BENGALURU: Japan will open up its doors to about two lakh IT professionals from India, and issue green cards to settle down in Japan and support the country's rapidly expanding IT infrastructure, said Shigeki Maeda , Executive Vice President at Japan External Trade Organisation ( JETRO ), a government body, here on Thursday.“Currently there are around 9,20,000 IT professionals in the country and there is an immediate demand for more than 2,00,000 IT professionals from India which is likely to further swell to 8,00,000 professionals by 2030," he said in his keynote address at the India-Japan Business Partnership Seminar, which was jointly organised by Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Jetro.This is being necessitated due to the advent of rapid technological innovations in the societal needs in country. Japan wants to fill in this yawning gap and is looking towards India’s assistance in the IT space. Many Japanese companies feel the limitations to conventional “in-house innovation” and hence moving towards “most-advanced IT Technology Capabilities” for which India is the most ideal partner to look out for,” he said.Japan, he said, is on the road to adapt and adopt innovation and emerging technologies to revolutionise its manufacturing methodology."Due to this conscientious process, there is a dearth of well-qualified and trained IT professionals to enhance its competitiveness, particularly, in the areas of life-science, finance, services and agriculture.”The Japanese government, Maeda said, will be issuing Green Cards for highly skilled professionals, the first of its kind in the world, thereby, providing people to get permanent resident status in as short as one year. This is one of the fastest granted right of residence in the world.As far as visa issuance is concerned, Japan has eased the rules for Indian travellers with effect from January 1, 2018.As per the new norms, the applicants do not require to submit their employment certificate and letters of explanation for multiple-entry visas. Also, the number of documents to be submitted has been considerably reduced to three. In case if a person has travelled to Japan twice in one year, the documents will be reduced further to two only – i.e. just your passport and the visa application form.