Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan

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Foreign business owners are scrambling to raise capital to stay in Japan<br>Why you should consider curry for lunch today -- and what Kasumigaseki has to do with it

Thisanka Siripala<br>Jun 11, 2026

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By guest contributor Thisanka Siripala<br>Japan’s decision to tighten the requirements for the business manager visa has sparked panic among foreign residents who run small family-run businesses.<br>Foreign business owners could lose their residency status after the government increased the capital requirement from 5 million yen (approx. $31,000) to 30 million yen (approx. $187,000).1<br>The changes also mandate a full time Japanese or permanent resident staff member,  Japanese language ability equivalent to an average Japanese person, and three years of business managerial experience or a masters degree equivalent.<br>The government said the revisions are in response to the increase of fraudulent business visa applicants who set up shell companies to gain residency status.<br>But long term foreign residents, who have set up legitimate businesses and roots in the community, have become collateral damage.<br>Immigration Services Agency statistics shows that only 4 percent of business manager visa holders hold 30 million yen in capital.<br>The business manager visa, introduced in 2015, was designed to encourage foreign entrepreneurship.  The number of visa holders grew from 18,000 in 2015 to 40,000 by the end of 2024.<br>The number of applications have now plummeted 96 percent from roughly 1700 to 70 per month since the new rules were announced in October 2025, according to a report by the Cabinet Secretariat.

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Indian curry under attack<br>Kazuki Yuda, administrative scrivener at Touch Immigration Law Firm said the people who are most affected by the changes are not those abusing the system. It’s the small restaurant owners and young entrepreneurs.

Yuda also runs a YouTube channel in Japanese and English that offers resources for the Japanese immigration process<br>Indian-style curry is considered one of the most successful immigrant-run small business sectors in Japan. These restaurants are one of the country's most visible foreign cuisines, with approximately 5,000 Indo-Nepalese restaurants in Japan. This is more than the number of McDonald's restaurants in the country.<br>But these restaurants will need to generate additional revenue to remain profitable or secure new sources of funding in order to stay in Japan.<br>Yuda said the high capital threshold and hiring one full time Japanese employee doesn’t align with the realities of these family-operated small businesses.<br>“We are seeing growing anxiety among existing visa holders,” said Yuda at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan on June 8. “Raising 30 million in capital in a few years is extremely difficult even for businesses that are profitable.”<br>The unease has also prompted Japanese restaurant customers to take action. An online petition to review the capital threshold has been signed by more than 67,000 people and was submitted to the Immigration Services Agency in mid-May.

Yuda at the June 8 FCCJ press conference.<br>Business manager visa renewals have also become unpredictable. Immigration authorities are scrutinizing whether existing visa holders are engaged exclusively in managerial responsibilities.<br>But restaurant owners say they are being penalized for the reality of running small businesses, where cooking, cleaning, and serving customers are often inseparable from managing staff and finances.

A typical lunch set at an Indo-Nepalese restaurant in Japan<br>The business behind the business manager visa scam<br>Immigration authorities process more than 35,000 business manager-related applications per year, which includes status changes and extensions. They typically have one to two months to determine whether a business is legitimate.<br>There are concerns within the government that the fall in the number of illegal overstayers from a peak of almost 300,000 in 1993 to 75,000 as of January 2025, is disguised through illegitimate business manager visas.<br>Authorities are now questioning how many visa holders are genuine entrepreneurs. In one case, investigators in Kanagawa Prefecture found that a Sri Lankan national had set up roughly 600 shell companies. He also allegedly submitted business manager visa applications for at least six Sri Lankan nationals by listing them as company presidents on paper, even though they actually worked manual labor jobs.<br>The police suspect around 1,000 people may be working in Japan illegally through these types of schemes.<br>A sweeping foreigner crackdown is underway<br>The business visa controversy is part of Japan’s goal of achieving “zero illegal foreigners.”<br>It's a broad policy tackling...