{"id":41146,"date":"2026-06-15T16:35:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T16:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/41146\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T16:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T16:35:26","slug":"foreign-business-owners-in-japan-feeling-the-strain-of-tighter-visa-criteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/41146\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign business owners in Japan feeling the strain of tighter visa criteria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foreign business owners in Japan are feeling the strain of tighter visa requirements that took effect last October, with about 5% considering closing up shop while 45% expect impacts to operations, a survey by Tokyo Shoko Research (TSR)<\/a> has found.<\/p>\n

The survey, conducted between March 31 and April 7, received responses from nearly 300 foreign-owned companies.<\/p>\n

Under the stricter criteria for business manager visas<\/a>, applicants must have \u00a530 million ($187,000) or more in capital, up from the previous \u00a55 million. The applicant\u2019s company must also employ at least one full-time worker who is either a Japanese national or someone with stable residency status such as permanent residency.<\/p>\n

Japanese language ability will also be taken into account, with prospective business managers required to demonstrate proficiency equivalent to at least level N2 on the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). Business owners currently in Japan must clear those criteria, or have a plan in place to clear them, when they renew their visa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u00a530 million capital requirement is especially a high hurdle,\u201d the survey stated, adding that only about 1% of roughly 140,000 companies established in Japan in 2024 had capital of \u00a530 million or more, while 95% had capital of less than \u00a510 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, it is not easy to hire one or more full-time employees and those with Japanese language proficiency amid a labor shortage,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The Immigration Services Agency (ISA) said the changes are intended to prevent abuse of the visa system through shell companies. But foreign businesses operating small restaurants are likely to be hit hard, with some already shutting down.<\/p>\n

In response to the revised criteria, 54.8% of the surveyed companies said their operations had not experienced significant changes despite being foreign-owned, while 27% said they were increasing capital to meet the requirements. Another 12% said they were considering selling or merging with other businesses.<\/p>\n

Specialty restaurants, a category that includes small curry shops often operated by foreign entrepreneurs, are likely to be heavily impacted, the report said. Such eateries have already been struggling financially, with bankruptcy cases reported in fiscal 2025 reaching a 30-year high of 91.<\/p>\n

On April 20, Zenshoren<\/a>, a nationwide industry group of smaller business owners and freelancers, issued a statement opposing the tightened visa criteria and shared a petition calling for the changes to be abolished.<\/p>\n

On social media, the hashtag \u201cI\u2019m against stricter business manager visas\u201d has been used by citizens and politicians alike, often accompanied by photos of meals at foreign-owned restaurants.<\/p>\n

In 2024, a record 41,615 foreign residents had business manager visas, of whom 21,740 were Chinese nationals, ISA data showed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Foreign business owners in Japan are feeling the strain of tighter visa requirements that took effect last October,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[217,215,3448,3446,1578,1575,214,216,190,1577],"class_list":["post-41146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-business-of-japan","tag-expats","tag-foreign-workers","tag-immigration","tag-immigration-services-agency","tag-japans-business","tag-japanese-business","tag-japanese-economy","tag-visas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}