The Business Manager Visa After the 2025 Rules Change
Japan raised the Business Manager visa capital requirement from 5 million yen to 30 million, and added staff, experience and language conditions. Here is what actually changed and who it breaks.
If you researched moving to Japan to run a company any time before late 2025, almost everything you read is now wrong. The number everyone quoted was five million yen. That number is gone.
On 10 October 2025 Japan amended the ministerial ordinances under the Immigration Control Act, and the changes took effect on 16 October 2025. The Business Manager status, 経営・管理, went from being one of the easiest long-stay routes into Japan to one of the more demanding ones.
I am going to be blunt about why, because it explains the shape of the new rules. The old bar was low enough that the status stopped doing its job. A lot of applications came from people who set up a company that never traded, because five million yen and an office lease was a cheap price for residency. The Immigration Services Agency raised the bar to push the status back toward what it was for: people actually investing in and running a business here.
What changed
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| Capital or total investment | 5 million yen | 30 million yen |
| Experience or education | Nothing required | 3+ years as a manager or CxO-level executive, or a master's or doctorate related to the business |
| Staff | Nothing required | At least one full-time employee who is a Japanese national or equivalent resident, with evidence of Japanese language ability |
| Business plan | Submitted | Must be confirmed by a qualified business professional, unless the company is at listed-company scale |
The "or equivalent resident" for the staffing rule is broader than it sounds. It covers special permanent residents, permanent residents, spouses and children of Japanese nationals, spouses and children of permanent residents, and long-term residents. So it is not strictly "you must hire a Japanese citizen", but it does rule out staffing your company entirely with other visa holders you sponsored yourself.
The capital number is the one that hurts
Thirty million yen is roughly a six-fold jump. At the time of writing that is somewhere in the region of 200,000 US dollars, though the yen has moved enough in recent years that you should check the rate rather than trust that figure.
Critically, this is capital or total investment, not revenue and not a deposit you show once and withdraw. It has to be genuinely in the business. The old strategy of parking five million yen, getting the stamp, and quietly pulling the money back out was already risky. At thirty million, with a business plan reviewed by a professional, it is not a strategy at all.
The part people are missing: this applies to renewals
This is the detail that catches people who are already here and think the change is somebody else's problem.
The revisions apply to existing Business Manager residents too. There is a transitional period of three years from the effective date. During it, if you apply to extend your stay, immigration assesses your company on its actual performance and on whether it looks likely to be able to meet the new requirements.
After that transitional window closes, the arithmetic is simple and unforgiving. If your company still has under thirty million yen in capital, the extension will not be granted. Your options at that point are to raise the capital, or to change what you actually do at the company so that you qualify for a different status of residence.
If you are on a Business Manager visa right now with a five-million-yen company, you do not have a problem today. You have a deadline. Those are very different things, and the difference is how much time you have to act calmly.
Who this route still makes sense for
Genuinely funded startups, established foreign companies opening a Japanese entity, and people with real capital and a real business. For those, the new rules are close to neutral: they were going to clear these bars anyway, and the tougher screen means less noise in the queue and, over time, less suspicion attached to the status itself.
Who it stops working for: the solo consultant, the freelancer, the small independent operator using a nominal company as a residency vehicle. That route is effectively closed. If that is you, the honest advice is to stop trying to make Business Manager fit and look at whether a work visa, the Highly Skilled Professional route, or a startup visa is a better match for what you are really doing.
What I would do
Get the business plan reviewed early, not last. The new "confirmation by a person with professional expertise in business management" requirement is not a rubber stamp you add at the end, and finding out in month four that your plan does not survive contact with a professional is an expensive way to learn.
And talk to a 行政書士 before you incorporate, not after. The company structure, the capital, and the visa application are one problem, not three. I have watched people set up a company in the shape that was cheapest, then discover the shape was the thing blocking the visa.