more useful difference is what they test. JFT-Basic content is built around the situations a Specified Skilled Worker actually meets: a shift briefing, a safety notice, a request from a supervisor, a delivery schedule. The JLPT tests a defined body of grammar and vocabulary in more neutral contexts.
That has a practical consequence. If you have already worked in Japan, or trained in a workplace setting, JFT-Basic will feel familiar in a way N4 does not. If you learned Japanese in a classroom from a textbook, N4 will feel more like what you practised.
Sit our JFT-Basic mock test and our JLPT N4 practice test back to back. Twenty minutes each, and the gap between your two scores will tell you which exam suits you far better than any article can.
The sectional minimum trap (JLPT only)
The JLPT has a rule that catches people every single sitting: as well as the overall pass mark, you must reach a minimum in each scoring section. At N4 that means 38 out of 120 in Language Knowledge · Reading, and 19 out of 60 in Listening.
So a candidate can score 95 out of 180 — comfortably above the 90 needed — and still fail, because their listening came in at 17. Listening is the section people neglect, and it is the section that most often ends an otherwise passing paper.
JFT-Basic reports a total against 200 without publishing separate sectional cut-offs in the same way, but the practical advice is identical: a section you cannot do will drag the total below the line regardless.
Frequency is the real deciding factor
Here is the thing nobody tells you until it is too late.
The JLPT is held on the first Sunday of July and the first Sunday of December, and not every country offers both sittings — some overseas cities run December only. Registration closes months in advance, and places in popular cities sell out. If you are not registered by the deadline, your next opportunity is half a year away.
For someone whose employer, agency or visa timeline is measured in weeks, that is not a scheduling inconvenience. It is the whole decision.
JFT-Basic runs on a rolling CBT schedule across a long list of countries — Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Myanmar, Cambodia, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Malaysia and others. Availability varies and seats do fill, but you are usually looking at weeks rather than months.
What you also need for the visa
Worth stating plainly, because people get caught by it: the language test is only half of the requirement. For a Specified Skilled Worker visa you also need to pass the skills test for your specific industry — nursing care, food service, construction, agriculture, and so on.
There is one notable exemption: applicants who have completed the relevant Technical Intern Training (技能実習 2号) are generally exempt from both tests for a corresponding field. If that applies to you, check before you pay for an exam you may not need.
Worth knowing if you are planning more than a year ahead: Technical Intern Training is being abolished on 1 April 2027 and replaced by Employment for Skill Development (育成就労). The new programme is explicitly designed as a route into Specified Skilled Worker status, and it has its own language expectations — which is exactly why JFT-Basic started reporting A1 and A2.1 in August 2026. Check the current rules for your own timeline rather than assuming today’s exemptions carry over.
Requirements are set by the Immigration Services Agency and do change. Verify the current position with them or with your accepting organisation before booking anything.
Which should you actually take?
Take JFT-Basic if:
- Your visa timeline is measured in months, not years
- You have workplace experience in Japan, or are training for a specific SSW industry
- You are comfortable on a computer and want a fast provisional result
- You would rather retake in six weeks than wait six months
Take JLPT N4 if:
- You have been studying from a textbook series and know your syllabus
- You want a credential you can build on towards N3, N2 and N1
- You may later apply for study, or for jobs outside the SSW system
- A July or December sitting fits your timeline anyway
Take both if you want the visa quickly and the credential eventually. Passing JFT-Basic does not stop you sitting N4 — or skipping straight to N3 — later.
Preparing for either one
The overlap between the two syllabuses is large. Roughly speaking, if you can pass N4 you are in range for JFT-Basic, and vice versa. What differs is emphasis:
- For JFT-Basic, weight your practice towards listening and towards reading short functional documents: notices, rosters, safety instructions, short internal messages. Learn the polite forms you will hear from a supervisor — お〜ください, 〜ていただけますか — and the humble forms you will use back.
- For N4, weight your practice towards grammar breadth. Transitive/intransitive pairs, the four conditionals, giving and receiving (あげる・くれる・もらう and their polite forms), potential, passive and causative. N4 will test all of them.
Both reward the same core habit: read every explanation for every question you get wrong, and write down the pattern rather than the question.
Next steps
- Take the free JFT-Basic mock test — 20 questions, 20 minutes, explained
- Take the free JLPT N4 practice test — same format
- How JFT-Basic scoring works — what 200 out of 250 actually means
- JLPT scoring explained — scaled scores and sectional minimums
Always confirm dates, fees, eligibility and visa requirements on the official sites before you register. Exam Sensei is an independent study resource and is not affiliated with any examining body.