Business Management Visa | The Requirements, Application, & Reasons for Rejection

"What kind of visa is a business manager visa?"

"I want to obtain a business manager visa to run a company in Japan."

Do you have any of these problems? There are probably many foreigners who want to open a restaurant or start a business on their own rather than being hired to work in Japan.

A Business Manager Visa is a specific type of status of residence (visa) required for foreigners to manage or manage a business in Japan.

The requirements for obtaining a Business Manager Visa are as follows.

Conditions to Obtain the Business Management Visa

In order to obtain permission to apply for a Business Manager Visa, it is necessary to satisfy all minimum requirements for obtaining this visa and to prove that the additional requirements are also met, so it is generally considered more difficult than other visas.

Points Explained in this Article

Please read till the end so that you can get a rough understanding what the business manager visa is, how to apply for it, and tips on how to improve your chances of getting your BMV approved.

1. What is Business Manager Visa?

A business manager visa is a specific type of status of residence (visa) required for foreigners to manage a company in Japan.

According to the Immigration Control Law, a business manager visa is defined as follows.

The validity periods available are 3 months, 4 months, 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years for the business manager visa.

The scope of activities that are possible with a business manager visa are:

For example, if a foreigner who currently has a work visa, skill visa, student visa, or family visa decides to start a business, they will also need to change their status of residence (visa) to the business manager visa status.

2. What are the requirements for obtaining a business manager visa?

What are the requirements for obtaining a business manager visa to start business management in Japan?

The requirements for obtaining a Business Manager Visa when starting business management in Japan are -

Conditions to Obtain the Business Management Visa

Requirements = Items that will be examined during the visa application, so let's go into the details of each requirements.

2-1. Physical Office(s) / Store(s) MUST be in Japan

In order to obtain a business manager visa, the physical office or store must be located in Japan.

The office/store must already be leased under your name at the time of application, and it must be in the following state, for example.

As stated above, when applying for a business manager visa, it is a requirement that the store or office is ready for business immediately.

2-2. A Minimum Capital of 5 million yen or more, or 2 or More Employees

In order to obtain a business manager visa, the company must meet certain regulations.

The regulations are as follows.

The reason why such a regulation is set is because, business manager visas are not issued for small-scale businesses.

However, it is difficult to hire employees before starting a business, so if you cannot hire more than two employees, you can have your business considered to be of a certain size by providing 5 million yen in capital.

However, there are some things to take note of regarding capital.

[Things to Take Note Of]

During the visa application screening, if your application makes the Immigration Bureau raise doubts of how the applicant obtained the capital, they may be asked about the source of the funds.

Thus, if someone asks you where your money is coming from, be prepared to give a clear answer.

Specifically, it is best to have a document to prove how you raised the capital amount – example, a document that proves a savings passbook record, a remittance record, a loan agreement, etc.

2-3. Business license and various tax-related notifications must have been completed

In order to obtain a business manager visa, it is necessary to complete various notifications such as a business license for the store to be managed and tax-related notifications to the tax office.

Specific examples of business licenses are as follows.

The application method and location differ depending on the type and municipality of business office permission, so we recommend to do an in-depth research and get your required licenses or permits without delay.

2-4. Prove the company's stability and continuity with a business plan

The most important thing in applying for a business manager visa is to be able to prove the stability and continuity of the company in the business plan.

By creating an appropriate business plan for the application, you can showcase your projected sales, estimated expenses, your business model, and the outlook of profitability of the business.

There are two main reasons why a business plan is important:

・1. To avoid being seen as a paper company

・2. Managing a company is debit is not in the interest of the nation.

For the above reasons, the business plan is very important, and it is common for it to be around 7 to 10 sheets of A4 paper, all in Japanese.

The point of the business plan to be submitted to the Immigration Bureau is to have them understand that it is a realistic business, and the main contents to be summarized below.

Summary of the Main Contents in the Business Plan for Submission to the Immigration Bureau

When creating a business plan, keep in mind that you will be able to understand the actual situation, stability, and continuity of your business throughout the document.

3. Reasons as to Why Obtaining a Business Manager Visa is Difficult

It is said that it is generally difficult to obtain a Business Manager Visa. Why is this so?

Reasons as to why it is difficult to obtain a BMV

Let’s delve into each reason.

3-1. Insufficient Explanation & Difficulty in Proving Application Details

One of the reasons why it is difficult to obtain a business manager visa is because the Immigration Bureau feels there is insufficient explanation/evidence, or finds the contents written in the visa application not practical.

You have to judge and prepare the necessary documents required to prove and explain your business - not just prepare the minimum required documents.

When applying for a business manager visa, it is necessary to prove and explain the following application details, for example -

Examples of details that need to be verified and explained when applying for a BMV

For those who are applying for the first time, it is already tiresome just to prepare the required documents, thus many overlook the OTHER necessary documents required to improve their chances of BMV approval.

Therefore, it is rather difficult for non-experts to get approval when they apply for a business manager visa themselves.

3-2. Applicants who apply without realizing that they did not meet the requirements in the first place

Another reason why it is difficult to apply for a BMV is that many people apply without realizing that they did not meet the requirements in the first place.

In most cases, the visa requirements for a BMV are simply listed, for example, “there is an office in Japan,” but there are actually more detailed requirements, and it is difficult to judge whether the requirements are met in the true sense.

For example, the listed requirement of "there is an office in Japan" does not mean that any place or space will be allowed to be used an office. For example, it is stipulated that "the place to live and the office must be separated". (In the case of a detached house it is possible to have the home and office at the same address by separating the first and second floors.)

Listed below is the summary of the regular culprits of why a BMV application is rejected.

Common Rejection Reasons for BMV Applications

Thus, even if you think that you have met the visa requirements, you may not be approved because you do not meet the conditions behind the requirements.

If you apply when even one of the requirements is not met, you will never pass the application examination. It will be a waste of time and money, so please carefully check if you have met ALL the visa requirements before applying.

4. Documents required to apply for a business manager visa

What documents are required to be submitted when applying for a Business Manager Visa to run a company in Japan?

Commonly required documents are as follows.

Below are the company documents required:

The above are the documents that usually must be submitted together with documents related to the company.

You may need to submit additional documents listed below.

The above are the necessary documents for applying for a business manager visa.

Please note that all documents must be prepared in Japanese, and if attached documents are written in a foreign language, translations must be attached.

5. Flow of application for business manager visa

Steps Required Before Applying for BMV

A business manager visa is a visa status that cannot be obtained unless the company already exists. Thus, what is the actual appropriate process?

Here, we will explain the flow from establishing / incorporating a new company to applying for a business manager visa.

The steps are explained in detail below.

STEP1 Decide on the basis of the corporation

Decide the matters necessary for incorporating a company.

The requirements are as follows.

In STEP 1, you need to decide on the company address, so decide whether to rent an office or temporarily keep the company address at home.

STEP2 Draft the Articles of Incorporation

Next, draft the “Articles of Incorporation”, which is the basic information and principles of the company.

There are two ways to prepare the Articles of Incorporation: one is to prepare it yourself, and the other is to seek the services of an expert such as an administrative scrivener (law firm) .

If you choose to prepare the ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION yourself, you can refer to the Japan Federation of Notaries or books for reference and examples and modifying it according to the needs of your company.

The Articles of Incorporation must stipulate the following items.

Once the Articles of Incorporation is complete, proceed to the next step.

STEP3 Authenticate (Notarize) the Articles of Incorporation at a notary public office

Bring the “Articles of Incorporation” created in STEP2 to a notary public office and have it authenticated (notarized).

Certification costs are as follows:

Electronic Articles of Incorporation can be used mainly when you ask an administrative scrivener (law firm) only. If you go to authenticate yourself, you will have to pay a stamp tax of 40,000 yen.

STEP4 Complete the company capital transfer

After the Articles of Incorporation is approved, the capital is transferred to the company founder's (incorporator) personal bank account.

Only Japanese bank accounts are allowed. A Japanese branch of an overseas bank is also acceptable.

STEP5 [Company Incorporation] Register the Company Incorporation with the Legal Affairs Bureau

Register the incorporation of the company and the company representative seal at the Legal Affairs Bureau. (The date of this application will be the date of establishment of the company.)

A registration license tax must be paid upon registration. The cost is as follows.

 In other words, when establishing a company, it is necessary to pay a registration and license tax of at least 150,000 yen.

STEP6 Submit various notifications to the tax office

After the establishment of the company is completed, various notifications must be submitted to the tax office of the jurisdiction where the company is located (for example, a company with the company address in Shinjuku ward has to notify the Shinjuku Tax Office).

Required notifications to be submitted are as follows.

A copy of the submitted documents with the stamp of receipt from the tax office will be required when applying for a business manager visa, so be sure to keep the original copy in a safe place.

STEP7 Obtain licenses and permits if necessary

If your business requires a business license, you must obtain the license before applying for a business manager visa. (If your company does not require a business license, skip STEP7.)

Examples of businesses that require a business license are:

The method of obtaining a business license varies by municipality, so please inquire at your nearby the public health center or police station for detailed information.

STEP8 [BMV Application] Visa Application at the Immigration Bureau

After completing the preparations up to this point, you will be able to apply for the Business Manager Visa.

After preparing the necessary documents, you can now apply for the BMV at the Immigration Bureau. This is the application after preparations done from STEP1 to STEP7.

It takes time and money to apply for a business manager visa, so be sure to fully understand that the high risks and be fully prepared in your visa application in order to get the BMV approval.

6. If your BMV is Rejected

What to do if your application for a business manager visa is rejected?

Here are the steps you can take.

What to do if BMV is Rejected

1. Find out the cause of the visa application rejection

2. Re-apply

6-1. Find out the cause of rejection for the BMV application

If your application for a business manager visa is rejected, you will need to investigate the reason for rejection.

Go to the Immigration Bureau where you applied and ask the examiner in a private room about the reason for the refusal.

The following points should be noted when asking the reason for refusal.

If you are not proficient in Japanese, there is a high possibility that the meeting will be meaningless as no translator will be offered. If you are unsure or want to know the exact reason for your BMV rejection, we recommend that you ask a specialist or expert to accompany you.

6-2. Reapply the BMV

If the reason for the rejection is made clear, you can then do a reapplication after amending/adding content or doing future actions to meet the requirements based from the insufficient previous application.

If your application for a Business Manager Visa is rejected, there is a high possibility that you will be rejected again if you reapply with the same content.

Let's take a look at the main reasons for rejection here. The main causes are as follows.

If the application is rejected due to the above reasons, it is obvious that the application will be rejected again even if the application is made under the same circumstances and with the same documents, even if it is just reworded.

There are also points to note when amending the details of a reapplication.

That is, if you arbitrarily change the details of only the cause of rejection of the previous application. When doing a reapplication, we recommend that you review the situation and document relationships from scratch, or ask an expert.

7. Considering the hassles of applying a BMV, it is recommended to seek the services of a administrative scrivener (law firm) or expert to assist you

It is recommended to ask a professional to apply for a BMV. Above all, we recommend that you ask an administrative scrivener (law firm) specializing in Business Manager Visa.

Why so?

The benefits of having the support and assistance of a specialized law firm for applying BMV

7-1. Applying for a business manager visa is a time-consuming task, even for professionals

Obtaining the BMV is a tedious task that requires even a professional to apply over an extended period of time.

When applying for a visa on your own, most people are first-time applicants, so many things often go wrong and it also takes a considerable amount of time to prepare.

In addition, if you apply for a visa yourself, there is a high probability that your visa will not be granted, so the reality is that a large percentage of people waste their time and effort and end up seeking the services of an expert.

Applying for a visa, which is a difficult task even for experts, is highly likely to fail if you do it yourself, so we recommend that you consult with an expert right from the start.

7-2. Business Manager Visa is a “high-risk” visa due to its numerous risks

The Business Manager Visa is a visa with many risks and can lead to monetary losses if it fails.

This is because the Business Manager Visa is a visa that you apply for after establishing a company, renting an office, and making a large investment.

Even if you can't get a business manager visa, office rent will continue to accrue. Despite this, if you cannot obtain a business manager visa, you will not be able to manage the company and it will lead to a big loss.

We recommend that you ask an expert to apply for the Business Manager Visa so that you increase your chances of success and to be able to manage the company as soon as possible.

8. How to choose an administrative scrivener (law firm) for obtaining a Business Management Visa

We will introduce how to choose an administrative scrivener (law firm) to secure a business management visa in just one application.

These are the points you should consider.

What to Look At when Considering Law Firms for Applying BMV?

8-1. Does the law firm have a track record of successful business manager visa applications?

The most important point when requesting a business management visa from an administrative scrivener (law firm) is their track record of successful regarding the business management visa applications.

Not all administrative scriveners (law firms) have experience handling business management visas, and some accept requests even though they have almost no track record.

Administrative scriveners (law firms) who do not have a track record or experience do not have know-how or deep specialized knowledge about business management visas, so the probability of obtaining a business management visa is lower than that of experienced firm.

You can check how many business management visas applications the firm has successfully applied on their websites. Do your research carefully before setting a appointment with them.

8-2. Are they relatable and considerate?

Because it is difficult to obtain a business manager visa, it is important to choose an administrative scrivener (law firm) who can be empathetic with your situation.

When applying for a business manager visa, it is necessary to apply based on each situation, and a detailed interview is very important.

A relatable administrative scrivener (law firm) will listen carefully to what you have to say and will try to get to know you in detail.

At first glance, it doesn't seem to have much to do with visa acquisition, but the probability of permission will change depending on whether or not they are empathetic. Take advantage of free consultations and choose an administrative scrivener (law firm) who feel is the most relatable to you.

8-3. Are they a trustworthy administrative scrivener (law firm)?

When applying for a business manager visa, choose an administrative scrivener (law firm) that you feel can be trusted!

This is because you will have a long relationship with the administrative scrivener (law firm) whom you entrust to apply your business manager visa on your behalf.

It takes about half a year from application to examination for a business manager visa. If you do the consultation with the firm regarding the incorporation of the company, it will certainly be a long-term relationship.

A trustworthy administrative scrivener (law firm) will be able to consult you about your company in time to come. When applying for a business manager visa, be sure to seek the services of a trusted administrative scrivener (law firm).

9. Summary

In this article, we have explained in detail about the Business Manager Visa.

Finally, let's review all the conditions and requirements for obtaining the visa.

Conditions to Obtain the Business Management Visa

Hopefully by reading this article, you have gained more knowledge and insights about the Business Manager Visa. All the best for your visa application!