If you already hold a Business Manager Visa, you have probably seen the ¥30 million headlines. The harder question is what the 2025 changes mean for a company that was approved under the former rules, and what Immigration will expect at the next renewal.
Japan revised the Business Manager criteria on October 16, 2025. Existing holders receive transitional treatment, but it is a case-by-case assessment rather than an automatic grace period. Your next step is to compare the business you run today with the revised standards while there is still time to address gaps and build evidence.
You have probably read the headline numbers already. What follows is the part that is harder to find: where the revised criteria actually bite on a company that was approved under the old rules, which gaps you can still close before your date, and how the accounting and tax record you are building right now will read to Immigration when it lands on the desk with your application.
This guide is for people who already have the status of residence. If you are preparing your first application, start with our Business Manager Visa application guide.
This is general information and is not legal advice. Immigration examines each application individually. Confirm your own position with the Immigration Services Agency or a suitably qualified professional before filing.
5 Things you need to do now for renewals
Start by working backwards from your residence-card expiry date. The Immigration Services Agency’s reform guidance gives existing holders transitional treatment for applications filed before October 16, 2028. Immigration can consider the condition of the business and the prospect of meeting the revised standards even when every new criterion is not yet satisfied.
That wording gives you planning time. It does not guarantee approval. After October 16, 2028, the official guidance expects existing holders to meet the revised criteria. A later ISA clarification describes narrow discretion when capital alone remains below ¥30 million and the wider business and compliance record is sound, but it does not create a dependable extension. Plan around the 2028 date and have any shortfall assessed on its own facts.
Here are the five actions to take now.
- Make sure your capital position is clean and substantiated. Identify what is legally recorded as paid-in capital or contributions, and do not treat a personal bank balance as company capital. If you were approved under the former ¥5 million standard, calculate the gap early. A capital change may involve company approvals, registration, banking records, accounting treatment, and evidence explaining where the funds came from.
- Hire one qualifying full-time employee early enough to create a record, and pick someone who can carry the Japanese-language condition too. One good hire can close two of these five requirements at once. Anyone who qualifies for the mandatory employee position, a Japanese national most obviously, can normally also serve as your evidence for the language standard. They remain two separate tests, so check your candidate against each one rather than assuming the hire settles both. Then make sure the role, employment agreement, wages, residence information, and insurance records match the work the person actually does. A contractor or an outside service does not satisfy a rule that calls for a full-time employee.
- Check your own background against the experience or degree criterion. The revised rules ask the applicant for at least three years of business operation or management experience, or a doctoral, master’s, or professional degree in management or in a field involving knowledge the business needs. Qualifying time under the relevant Designated Activities startup-preparation status can count toward the experience route. Gather the evidence early, because a degree that sits at an angle to your actual business needs explaining.
- Get the business plan checked, and make it show where the company is going. Professional confirmation is required in specific situations rather than automatically at every renewal, so check what applies to your category. Beyond the sign-off, the plan should show a clear path to growth and say what you intend to do with the employee you hired. Immigration reads it against the office, licences, services, revenue, and hiring you can actually evidence, so the written plan and the operating history need to describe one business.
- Keep tax and social-insurance compliance current and provable, and check what your accountant is optimizing for. Review national and local tax, labor-insurance, social-insurance, payroll, and permit records before the filing window. If something is late or missing, get advice on the proper correction and explanation. An accountant doing exactly what you asked can leave you in a difficult position without either of you realizing it, because the figures that reduce a tax bill are the same figures Immigration reads as the size of your business. There is more on that below.
Meeting a standard and proving it are separate jobs. Build the evidence while the company is operating, then check the latest document list for your Immigration organization category.
Why renewals are getting rejected right now
The official rules point to a wider review of the business behind the application. Immigration can consider whether you are genuinely managing the company, whether the business can continue, and whether the company has met its public obligations. The current renewal materials also ask applicable applicants for detailed tax, insurance, licence, employee, and activity evidence.
That is more revealing than a company registry certificate on its own. Your latest accounts may show whether the business can keep operating. Payroll and insurance records show how an employee is engaged. Contracts, decisions, and the activity statement help show what you actually managed during the period of stay.
For problems at the initial application stage, see our guide to Business Manager Visa rejection reasons. The renewal picture needs current evidence from real renewal work, which will be added here after Tyson’s review.
EDITORIAL PLACEHOLDER: TYSON CASEWORK ON CURRENT RENEWALS
Add two to four verified patterns from Tyson’s recent work. For each pattern, include the approximate date, business type, the issue Immigration questioned, the evidence requested, and the outcome. Use only examples Tyson has approved for publication. Do not add an income or profit threshold unless there is defensible evidence for it.
Suggested length after completion: 180 to 250 words. Keep the deeper case detail for the planned article, “Why Business Manager Visa Renewals Are Getting Rejected Right Now.”
Is your current setup ready to renew? Questions worth asking
You should be able to get a clear answer about how your company will address each revised criterion. Use these questions with your immigration adviser, accountant, internal team, or anyone coordinating the renewal:
- Has your provider explained, without waiting for you to ask, how the 2025 change affects your next renewal?
- How many Business Manager Visa applications are they handling under the new conditions?
- How many of those matters are renewals for existing holders?
- Which revised criteria do we already meet, and what evidence proves that?
- Which criteria are still open, and who owns each action?
- Do we have a written plan for the capital, employee, and language requirements before my renewal date?
- How is our capital recorded, and does that match Immigration’s definition?
- Does our employee satisfy the employment rule, the Japanese rule, or both?
- Are our tax, labor-insurance, and social-insurance records current?
- Does our office still fit the revised guidance?
- Can we show what I personally managed during this period of stay?
- If we are using the transition, what concrete progress will the application show?
- Has anyone checked that our accounts, business plan, employee records, and immigration explanation agree with one another?
- When I ask a question, do I receive an explanation I understand or only a list of forms?
- Does the provider know our revenue, hiring, and tax position, or only what is in the visa file?
- Do we review readiness between renewals, or only when the deadline is close?
The quality of the answer matters. A list of forms tells you what to collect. It does not tell you whether the business story shown by those forms is coherent.
What good renewal support looks like now
Good support starts with one view of the company. Immigration documents, accounting records, hiring decisions, licences, and the business plan should describe the same operation.
Tax advice deserves special attention because Immigration reviews tax compliance and the condition of the business. A lawful accounting or tax decision can change the figures that appear in the company’s financial statements. Before making a decision that materially affects reported profit, director compensation, capital, or liabilities, ask how the resulting records may need to be explained at renewal.
This is a coordination issue. Your accountant needs enough context to understand that residence status is part of the business decision. Your immigration adviser needs current financial and operational information rather than a folder assembled at filing time. Visa and tax work may have been handled as separate streams under the former framework. The revised criteria make the records produced by both streams more closely connected.
SmartStart’s working recommendation is to begin renewal-readiness work at least six months before expiry. When we help a client with tax-return preparation, we also consider how the resulting records fit the Business Manager Visa evidence. That does not mean manipulating the accounts to produce a visa result. Tax filings must be accurate. It means identifying the immigration implications of lawful business and accounting choices before those choices become part of the filed record.
Our guides to Japanese taxes for new businesses and accounting and bookkeeping in Japan explain the underlying systems in more detail.
EDITORIAL PLACEHOLDER: TYSON TAX AND ACCOUNTING CASEWORK
Add one verified example showing a real coordination problem. Record what decision was made, what appeared in the renewal evidence, when SmartStart became involved, what was changed or explained, and the final outcome. Keep the tone factual. Do not blame the accountant or claim the same result applies to every business.
Suggested length after completion: 120 to 180 words.
SmartStart Japan works across the company setup, visa, office, and back-office questions that affect foreign founders. If you want a second view of your renewal position, you can book a free 30-minute consultation before your filing window arrives.
The full renewal requirements, in detail
The revised criteria apply across several parts of the business. Existing holders should understand each standard even when they are filing during the transition.
Capital (¥30 million) at renewal
For a company, the official guidance looks at paid-in capital for a kabushiki kaisha, or KK, and total contributions for structures such as a godo kaisha, or GK. The revised figure is ¥30 million.
For an individual business, the calculation is different. The ISA describes the amount invested in what the business needs to operate. Its examples include securing the business premises, one year of employee salaries, and equipment expenditure.
A personal bank balance is not the same as company capital. A company loan, retained earnings, shareholder contribution, or recent capital increase may raise separate accounting and documentation questions. The public guidance does not give a simple rule for every funding arrangement, so have the proposed structure checked before moving money.
The transition can affect how a current shortfall is assessed. It does not change the value of knowing your real position now. If recapitalization is being considered, allow time for company approvals, registration work, banking records, and a clear source-of-funds trail.
For wider setup costs, see our guide to the cost of setting up a company in Japan. Use the ISA definition when assessing renewal capital.
The full-time employee
The revised criteria require the business to employ at least one full-time employee from a permitted resident category. The ISA identifies Japanese nationals, special permanent residents, permanent residents, spouses of Japanese nationals, spouses of permanent residents, and long-term residents for this employment condition.
The Business Manager Visa holder does not fill the separate employee position by counting themselves as the employee. A contractor or outside service also does not automatically satisfy a rule that calls for a full-time employee.
Choose this person with the language condition in mind as well. Everyone in the list above can be considered for the Japanese-language route, so the right hire can answer both requirements instead of one. The next section explains where that shortcut stops working.
The current Business Manager renewal materials ask applicable applicants for evidence such as wage-payment documents and residence information for the worker. The wider package may also include labor-insurance and social-insurance evidence. Check the current list for your organization category before deciding what to submit.
Japanese language (N2/B2)
You do not necessarily need to pass JLPT N2 personally. The Japanese-language condition can be met by the applicant or by a full-time employee.
The official standard is B2 under the Framework of Reference for Japanese Language Education. For a person who needs to prove that ability, the listed routes include:
- JLPT N2 or higher.
- A score of at least 400 on the BJT Business Japanese Proficiency Test.
- At least 20 years in Japan as a mid-to-long-term resident.
- Graduation from a Japanese university or another qualifying higher-education institution.
- Completion of compulsory education and high school in Japan.
The worker who can meet the language condition is defined more widely than the employee who counts for the employment condition. The official reform summary says a full-time worker holding a Table I work status can be considered for the language route, and that group is broader than the residence categories listed for the mandatory employee.
The practical consequence runs one way only. Because the employment list sits inside the wider language list, someone hired to satisfy the employee requirement can normally cover the language requirement as well, as long as that individual meets B2 through one of the routes above. A Japanese national clears it without further evidence. It does not work in reverse. A Table I worker who proves your language standard has not thereby satisfied the mandatory-employee rule, and treating one person as the answer to both without checking is where this goes wrong.
Management experience or degree
The applicant also needs to address the revised background criterion. One route is at least three years of experience in business operation or management. Qualifying time spent on startup-preparation activities under the relevant Designated Activities status can be included. The other route is a doctoral, master’s, or professional degree in management or in a field involving technical knowledge needed for the business. Because the link between a degree and the business can be fact-sensitive, check the evidence and explanation before filing.
Business plan and track record
The 2025 reform requires professional confirmation when a business plan is submitted for a status decision under the revised framework. The official list of evaluators includes a registered Small and Medium Enterprise Management Consultant, a certified public accountant, and a tax accountant.
That rule should not be simplified into “every renewal always needs an approved business plan.” For an existing holder filing during the transition, ISA says Immigration may ask for a document evaluated by a management expert. Your category, prior application, business changes, and any request from Immigration affect the documents you need.
Even where a newly confirmed plan is not automatically listed, the business explanation still needs to match reality. Revenue, hiring, office use, actual services, and financial forecasts should agree with what the company has done since the last application.
Treat the plan as more than a compliance document. A renewal reads better when the plan shows a clear path to growth and explains what the qualifying employee is there to do. Immigration is looking at whether the business can continue, so a plan that connects the hire to the work ahead of it says more about continuity than a set of forecasts standing on their own.
The status is for people who genuinely operate or manage a business. ISA guidance looks for substantive participation in important decisions, execution, or oversight. If most work is outsourced and the holder’s own management activity is unclear, the application may need stronger evidence of what the holder actually does.
The office also needs another look. Under the revised scale requirements, official guidance says combining a home and business premises is not accepted in principle. That wording allows facts to matter, but a home-office assumption from an older application should be reviewed rather than carried forward.
Keep the lease, permitted use, photographs, company registration, and actual business activity consistent. Our guide to renting an office in Japan can help with the commercial side. Immigration’s guidance remains the source for the residence-status requirement.
Tax and social-insurance compliance
Current renewal materials ask applicable businesses for evidence across several public obligations. Depending on the organization and its circumstances, this can include:
- Labor-insurance enrolment and payment.
- Social-insurance enrolment and payment.
- National taxes, including corporate tax and applicable consumption tax.
- Local corporate resident tax and enterprise tax.
- Required licences or permits for the business activity.
- The applicant’s resident-tax certificates.
A problem in one area does not create a universal result. The ISA renewal guidelines make clear that Immigration considers the full circumstances. Unpaid obligations, unexplained gaps, or missing permits can still weigh against an application.
Review the records before the filing window. If something is missing or late, get advice on the correct legal remedy and how it should be disclosed. Our post-incorporation requirements guide covers the broader company obligations that founders need to maintain.
Compliance is only half of what this evidence does. The same filings also describe the size and health of your business to Immigration, which means a lawful accounting decision taken for tax reasons can quietly change how your renewal reads. Anyone advising you on the accounts should know that a residence status depends on them. The section on renewal support above sets out how that coordination works in practice.
The new statement of business-management activities
There is no single document list for every Business Manager Visa renewal. The official Business Manager page divides organizations into categories, and the submission requirements change with the category.
The starting set generally includes the current extension application form, a photograph, and presentation of the passport and residence card. From there, applicable documents can cover:
- Evidence of the organization’s category.
- Capital and company information.
- The qualifying employee and Japanese-language evidence.
- The applicant’s experience or degree.
- Tax, labor-insurance, social-insurance, and permit records.
- Financial statements and material showing business continuity.
- A statement of the applicant’s management activities during the latest period of stay.
The activity statement deserves early attention. The current list asks applicable categories for a free-format document explaining the business operation or management work performed during the most recent period of stay. If the business changed since the last application, the document should also explain why.
Immigration can request further evidence even when you submit the listed documents. Use the latest checklist for your category, and keep a copy of the complete filing package.
When should you start your renewal?
SmartStart recommends beginning renewal-readiness work at least six months before your residence card expires. Start earlier when you may need to change the capital, hire an employee, secure different premises, correct compliance records, or gather language and background evidence. Those steps create a record over time and may involve people outside the immigration filing itself.
The preparation period is different from the filing window. For a period of stay of at least six months, the official extension procedure says Immigration generally accepts an application from around three months before expiry. Special circumstances can support earlier acceptance.
As of August 17, 2026, the government fee when permission is granted is ¥6,000 for a counter application and ¥5,500 for an online application. Recheck the official page before publishing or filing because immigration fees can change.
Processing time also changes. ISA publishes average processing periods each month, and those figures cover approved cases rather than refusals or withdrawn applications. Use the latest data for planning and leave room for additional-document requests.
What if you don’t meet the new requirements?
If your renewal falls before October 16, 2028, identify the gap and the evidence that shows a credible path toward the revised criteria. The transition allows Immigration to consider the condition of the business and the prospect of compliance. It does not provide a standard exemption.
If your renewal falls after that date, get a personal assessment before relying on the ISA FAQ’s narrow capital wording. A healthy business and clean tax record may matter, but the decision still considers the wider facts and the prospect of meeting the criteria.
Changing to Highly Skilled Professional status or applying for permanent residence is case-dependent. The reform guidance says a Business Manager holder who does not meet the revised criteria may be unable to use certain HSP or permanent-residence routes based on that activity. Check the requirements for your own history, family position, qualifications, and intended work before treating another status as an option.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need ¥30 million at my next renewal?
The revised standard is ¥30 million, but existing holders filing before October 16, 2028 receive case-by-case transitional treatment. Immigration considers the business and the prospect of meeting the revised criteria. Plan toward the full standard and have any shortfall reviewed before filing.
Can I renew if my business had a loss?
One loss period does not decide the application by itself. Immigration considers whether the business can continue, the explanation for its financial condition, and any credible improvement plan. Repeated losses, insolvency, or weak evidence of future operations need a careful, fact-specific explanation.
What if I do not have a qualifying full-time employee yet?
The revised criteria require one qualifying full-time employee. A current holder filing during the transition may still receive an individual assessment, but there is no blanket approval for businesses without the employee. Start by checking who qualifies, what the company can afford, and what progress can be documented. When you do hire, look for someone who can also carry the Japanese-language condition, because one qualifying employee can often answer both requirements.
Do I personally need JLPT N2?
No. You or a qualifying full-time employee can meet the Japanese-language condition. JLPT N2 is one evidence route. BJT 400, long-term residence, and specified education in Japan are among the other routes listed by ISA.
Do I need a professionally reviewed business plan for every renewal?
The official rule is more specific. Professional confirmation applies to a business plan submitted for a status decision under the revised framework. For an existing holder in the transition, Immigration may request a document evaluated by a management expert. Check the current list and any request issued in your case.
What is the new business-activity statement?
It is a free-format document for applicable renewal categories that explains the management work performed during the most recent period of stay. It should also explain material changes since the prior application. Check whether it is required for your organization category.
How early can I file?
If your current period of stay is at least six months, you can generally file from around three months before expiry. Earlier filing may be accepted when special circumstances exist. Preparation can begin many months before that filing window.
How much does renewal cost?
As of August 17, 2026, the government fee when permission is granted is ¥6,000 for a counter application and ¥5,500 online. Professional fees and the cost of company changes are separate.
How long does renewal take?
There is no dependable single timeline. ISA publishes average processing periods each month, and an application can take longer when further evidence is requested. Check the latest official data and file within the permitted window.
Can I apply for permanent residence or HSP instead?
Possibly, depending on your circumstances. The revised guidance can restrict permanent residence and certain HSP routes when a Business Manager holder does not meet the new criteria. Have your points, residence history, tax record, and proposed activities reviewed before choosing a route.
Conclusion
The renewal bar has changed, and the result depends on more than a company registration certificate. Your application is built from the business you run between renewals. Start with the expiry date, compare the company with the revised criteria, and address gaps while there is still time to create a clear record.
If the capital, employee, Japanese, office, or compliance position is unclear, book a free 30-minute consultation with SmartStart Japan. A renewal-readiness review can show which questions need attention before the filing window opens.
If you are planning beyond the renewal itself, read our guides to the Business Manager Visa application framework and bringing family to Japan on a Business Manager Visa.
