RResidents in Japan

Business manager visa holders, what business do you have? Is visa renewal a very strict process?

  • August 27, 2025

Hello! I'm currently on a working holiday visa and would like to transition into a business manager visa. The reason is pretty simple, that I want to live here long term. Obviously the options are limited and I already have some work obligations (remote work) so I'm not trying to look for a local job (so work visa is out of the question for now).

This prospective business that I want to incorporate will likely be very small and most of the time have me as the only employee. At the moment I'm trying to think of how to present / structure this business. I wanted to ask for advice on what types of businesses are more likely to be approved and how strict the process of renewal is, and generally how much of the business operations are monitored. I asked some people I know irl who had / have a business manager visa but I think it's better to do as much research as possible.

Thank you in advance!

by citylighted

7 comments

  1. Well, speaking from some experience.

    You’ll need an address and a business bank account, after that you’ll run into a bunch of nonsense that nobody working for the relevant departments will know how to fix because none of them actually have any idea what they’re doing.

    Also, you’ll need a lot of money if you’re not planning to hire any Japanese staff.

    Also, don’t get a business manager visa just because you like having a holiday in Japan.

    It stops being a nice holiday the second paperwork gets involved unless you have a lawyer to deal with everything.

    I forgot to mention, it’s a particularly bad time to try as the government is trying to crack down on this exact things because of too many people doing it.

  2. They just increased the requirements for the BM visa. You might need to consider another route.

  3. My friend did that, hired me even (she had too) and now chose to go another route as it was WAAAY too stressful. You have to present your earnings to them with every renewal, you have to rent an office, you might be forced to hire someone. It’s a lot of commitment and work, a lot of stuff you will probably need a lawyer for, especially if you are not speaking Japanese enough to understand contracts etc. It might be easier and cheaper for you to just find a regular job

  5. Do you think you’ll be able to make ¥400k to ¥450k a month in profit the moment your change of status to Business Manager is approved?

    With how it is structured, since you need to pay yourself a salary + rent an office + other various costs, you’ll start bleeding money by the time you are approved.

    If you can make that work, I’d recommend applying asap since the ¥30m change is supposed to come into effect mid-October.

  6. As for getting the application in ahead of the changes, there is a strong possibility that renewals will be at least partially judged under the new rules when they come into effect. Remember that Business Manager visas are essentially 1-year terms, especially for the first few years, although I’ve seen them go almost 10 years with a series of 1-year renewals. 3 years is mostly for well-established, profitable businesses (especially with several Japanese employees) and 5 years is more like “this does technically exist, but you’re not really going to get one”.

    While some of this is speculation during the public comment period, the draft proposal does not include any exceptions to the new requirements for renewals or transitions from the Start-Up visa. The unofficial word is that each renewal applicant will be reviewed individually and may (not guaranteed) get some flexibility for renewals. However, it’s a gamble on how each renewal will be treated, and it’s likely to be at the whim of whatever immigration officer reviews it. From what I’m hearing from both visa holders and Japanese legal professionals, smaller, newer companies might be held to higher standards, even if not the full 3000 万円. One was saying that even now, before the official change, many scriveners and lawyers are recommending 1000万円 or more because they are getting a sense that applications are already facing heightened scrutiny. Renewals that have been operating successfully for a while, have more invested, or are generally very well established in the area but are under 3000万円 might be viewed more favorably.

    I wish I could have better news, but the changes are really very, very negative for the program. As it stands now, less than 5% of Business Manager visa holder would qualify under the new rules. While I doubt they will reject all of that 95%+, it seems highly likely that a great many viable businesses will go. Even for those who are approved, it’s a really insecure status now for all but fairly large operations.

    「従来の要件で資格を得た経営者らも、資格更新時などに新たな基準で審査される見込み。同庁は「新たな要件をすぐに満たせないからといって資格の更新を認めない運用は厳しすぎるので、個別に検討して柔軟に対応する」としている。」

    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/1b4a633d9976215cb736bfca0a0d813874095675

  7. LOL I just read about the new requirements that’s crazy … so my dream of starting a small business just died 😆

Comments are closed.