Business Manager Visa 2026: All the New Rules, Plain and Simple

On 16 October 2025 the Japanese government quietly overhauled the Business Manager visa, the one that lets a foreign entrepreneur set up and run a company in Japan. Applications fell from around 1,700 a month to fewer than 70, a drop of 96%. Here is what changed, requirement by requirement.

Requirement 1, capital of 30 million yen

Before October 2025, 5 million yen was enough. It now takes 30 million, about 203,000 dollars, paid into the share capital of the Japanese company.

That money can fund part of the project, space, renovation or equipment, but its origin has to be proven and documented. For many food and beverage projects the threshold changes everything: a small restaurant on a total budget of 15 to 20 million becomes mechanically impossible without a further investor.

Requirement 2, one full-time employee

The old regime offered a choice: hire an employee or invest 5 million yen. Since the reform, hiring at least one Japanese national or permanent resident full time is mandatory, whatever the capital.

In food service, where the country has 1.29 million unfilled positions in 2026, that obligation is not an administrative formality. It is a permanent cost line to fill before the doors even open.

Requirement 3, Japanese at JLPT N2

The main applicant must show JLPT N2, the equivalent of CEFR B2: following a professional conversation, reading an administrative document, holding your own in a meeting.

For a beginner, N2 means eighteen to twenty-four months of sustained study. That requirement alone rules out a share of the founders who until now managed with a bilingual accountant.

Requirement 4, a business plan verified by an expert

The business plan is no longer a declaration. It has to be reviewed and validated by an expert, a certified accountant, consultant or lawyer, and the authorities now check the economic credibility of the project, not just whether the file is complete.

The authorities no longer read an intention. They read a business model.

Requirement 5, a dedicated physical office

A real space, with a commercial lease in your name or the company's. No home address, no generic coworking desk, no post box.

For a restaurant project the trading premises satisfy this. For a consulting or trading company it is a new cost line to carry in the plan from year one.

The timeline, four to ten months

Review times have lengthened since the reform: files are read closely, and an incomplete one goes round again.

This timeline governs everything else. Signing a lease before the Certificate of Eligibility arrives means paying rent for months on premises you are not allowed to trade from.

If you already hold the visa

You are not affected immediately: a transitional period is in place. But at renewal, every one to three years depending on the case, the new rules will apply progressively, across several cycles according to Baker McKenzie's February 2026 analysis.

If your visa was granted before October 2025 on 5 million yen and no employee, compliance is prepared now, not on the day you file the renewal.

What this changes for a Food & Beverage project

In practice: a couple could open a small restaurant on 12 to 15 million yen, run it between them and get by without fluent Japanese. The same project today needs 30 million in capital, a Japanese employee and JLPT N2. The entry ticket has tripled.

This is not bad news for everyone. The barrier filters out undercapitalised projects, which were also the ones closing within the year. It does demand real financial backing and a file that stands up on first reading.

Building that file and the business plan behind it is what we do on every opening.Opening in Japan

Sources

• Baker McKenzie, Japan Revises Business Manager Visa Requirements, February 2026
• YOLO Japan, Major Changes to Japan's Business Manager Visa, 2026
• VisaJapan.jp, the 2025 revision explained
• Shareuhack, Japan Business Manager Visa 2026 Guide
• Ministry of Justice, Immigration Bureau data, 2025 and 2026
• Ministry of Labour, hospitality employment statistics, 2026