Japan’s tougher visa rules prompt foreign small-business owners to reconsider staying
New Japanese immigration rules have sharply increased the capital requirement for a business manager’s visa and raised the cost of permanent residency. Foreign entrepreneurs say the changes, combined with a weak yen and higher living costs, are making it harder to operate in Japan and encouraging some to leave.
New visa requirements in Japan have prompted some foreign small-business owners to reconsider their plans to remain in the country, after the cost and eligibility thresholds for long-term residency rose sharply. The capital requirement for a business manager’s visa increased from 5 million yen to 30 million yen. The fee for permanent residency rose to 200,000 yen, while applicants also face an annual income threshold of 5.75 million yen, higher pension contributions and Japanese-language requirements.
Sarah, a British business owner who has lived in Japan with her husband for more than 10 years, said the changes had brought forward their plans to leave. She asked that her real name not be used because of concerns about possible complications at the immigration office. Sarah said the couple had hoped to establish a godo kaisha, a Japanese equivalent of a limited liability company, but that the revised requirements made either a business manager’s visa or permanent residency difficult to obtain.
She said similar concerns were being discussed among foreign small-business owners in Tokyo. The Nikkei business daily reported that 953 foreign residents who previously held business manager visas had left Japan in the first half of the year, almost four times the number recorded during the same period a year earlier. Applications for the visa fell 96 per cent in the five months after the changes were announced, according to the source material.
The measures were introduced as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government took a firmer position on immigration. Takaichi said the rules were intended to address public concerns and perceptions of unfairness, while ensuring that policies for foreign nationals remained orderly. Critics, including the Mainichi Shimbun, have opposed the changes.
Martin Schulz, chief policy economist at Fujitsu’s Global Market Intelligence Unit, said higher barriers sent a negative signal to skilled managers and engineers at a time when Japanese companies were already struggling to attract overseas talent.
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