In brief
Partial amendments were made to the ministerial ordinances pursuant to the Immigration Control Act on 10 October 2025. The most significant change brought about by these revisions concerns the eligibility requirements for the residence status known as "Business Manager."
Before the amendments, one of the key requirements for obtaining Business Manager status was a capital investment or total investment amount of at least JPY 5 million. Although other documents — such as a business plan and proof of the existence of an office — were also required, meeting the capital requirement effectively satisfied the legal criteria. As this requirement was relatively easy to satisfy, an extremely high number of applications were being filed by individuals from mainland Asia — particularly China — due to a perception that obtaining a residence status in Japan was inexpensive and easy. In addition to the fact that a large number of these "Business Managers" purported to represent companies that did not actually engage in business, this residence status was failing to achieve its original purpose of promoting investment activities in Japan. These concerns appear to have pushed the Immigration Services Agency to proceed with the recent legal revisions.
For details on how the requirements have changed, please refer to the table below.
| Subject | Pre-amendment |
Post-amendment |
| Capital amount |
JPY 5 million |
JPY 30 million |
| Career history/education | N/A |
3+ years' experience as a business Manager or in another CxO level position |
| Personnel-related obligations | N/A |
Employment of one or more Japanese nationals* One of the employees needs to provide evidence of his/her Japanese ability |
| Specialist's acknowledgement | NA | Confirmation of the business plan by a person with professional expertise in business management (except for companies of a scale equivalent to listed companies) |
*Includes special permanent residents as well as permanent residents, spouses or children of Japanese nationals, spouses or children of permanent residents and long-term residents.
Companies intending to dispatch personnel to Japan under the Business Manager residence status will need to satisfy the above requirements. Although "Intra-company Transferee" status is also available, this category is intended for applicants with duties equivalent to those permitted under the "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services" category, such as engineers and marketers engaged in non-managerial, operational work. Although the Intra-company Transferee category is not intended for executives or managers and the duties of such positions are not within the scope of the activities permitted under this residence status, it is not uncommon for executive or management-level personnel to apply under this category.
If an applicant for Intra-company Transferee status will supervise more than one hundred personnel at the Japanese host entity, immigration officers may take a closer look to see whether the applicant's actual duties more closely align with those of the Business Manager category. Factors they will consider include the nature of the applicant's role, the details of the application and the size and circumstances of the host entity. If the officers determine that Business Manager status would be more appropriate, the Immigration Services Agency may gently suggest that the applicant apply under the Business Manager category instead of the Intra-company Transferee category.
The revisions are also applicable to individuals already residing in Japan with Business Manager status. According to the guidelines issued by the Immigration Services Agency, if a mid- to long-term resident currently in Japan with Business Manager status applies for an extension of their period of stay within three years of the amendment taking effect, the application will be assessed based on the Japanese host entity's business performance and its likelihood of being able to meet the revised requirements if it does not yet meet them. For example, if a Japanese host entity currently has less than JPY 30 million in capital, it will become impossible to renew the status of someone employed by it with Business Manager status after the three-year transitional period. Therefore, the company will need to either (i) change the assignee's duties so that they fall under a different status of residence or (ii) increase its capital to meet the new threshold.