Business Manager

Profile Evidence

Typical baseline: Diploma education, 0+ years of relevant experience, and applicant age usually within 20-55.

Language or Communication Threshold

JLPT, BJT, or equivalent evidence for manager or qualifying full-time employee: B2-equivalent Japanese; JLPT N2 or BJT 400 are tracked proof routes.

Financial Readiness

Applicants should plan around a JPY 30,000,000 capital baseline, 1+ route-aligned full-time employee, Japanese-ability evidence, a secured business office, and credible operating plan.

Passport or identity document

Use the current passport or identity document to anchor names, expiry dates, family links, and travel history questions.

Route-specific document

Verify this route-specific document against the official checklist before treating the file as complete.

Reform Transition Window

Existing Business Manager residents renewing before 2028-10-16 may still be assessed on business condition and likelihood of meeting the amended criteria; after that date, renewal should be planned around full post-reform compliance. Preparatory startup routes are still shorter: the startup-visa bridge is tracked at 12 months and special-zone Business Manager preparation can be 6 months.

COE Filing Clock

Japan Business Manager is still a COE-driven route for most new-entry cases. The current COE is valid for 3 months, standard COE review is tracked at 1-3 months, and ISA has allowed email receipt of COEs since 2023-03-17, so founders should plan the visa-issuance and entry sequence as a timed chain rather than as an open-ended decision.

Document Freshness Rule

ISA's Business Manager filing pages still keep a strict freshness rule: certificates issued in Japan should generally be submitted within 3 months of issue. Missing or stale supporting documents can materially delay review, and the standard review windows are only a baseline rather than a shield against additional evidence requests.

Renewal and PR Risk

PR or HSP(ii) planning from a Business Manager activity should assume the amended criteria must be met. Long absences without a valid reason can undermine renewal because actual activity in Japan remains part of the review.

Renewal Evidence Checklist

Renewal planning should include latest financial statements, company register evidence where applicable, permit evidence, full-time employee wage and residence records, Japanese-ability proof, an activity explanation, municipal resident-tax certificates, and public-dues compliance records.

Corporate continuity

• Latest fiscal-year financial statements
• Company register copy where the business is incorporated
• Business permit or licence evidence where the activity requires one

Employee and language evidence

• Full-time employee wage-payment and residence records
• Japanese-ability proof for the manager or a qualifying full-time employee

Tax and public dues

• Municipal resident-tax taxation or non-taxation certificate
• Tax-payment certificate showing annual income and payment status
• Public-dues compliance records across mandatory labor, social-insurance, health-insurance, national-tax, and local-tax items

Activity and exception notes

• Written explanation of actual management or administration activity during the latest stay period
• If a required licence was deferred for a justified reason, prepare renewal-stage licence status and explanation evidence
• Long absences need a valid reason because actual activity in Japan remains part of renewal review