Foreign business owners face frantic scramble to leave Japan amid tighter visa rules
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/05/21/japan/society/stricter-business-manager-visa/#Echobox=1779334989-1
Foreign business owners face frantic scramble to leave Japan amid tighter visa rules
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/05/21/japan/society/stricter-business-manager-visa/#Echobox=1779334989-1
21 Comments
TLDR:A rejected visa application and a frantic, 30-day scramble to pack up and leave the country.
That’s the harsh reality for scores of foreign business owners, some of whom have spent the majority of their lives in Japan, under stricter rules for the business manager visa.
Japan has been cracking down on misuse of the business manager visa by significantly tightening criteria for the status. The Immigration Services Agency (ISA) has said that some visa holders have been creating shell companies in order to obtain the visa.
The [stricter rules](https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/resources/10_00237.html) — which have driven [applications down 96%](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/05/13/japan/society/business-manager-visa-applications-plunged/) — require at least ¥30 million (about $189,000) in capital, one full-time employee and at least N2 on the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test. Before the revision, the minimum capital requirement was ¥5 million, with no criteria for a full-time employee or Japanese proficiency.
With the new criteria, screening periods can now take up to six months. Applicants’ visas, therefore, tend to expire before the ISA comes to a decision, leaving them with limited time to decide what to do next when their application is rejected.
The ISA said a 30-day grace period, granted for those whose applications were denied after their most recent visa expired, remains unchanged before and after the revision. Those whose visas haven’t expired yet can stay in Japan until they expire.
But immigration lawyers say they believe rules are now enforced more strictly than before: Applicants who were previously granted a two-month grace period to remain in Japan and reapply are now being ordered to leave within 30 days, even those who were raised in the country.
“It’s unbelievable compared with how things were handled before,” said Ryoji Tanishima, CEO of Tanishima Legal.
Tanishima said one of his clients, who grew up in Japan with a dependent visa, recently applied for a business manager visa. After the application was denied, the client was instructed to leave Japan within 30 days.
[](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/japantimes/uploads/images/2026/05/21/541582.jpg)
A Korean store in the Tsuruhashi area of Osaka in December 2023. The stricter visa rules have forced some foreign business owners to close up shop or transfer ownership. | Bloomberg
“This is not an isolated case — I’ve heard similar accounts from other immigration lawyers as well,” Tanishima said. “The system has shifted to one that no longer allows reapplications. From what I’m hearing, the business manager visa is being singled out.”
Tanishima is advising such foreign residents to apply for another visa category. Restaurant operators, for example, may qualify for a skilled labor visa, while business owners seeking to remain company executives may be eligible for the white-collared workers’ visa, including engineers, business consultants and interpreters.
“I’ve had clients who no longer qualified for the business manager visa but were able to renew their residence status under a different category this year,” he said.
A last resort option would be to apply for Special Permission to Stay, which may be granted to foreign nationals who are otherwise subject to deportation.
“But this puts clients at risk because they would be applying while they are overstaying their visas and technically preparing for deportation,” Tanishima said. “They’re being told to leave Japan within 30 days, but some say they simply cannot do so because it would mean leaving their children behind.”
In some cases, children can remain in Japan under the dependent residential status until their visas expire while parents must depart within 30 days. Families therefore rush to reapply and seek special permission to stay in order to avoid deportation. If the application is rejected, they face deportation and a five-year reentry ban.
The stricter rules have forced some foreign business owners — especially those of small restaurants run by Indians, Nepalese and South Koreans — to close up shop or transfer ownership.
As of 2024, Chinese nationals held just over half of the 41,615 valid business manager visas issued, at 21,740. The visas had also been issued to 2,830 Nepalese, 2,741 South Koreans and 2,587 Vietnamese.
Desperate appeals from foreign restaurant owners and their Japanese customers, among others, have fueled [an online petition](https://www.change.org/p/%E5%AE%A2%E3%81%8C%E6%9D%A5%E3%81%A6%E3%82%82-%E9%BB%92%E5%AD%97%E3%81%A7%E3%82%82-%E9%96%89%E5%BA%97-%E3%82%AB%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E5%B1%8B%E3%82%92%E6%BD%B0%E3%81%99-%E8%B3%87%E6%9C%AC%E9%87%913-000%E4%B8%87%E5%86%86-%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%82%92%E6%AD%A2%E3%82%81%E3%81%A6%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A0%E3%81%95%E3%81%84-%E6%8E%A8%E3%81%97%E3%82%A8%E3%82%B9%E3%83%8B%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%A4%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A7%E3%82%82) that has gathered more than 65,000 signatures.
The petition’s organizer, Taro Tsurugashima, 50, submitted it to two ISA officials on May 13, when it had about 53,000 signatures. He launched the campaign after a local Indian restaurant owner, Manish Kumar, had his business manager visa application rejected, forcing him to close his restaurant after 18 years in business. Aware that the petition alone may not lead to policy changes, Tsurugashima and other supporters are consulting lawyers and considering filing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of affected business owners.
Identifying potential plaintiffs has proven difficult, however, as many fear filing a lawsuit would affect their visa applications or lead to harassment from anti-immigration hate groups.
Lawmakers have also questioned how the ISA justified raising the required capital for business manager visas sixfold — from ¥5 million to ¥30 million.
During a Lower House Legal Affairs Committee session on May 8, an agency official said ¥30 million was deemed appropriate because profit-making companies outnumber loss-making firms among corporations with capital between ¥20 million and ¥50 million.
In the same session, however, an Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry official said only 8.7% of Japanese businesses have capital of ¥30 million or more. The ISA further acknowledged that just 4% of business manager visa holders met that threshold as of the end of 2024.
The ISA defended the revision, noting it went through due process, including a consultation with the Immigration Policy Advisory Panel and a 30-day public comment period last August.
How much the ¥5 million capital requirement should be raised was one of the main points of discussion in the advisory panel meeting ahead of the revision.
Midori Okabe, a law professor at Sophia University and one of the panel members, said during the meeting that Japan’s capital requirement for the visa should be raised to the same level of Western countries.
In the United States, applicants for the E-2 Investor Visa must demonstrate ownership of at least 50% of the investment enterprise and show that a substantial investment has been made in — or is actively being made toward — a U.S.-based business. In practice, the required investment is generally considered to be at least $100,000 to $200,000.
South Korea, meanwhile, requires investments of 100 million won (about ¥10 million) for the D-8 corporate investor visa and 300 million won (about ¥30 million) for the D-9 trade management visa.
Okabe had said raising Japan’s threshold merely to match South Korea’s standards would still be insufficient.
Pls affect the go karts 🤞
The new policy took effect immediately for all new and renewal visas. This caused immediate pushback due to high rejection rate. I assume these shell companies are set up as part of global trade fund investing in other markets. There will be impact on the stock market 30/60/90 days later as hiring a headcount and getting certified for Japanese will take some time.
This is legit fucking awful. All that work and effort, just to be said GTFO you lose it all in thirty days
Its really fucked up.
This isn’t the end of the Japanese govt punishing foreigners. Takaichi isn’t done being a dumbass
Yet 100% of people will call you naive for questioning the necessity of governments and borders. This is what you sign up for by perpetuating society.
Gonna lose tons of taxpayers, great job! 👍👍👍🤦♂️ Not like you could’ve done an audit and on site inspection of businesses setting off red flags 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Dont just read the surface guys. This story is much deeper. Appearently this person faked documents before and therefore he was rejected before. and he was warned 3 years in prior.
Not saying this is the truth, but there are way more too it. The iceberg is biig.
fOllOw teH rUlEs oR gEt OuT!!!1111
Thems the rules sorry 🤷♂️if you can’t abide by them then ya gots to go. ✌🏼
Let’s just say that the government actually u-turns (incredibly unlikely imo), I would think that there’s a certain percentage of BM visa holders that would be very cognizant of the fact that something like this can happen again.
The box has been opened
English version of the petition [https://www.change.org/p/please-stop-the-30-million-capital-rule-that-is-destroying-curry-shops](https://www.change.org/p/please-stop-the-30-million-capital-rule-that-is-destroying-curry-shops)
There are so many imminent problems Japan is facing. I can’t understand going after the Indian curry restaurants everyone likes. Are people really gonna surprised pikachu face when they can’t get cheese naan and a mango lassi anymore?
I can only imagine this will negatively impact the countries already-struggling economy.
This seems incredibly reasonable for a visa requirement that’s specifically for business owners. If only Western countries had this too…
What prevents this situation to lead to shady business practices, like Yakuza (or whatever are the crooks or criminals are called these days) offering to be the legal owners of foreign shops and restaurants in exchange of a commission?
In a few decades when they run out of young Japanese people and start begging for foreigners to come back and do the work, I hope they get laughed at. And I hope the fucks that do everything in their power to cause pain and misery to foreigners for simply existing in Japan suffer the most in their old age.
I am looking for a job back home. My field is almost not hiring, but I don’t see a future in Japan. I want to go on my own terms before I am made to go.
The stupidest part is that most of these owners, even if they may not have 20 or 50 million in capital, have still paid more taxes than your average Japanese salaryman, who’s good for nothing except sucking ass at the office. Here the average salaryman lives on 3-4 million yen a year, their taxes are minuscule.
This happened to a friend of mine.
He was the child of two military parents in Japan. Went to a Japanese high school, university, and lived in Japan for over 40 years. His parents returned to America, but he stayed in Japan. His Japanese was stronger than his English. He was married (later divorced) to a Japanese woman and had 3 kids that are in their 20s and 30s. He owned a home, several cars, etc.
He owned a successful car business, he was on the business manager visa.
He tried to apply for permanent residence last year, they denied him and he was given 30 days to leave the country or get deported.
Absolutely terrifying.