A simple explanation of how to obtain a business manager visa

Which pattern are you considering for obtaining a business manager visa?

I’m sure there are people like you reading this article right now. Simply put, you want to do business in Japan. If so, this article is perfect for you.

What on earth should you do to make your dreams come true? ? ?
I will go into more detail later, but this article focuses on the question, “What should I do to obtain a business manager visa? What is the method?” The process of obtaining a business manager visa is by no means simple. Therefore, I cannot write about everything about it in detail in this article, but by reading this article, you will be able to grasp the key points of what you should do to obtain a business manager visa.

What you’ll learn in this article

This article will help you understand the following

Below, I will explain these points in an easy-to-understand manner using concrete model cases.

Overall flow of obtaining a business administration visa

(1) Three processes

Overall flow of obtaining a business administration visa

Roughly speaking, the steps to do business in Japan as a foreigner are as follows:

Steps to obtain a business manager visa

By the way, have any of you ever thought about something like this?

“I want to start a company in Japan, but I don’t know if I can get a visa. If I can get a visa, I’ll start a company after that. I’ll wait and see how things go before I get a visa. If I can’t get a visa, all the hard work I put into starting a company will go to waste. I don’t want to waste anything if possible.”

What we are talking about is the order of the process. Regarding the above, it should be ① → ③, not ③ → ①. In other words, you cannot apply for a Business Manager Visa before the company is established. It is considered practically difficult to receive permission at a stage when the company establishment registration has not been completed, as described below. If that is the case, the above method (③ → ①) that you may have planned is not possible.

(2) It is necessary to proceed in a planned manner

As you can see, in order to obtain a business management visa, you must first establish a company. After that, you must go through the process of renting an office, obtaining the necessary business licenses, and completing procedures at the tax office. Even if you manage to clear these processes, if you fail to obtain a business management visa in the end, all of your efforts up until now may go to waste.
From the above, in order to obtain a business manager visa, it is required to process the process before obtaining the visa in a planned manner.

(3) Summary

From the above, we understand that in order to obtain a business management visa, it is necessary to follow the appropriate procedures. Therefore, below, we will explain how to obtain a business management visa, focusing on company establishment and applying for a business management visa.

Company establishment

(1) Type of company to be established

When establishing a company in Japan as a foreigner, the first thing to consider is what type of company to establish. In fact, there are over 100 types of corporations in Japan, but most people choose a joint stock company or a limited liability company. Therefore, we will explain using the following model case below.

(2) Model case

Mr. A, from China, is studying at a university in Japan. After graduating, Mr. A wants to become independent and run a trading company. To that end, he plans to establish a joint-stock company (hereafter, simply called a “company”) and obtain a “business manager” visa.

(3) Overview of the establishment of the company

In simple terms, the steps to setting up a company are as follows:

(4) Explanation of terms

The importance of understanding the fundamentals

Some of you may have noticed in (3) above that some specialized terminology is used. Some of you may have seen these terms before, but don’t quite understand what they mean. When obtaining a business management visa, you may be faced with complex systems and difficult-looking terms, but you’ll be fine if you understand them one by one. It’s often the case that words look difficult, but their meanings are actually simple.

On the other hand, if you leave something small and think you understand it, you run the risk of realizing later that your understanding was incorrect after all, and making a mistake.

Enough with the introduction. From here on, I will give a very brief explanation of ① to ③ above. After that, I will explain the system in more detail.

What are the articles of incorporation?

The articles of incorporation contain basic information about the company you are establishing. For example, the name of the company. As I will explain later, the articles of incorporation basically state things like “what kind of company is it, what name is it, and where is it located?”

What is investment?

To run a company, you need money, right? That money is paid in advance, and that is called capital investment.

Registration of company establishment

Simply put, company registration is the procedure for making the company you are establishing an official entity. The specific method is to submit the necessary data to a government office called the Legal Affairs Bureau. By doing so, the company will be legally established.

You should now have a rough idea of ​​the outline of company establishment. Next, we will explain the above steps ① to ③ in more detail, including some points to note.

(5) Preparation of articles of incorporation

Example of articles of incorporation

We now know that the articles of incorporation define the basic matters of a company, but what kind of document should we create specifically? It is easier to understand if you see it visually, so we have provided a sample of the articles of incorporation below.

A typical article of incorporation is much longer, but the above sample only shows a portion of it. Examples of matters to be included include the company’s trade name, business purpose, head office location, amount of capital, and names of promoters.

Get notarized

Now, in the long journey to obtain a business manager visa, we have learned that it is necessary to prepare articles of incorporation, but is this the end of the article of incorporation? No, it is not. When establishing a joint-stock company, it is necessary to have the prepared articles of incorporation certified by a notary public.

Specifically, if you have prepared the articles of incorporation in writing, you can take it to a notary public office in the prefecture where your head office is located to have it certified. You should check the necessary documents and fees in advance. These may be listed on the website of the notary public office you are planning to visit.

(6) Payment of capital

Method of capital payment

Once the articles of incorporation have been certified, we move on to the next process, which is the payment of capital. In the above model case, if Mr. A already has a Japanese bank account (personal), he or she can transfer the capital to that account.

Points to note

There is a point that many people misunderstand. Let’s say that Mr. A pays 5 million yen as capital. Is that money deposited with the Japanese government? Surprisingly, the answer is NO. This means that Mr. A can use the money he paid in as working capital for the company after establishing it.

(7) Registration of company establishment

The last thing to do is to register the company. To do this, you will need to submit the necessary documents to the Legal Affairs Bureau. After that, the registration will be completed in about a week.

Applying for a Business Manager Visa

(1) How to obtain a business manager visa

In short, you will create a document stating “I will be running this kind of business. Please grant me a business manager visa” and submit it to the Immigration Bureau. However, it is not enough to simply submit the document; if certain points (screening criteria) are not met, your application will be rejected. So, to be more precise, in order to obtain a business manager visa, you also need to meet the screening criteria.

(2) Examination criteria for business manager visas

The next problem is what kind of examination criteria are unavoidable as a method to obtain a business manager visa. Below, we will first show the official examination criteria, and then explain them in more detail in the second section.

Establishment of landing permission standards

Below are only some excerpts.
The applicant (for example, Mr. A in the model case above) must meet all of the following criteria:

The business is operated by two or more full-time employees residing in Japan other than those engaged in the management of the business.
The amount of capital or total investment is 5 million yen or more. The business is deemed to be of a scale equivalent to that of items (a) or (b).

The expression is quite difficult to understand, but what does it mean? Let me explain it in more detail below, using the model case of Mr. A.

One of the examination criteria

In simple terms, it means that you have, or will soon have, a proper office to conduct business in.

So, what about this case? Recently, there are services like monthly rental offices. Specifically, you rent it for only a few months, and it’s unclear what will happen after that. It may be convenient, but it’s a bit unsettling. Can Mr. A clear the above screening criteria by signing a contract for such a simple type of office? Unfortunately, the answer is no in principle.

This is because the activities related to the Business Manager Visa require the business to be operated continuously.

Criteria 2

There are two criteria, I and II. I will explain each of them below.

First, according to the above criterion No. 2 (a), in principle, two or more full-time employees residing in Japan are required to work. For example, A’s university classmate could be a Japanese classmate living in Japan. A may have a friend who sympathizes with A’s business model and is willing to help with the work. However, they must be “full-time”. In other words, part-time jobs are not permitted.

Next, according to the above-mentioned Standard No. 2 (b), the amount of capital or the total amount of investment is required to be 5 million yen or more. Is there anything that bothers you here? Does Mr. A in the model case above have to invest 5 million yen himself? In fact, the amount of investment made by the applicant (Mr. A) is not a permission requirement. However, there is one thing to note here. That is, Mr. A’s own investment amount is an important factor in the examination of the business management visa.

Furthermore, in regards to A, A is an international student. Even if he does part-time work, there is a limit to how much money he can earn, so he belongs to a category of people who are not usually thought of as having a lot of money. In that case, the question of “how did he raise the large amount of investment money?” will naturally be asked. Therefore, A will need to prepare a proper explanation on that point.

summary

Regarding how to obtain a business manager visa, the essence of what is written in this article can be extracted as follows.

Thank you for reading the article to the end. In fact, what is written in this article is only a small part of it. There are various other points to note and systems. Perhaps there are points to note that are unique to you as you are reading this article.

At our company (Touch Administrative Scriveners Corporation), we have administrative scriveners with extensive experience and a proven track record who specialize in visa applications. There is a limit to what you can do on your own, and especially with a business manager visa, there is an aspect to it that you absolutely do not want to fail.

If you continue to have concerns or questions about your visa, it will be a waste of time and may become an obstacle to your future business development. Therefore, please feel free to contact us (Touch, an administrative scrivener corporation).