Hi everyone,
I’d like to ask for advice from people who have experience with the Business Manager (経営・管理) visa in Japan, because I’ve run into a situation with a potential Japanese client that raised some questions.
My situation:
- I run my own Kabushiki Kaisha (KK) in Japan.
- I am the 代表取締役 (CEO) on paper, but at the same time I also work as a UI/UX Designer for clients (mainly foreign, had some small gigs for japanese companies but not relevant here).
- I pay myself a monthly salary from the company and I am enrolled in shakai hoken (social insurance, pension).
- My visa has already been renewed once under these conditions without any issue.
- This setup has also been confirmed as acceptable by my gyoseishoshi and a notary I consulted.
The problem I’ve run into:
- A Japanese company I’m talking to about a contract asked a lawyer for advice.
- The lawyer told them that since I’m on a Business Manager visa, I can only do “management” work, not technical work myself (like design or development).
- They said: if my company signs a B2B contract with them, but I personally execute the design/development work, that would be outside the permitted scope of the visa.
- According to that interpretation, the only way it would be allowed is if my company hired another employee (not me) to do the actual technical work.
- To prove that, they asked me to provide an employment contract (雇用契約書) for the employee.
My question:
- Is this really the correct interpretation of the Business Manager visa?
- From what I understand (and from what my gyoseishoshi told me), as long as my company formally employs me as a worker, pays me a salary, and I pay all social insurance/taxes, then I can legally do design/development as an employee of my own company, while also being CEO.
- This seems to be how many foreigners on Business Manager visas actually operate, since small companies usually don’t have the budget to hire extra staff right away.
TL;DR:
- On Business Manager visa, CEO of my own KK, also employed as a UI/UX Designer by the same KK.
- Salary + social insurance paid properly, visa already renewed like this.
- Japanese client’s lawyer says I can’t do technical work myself.
- Looking for confirmation from people in similar situations: is it really illegal, or is my current structure (CEO + employee) valid to outsource to Japanese companies?
Thanks a lot in advance for any insight.
by Julien-Temaki