Business Manager Visa in Japan: Requirements, Capital, Office, Renewal

Quick answer (30 seconds): The Business Manager visa (keiei-kanri) is the status of residence for a foreign national who comes to Japan to run or manage a business — typically as a company director or as a sole proprietor. As of 16 October 2025 the rules became much stricter and those rules are in force now. You must show 30,000,000 yen (about thirty million yen) of capital or investment, employ at least one full-time staff member from a limited set of resident categories, prove B2-level Japanese (the applicant or a full-time employee), have a doctorate/master's/professional degree or 3+ years of management experience, and submit a business plan checked by a certified expert (SME consultant, CPA, or tax accountant). You also need a real physical office — a home address is generally no longer accepted. Existing holders get a 3-year grace period to 16 October 2028.

Disclaimer: This is general information, not legal or immigration advice. Eligibility is decided case-by-case at the discretion of the Immigration Services Agency (ISA), and the criteria below can change. Always confirm the current rules with the primary authority — the ISA / Ministry of Justice — or a licensed professional before acting.

Who needs the Business Manager visa

You need the Business Manager (keiei-kanri) status if your activity in Japan is operating or managing a business rather than being employed by someone else. Typical holders are:

• A foreign founder who incorporates a company (kabushiki-kaisha or godo-kaisha) and serves as its representative director.
• A sole proprietor running a substantial business in Japan.
• A manager or executive sent to run an existing Japanese business.

It is not the visa for ordinary employees — engineers, specialists, and office staff use the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services status instead. And it is not a "buy-a-visa" scheme: ISA explicitly states that if you merely outsource the work and have no real activity as a manager, the activity does not qualify. The status pairs naturally with the practical question of how you register the business itself.

If you are weighing self-employment routes more broadly, see our work and study guide hub.

What changed on 16 October 2025 (in force, not proposed)

For years this visa was seen as relatively easy: a 5,000,000 yen capital base and a fairly light review. The Ministry of Justice and ISA tightened it sharply to curb shell companies and migration-by-investment. The amended criteria apply to applications received on or after 16 October 2025. Applications received by 15 October 2025 were judged under the old rules.

Here is the old-versus-new picture, all confirmed against the official ISA notice:

Requirement	Before 16 Oct 2025	From 16 Oct 2025 (in force)
Capital / investment	5,000,000 yen, or 2+ full-time staff	30,000,000 yen of capital/investment required
Full-time staff	Either 5M yen capital or 2 staff	At least 1 full-time staff (limited categories) and the capital
Japanese ability	None	B2-equivalent for the applicant or a full-time employee
Background	None specified	Doctorate / master's / professional degree, or 3+ years' management experience
Business plan	Optional	Mandatory check by a certified expert
Office	Home-office often tolerated	Home-as-office generally not allowed

The headline number is the 30,000,000 yen capital requirement — a roughly six-fold jump. Treat any older guide that still says "5 million yen" as out of date.

The core requirements, one by one

1. Capital or investment: 30,000,000 yen

You must show 30,000,000 yen or more committed to the business.

• For a company: this is the paid-in capital of a kabushiki-kaisha, or the total contributed capital of a godo-kaisha / gomei-kaisha / goshi-kaisha.
• For a sole proprietor: it is the total amount actually invested to run the business — securing premises, one year of staff salaries, equipment investment, and similar.

This is a substantial number. Where the money comes from matters too: ISA expects the funds to be legitimately yours and traceable, and a business plan that justifies the scale.

2. A physical office — not your apartment

You need a dedicated business premises appropriate to the scale of the operation. Since the reform, ISA states that using your home as the office is, in principle, not permitted. Expect to sign a commercial lease (a residential lease usually will not satisfy the requirement), and keep the office contract, floor plan, and photos for the file.

3. At least one full-time employee

You must employ one or more full-time staff — but only certain residents count. For this requirement, "full-time staff" means a Japanese national, special permanent resident, or a holder of a Status-Based residence type: Permanent Resident, Spouse or Child of a Japanese National, Spouse or Child of a Permanent Resident, or Long-Term Resident. Foreign nationals on work statuses (such as Engineer/Specialist) do not count toward this requirement.

4. A B2-level Japanese check

Either the applicant or a full-time employee must have Japanese ability at B2 or higher on the "Reference Framework for Japanese Language Education." Other than Japanese nationals and special permanent residents, this is proven by one of:

• JLPT N2 or higher (the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test), or
• BJT Business Japanese Proficiency Test score of 400+, or
• 20+ years of residence in Japan as a mid-to-long-term resident, or
• graduating from a Japanese university or other higher-education institution, or
• completing Japanese compulsory education and graduating from a Japanese high school.

5. Education or management experience

The applicant must hold a doctorate, master's, or professional degree in business management or a field relevant to the business (an equivalent foreign degree counts), or have 3+ years of experience in business operation or management. Time spent on start-up preparation under the Designated Activities (startup) route can count toward that experience.

6. A business plan vetted by a certified expert

Your business plan must be confirmed — for concreteness, reasonableness, and feasibility — by a person with professional management knowledge. As of the effective date, that means a certified SME management consultant (chusho-kigyo-shindanshi), a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), or a licensed tax accountant. Note that, by law, only lawyers and gyoseishoshi (administrative scriveners) may prepare the immigration application paperwork itself for a fee.

Periods of stay and the application route

The Business Manager status is granted for 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, 6 months, 4 months, or 3 months. First-time founders often receive a shorter period (commonly 1 year), with longer periods on renewal once the business has a track record. The application is filed at a Regional Immigration Bureau or online, and the filing fee for a change of status or extension is 6,000 yen (5,500 yen online) as of the 1 April 2025 fee revision.

Note: a further, larger increase to immigration application fees has been legislated for the FY2026 period. Confirm the current fee on the ISA site before you file — do not rely on the figure above if you are reading this later.

Renewal: track record now matters

Renewals are no longer a formality. At extension time ISA reviews how the business is actually performing and whether your public dues are paid. Specifically, ISA checks:

• Labour insurance — employment insurance enrolment and premiums, plus workers' accident insurance.
• Social insurance — health insurance and employees' pension enrolment and premiums.
• National and local taxes of the business — for a company: withholding income tax, corporation tax, consumption tax, and corporate inhabitant/enterprise taxes; for a sole proprietor: income tax, consumption tax, and personal inhabitant/enterprise taxes.
• Licences and permits required to run your specific business.
• Whether you have been physically present — long, unjustified absences from Japan can sink a renewal because they show no real management activity.

In short, keep clean books, pay every levy on time, and run the business for real.

Transition rules for existing holders

If you already hold the Business Manager status, you are not forced to find 30 million yen overnight:

• Renewals filed between 16 October 2025 and 16 October 2028 can be approved even if you do not yet meet the new criteria, judged comprehensively on your business performance and your prospects of meeting the new standard. ISA may ask for an expert-reviewed document.
• Renewals filed after 16 October 2028 must meet the new criteria, with limited leniency where finances are sound, taxes are paid, and you are on track to comply by the next renewal.
• For permanent residence, note that from the effective date you cannot upgrade to PR (or move between Highly Skilled Professional sub-categories tied to management activity) unless you meet the post-reform criteria.

Do you need a professional?

Given the higher bar, many applicants now use a licensed gyoseishoshi (administrative scrivener) to prepare and file the application, alongside a tax accountant or CPA to certify the business plan and handle the company's tax and social-insurance setup. This is optional, but the reform's documentation load — capital evidence, a vetted plan, a commercial lease, and a qualifying employee — makes professional help common.

Sources / last updated

• Immigration Services Agency (ISA) / Ministry of Justice (MOJ) — official notice on the 16 October 2025 revision of the Business Manager criteria (capital, staff, Japanese ability, background, business-plan vetting, office, transition measures); ISA Business Manager status page and revision overview page.
• MOJ/ISA — residence-procedure fee revision effective 1 April 2025 (change-of-status / extension 4,000 → 6,000 yen; 5,500 yen online).

All figures verified against ISA/MOJ primary sources and checked on 25 June 2026. Immigration rules change — confirm the current criteria and fees with the ISA before you act.