Concept of capital of 5 million yen for business manager visa

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1. Do applicants need to invest 5 million yen of capital to obtain a business manager visa?

Many of the people who come to us for consultation think, “I must pay in 5 million yen of capital on my own to obtain a business manager visa.”

Indeed, before April 1, 2015, “Investor/Business Manager” visas (current business manager visas) were not given to foreigners or foreign corporations unless they make investment in the business to be operated.
However, the Immigration Act was amended in 2014 so that Japanese companies could widely welcome foreigners who wanted to carry out business management and operation activities. From April 1, 2015, it became possible to obtain a visa to conduct business management activities without investment by a foreigner or a foreign corporation.

Therefore, even if you do not invest 5 million yen of capital on our own, you will not be incompatible with the Immigration Act.
Please be careful as to this point as this is what many people misunderstand.

So, can you get a business manager visa without capital investment in any sort of case?
As an example, let’s find out whether you can participate in the management of a company created by a friend while you don’t make any capital investment.

When the business manager visas were newly established, there were many people who misunderstood that they could obtain the visa without investing in the company as long as they become a representative director or director. Consequently, we heard that there were quite a few applications for a business manager visa submitted by those who wanted to become a representative director only in name.
Initially, there were cases where parents or friends of foreigners living in Japan were appointed as representative directors of existing companies to call them to Japan.

However, business manager visas require applicants’ actual participation in management, not titles such as the representative director or director.
In other words, applicants need to be involved in the company’s decision-making for matters such as important business operation and business execution.

Next, we will explain whether it is possible to invite people who have no management experience as managers in the first place.

Business experience is not a requirement for business manager visas.
Therefore, whether you are on a student visa or a working visa, you can obtain a business manager visa for the purpose of conducting business activities.

Having said that, when you are invited as a company manager by a friend, the friend is inviting you because you have some track record and are expected to be beneficial to the company.
Therefore, if you have no track record or there is no clear benefit for the company to invite you, it will be suspected that you will not take part in business activities, which makes it difficult for you to pass the immigration examination concerning a business manager visa.

In summary,

2. Is it possible to obtain a business manager visa by borrowing 5 million yen to use as capital?

To obtain a business manager visa, capital of 5 million yen does not have to be prepared by the applicant, and it is okay to use borrowed money.

Nonetheless, to obtain a business manager visa, you cannot pretend to have invested money by way of show money, etc. Even if immigration officers do not realize and grant you a visa, problems may arise later when it is revealed that the application includes false contents.

Important matters when you borrow 5 million yen to invest to obtain a business manager visa are:

If you receive 5 million yen “by gift,” a gift tax will be imposed, so please be aware of that.

3. Cases where capital becomes an issue in connection with business manager visas

From here, let’s look at cases where capital becomes an issue in connection with a business manager visa.

(1) 5 million yen was made by working more than permitted hours

This case shows a problem with international students.

As a general rule, international students are prohibited from working part-time, and in order to work part-time, they must obtain permission to engage in activity other than that permitted under the status of residence previously granted.
Even if such permission is obtained, permitted hours of part-time work for international students are 28 hours per week, so the work does not interfere with their studies.

If a student breaks this rule and saves 5 million yen with the income received from part-time jobs, there is a high risk that he/she will not be granted a business manager visa.

This is because the immigration authority considers that it is not appropriate to use illegally formed savings as the capital.
Regarding this point, please refer to “An administrative scrivener explains how to change from a student visa to a business manager visa!”

(2) The formation process of 5 million yen is unnatural compared to the past annual income

This case is a problem arising when changing from a work visa to a business manager visa.

For example, let’s say you have a work visa and worked for a year at a company with an annual income of 2.4 million yen.
If you want to change from a work visa to a business manager visa after 1 year of work, can you say, “The capital of 5 million yen was formed by saving my income”?

As you can see, such case is unnatural.
By working for 1 year with annual income of 2.4 million yen, you cannot save 5 million yen.
Therefore, in such case, it is important to show the amount of savings after 1 year of work as well as how the remaining amount was made to prepare 5 million yen in total.

For other related matters, please refer to “An administrative scrivener explains how to change from a work visa to a business manager visa!”

(3) I can’t demonstrate how I formed 5 million yen of capital.

This is the most problematic point in practice regarding the capital for a business manager visa.

When does such issue arise?
It arises in a case where there is 5 million yen of capital, but how they were formed cannot be proved.

From the perspective of preventing money laundering and show money, the source of 5 million yen will be examined by the immigration bureau.
In other words, it is necessary to prove how 5 million yen was prepared, and if it cannot be proved, a business manager visa will not be granted.

In the actual immigration examination, it is necessary to submit an income certificate, etc. to clarify the formation process of 5 million yen.
Immigration examination is conducted based on documents.
Please, therefore, understand that it will be difficult to obtain a business manager visa if the actual situation cannot be proved by documents.

4. Summary of concept of capital of 5 million yen for business manager visa

In this article, we described the concept of investment of 5 million yen, which is a frequently asked question concerning business manager visas.

Obtaining a business manager visa is said to be most difficult among many working visas.
Necessity of a cross-sectional understanding is one of the reasons for that.
In addition, as explained above, it is not just a matter of preparation of capital, but there are many issues deriving from that.

In spite of such difficulties, it is not impossible to obtain a business manager visa if you prepare the application with correct understanding, as explained in this article.

If you proceed with the preparation of a business manager visa without accurate knowledge, you may receive non-permission and consequently waste or lose incorporation costs, office deposit, and rent, as well as the credit from the prospective business partner.

Daiichi-Sogo Group offer consulting services before the incorporation of a company in order to prevent non-permission of business manager visas.
We give proposals after understanding the complete picture of each case, so our clients can prepare their business with a sense of security.

If you wish to obtain a business manager visa with certainty, please feel free to contact us before incorporating a company.