Business Manager: Thirty Million Yen, a Staff Member and a Japanese Speaker
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Austria on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
195 exceptions recorded across 74 countries · none match Austria to Japan · Residency through investment
Japan's route for someone who comes to run a business is the Business Manager status of residence. There is no passive investment route beside it: the status describes operating or managing a business, not owning one. The conditions were rewritten by a ministerial ordinance and the text in force from 1 April 2026 asks for all of five things at once - an office in Japan, a full-time employee living in Japan who is not you, property devoted to the business of thirty million yen or more, someone in the business who can understand and use Japanese at a high level and who will live in Japan, and either a postgraduate degree in a relevant field or three years of managing a business. The older rule, which much of the published guidance still describes, asked for any one of two employees or five million yen of capital.
At a glance
- Status of residence
- Business Manager (経営・管理)
Appended Table I(2) of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.
- Capital or assets required
- 30,000,000 yen
財産の総額（資本金の額及び出資の総額を含む。）が三千万円以上 in the Ministerial Ordinance on criteria, in force from 1 April 2026. It is the total value of property devoted to the business, which is wider than stated capital.
- Employees required
- At least one, full-time and resident in Japan
Same ordinance. The employee may not be someone operating or managing the business, and may not hold a status of residence from Appended Table I of the Act.
- Capital and staff
- Both, not either
申請に係る事業の規模が次のいずれにも該当していること - the scale test requires all of its limbs. Until the amendment the same test read いずれか, any one of them.
- Japanese language
- Required of someone in the business, not necessarily of you
The ordinance asks that any one of the people operating the business or working in it other than part-time can understand and use Japanese at a level of high independence or above, and will be living in Japan.
- Qualification required of the applicant
- A relevant postgraduate degree, or 3 years running a business
Same ordinance. Time spent in Japan on the Designated Activities status for start-up preparation counts towards the three years.
- Passive investment route
- None in Appended Tables I or II of the Act
Business Manager describes operating or managing a business. No status of residence in either table is granted for holding an investment, a property or a bond.
- Periods of stay granted
- 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, 6 months, 4 months or 3 months
Appended Table II of the Regulation for Enforcement. The four-month option exists for this status alone and is what lets a founder register a company from inside Japan.
Requirements
- A business office in Japan, or premises secured for one where the business has not yet begun
- At least one full-time employee living in Japan, other than the people operating or managing the business, and not themselves on a working status of residence
- Property devoted to the business of thirty million yen or more, stated capital and contributions included
- Someone operating the business or working in it full-time who can understand and use Japanese at a level of high independence or above, and who will be living in Japan when the applicant takes up the role
- A doctorate, master's or professional degree in management or in a field the business needs, or three years of experience operating or managing a business
- Where the applicant will manage rather than operate the business: remuneration no lower than a Japanese national would receive
In detail
Any one of two things became all of five
The scale test used to be satisfied by either two full-time employees or five million yen of stated capital, or anything the examiner accepted as equivalent. The text in force from 1 April 2026 asks for a full-time employee and thirty million yen, and then adds two conditions that did not exist at all: somebody in the business who can work in Japanese and will live in Japan, and a postgraduate degree or three years of running a business. A reader who finds the old numbers in a guide is not reading an out-of-date figure; they are reading a different test with a different structure.
Thirty million yen of property, not thirty million yen of capital
The provision says the total value of the property devoted to the business, and puts stated capital and contributions inside a bracket as things included in it rather than as the measure itself. That is wider than a capital requirement and it is wider than cash: what the business owns and uses counts. It is also the reason the figure cannot simply be met by registering a company with a large nominal capital and nothing behind it.
The language condition belongs to the business
Nothing in the ordinance requires the applicant to speak Japanese. It requires that one of the people operating the business, or working in it other than part-time, can understand and use Japanese with a high degree of independence, and that this person will be in Japan when the applicant takes up the role. A founder with no Japanese can satisfy it by hiring - and the same hire can be the full-time employee the scale test demands. The ordinance does not say how the level is to be shown.
There is no investor route beside it
The status describes operating a business or engaging in its management, and the activity is what the status authorises. Nothing in either appended table of the Act grants residence for holding an investment, a property portfolio or government paper, and the criteria ordinance has no row for one. A person who wants to put money into Japan and not run anything has no status of residence to apply for.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Austria
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«本邦において貿易その他の事業の経営を行い又は当該事業の管理に従事する活動（この表の法律・会計業務の項の下欄に掲げる資格を有しなければ法律上行うことができないこととされている事業の経営又は管理に従事する活動を除く。）»Our translation - not official
Activities of operating trade or other business in Japan, or of engaging in the management of such business (excluding activities of operating or managing a business which by law may not be conducted without one of the qualifications listed in the right-hand column of the Legal/Accounting Services row of this table).
Ours. The activity is operating or managing. An investor who does neither is not described by it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Japanese government's own consolidated statute book, run by the Digital Agency. It is the only place that publishes Japanese law as it currently stands: each law page states the date the displayed text came into force, the amending instrument that produced it, and a Law RevisionID of the form <lawid>_<yyyymmdd>_<amending-id> which identifies that exact version. A page also warns 未施行あり where amendments are enacted but not yet in force. The text is Japanese and there is no English anywhere on it; each page links out to the Ministry of Justice translation where one exists, which is how the two publishers are related. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty despite being a single-page application.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Japanese only. It publishes the consolidated law and not the amending acts, so an article number here is the article of the resulting law and the instrument that put it there has to be read from the header. It carries no commentary, no notification (告示) and no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Japanese immigration practice lives in 告示 made by the Minister of Justice which this site does not hold. It must not be cited for anything the Immigration Services Agency decides administratively, and it must not be cited for English: the English on the law pages is a link, not a text.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«二 申請に係る事業の規模が次のいずれにも該当していること。 イ その経営又は管理に従事する者以外に本邦に居住する常勤の職員（ 法別表第一 の上欄の在留資格をもって在留する者を除く。）が従事して営まれるものであること。 ロ 申請に係る事業の用に供される財産の総額（資本金の額及び出資の総額を含む。）が三千万円以上であること。»Our translation - not official
(ii) The scale of the business pertaining to the application falls under all of the following: (a) it is operated with the participation of a full-time employee resident in Japan other than a person engaged in operating or managing it (excluding a person residing with a status of residence in the left-hand column of Appended Table I of the Act); (b) the total value of the property devoted to the business pertaining to the application (including the amount of stated capital and the total amount of contributions) is thirty million yen or more.
Ours. Two things matter beyond the figure. いずれにも means all of them, so the employee and the money are cumulative. And the excluded employee is one holding an Appended Table I status, so another foreign worker you have sponsored does not count towards it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Japanese government's own consolidated statute book, run by the Digital Agency. It is the only place that publishes Japanese law as it currently stands: each law page states the date the displayed text came into force, the amending instrument that produced it, and a Law RevisionID of the form <lawid>_<yyyymmdd>_<amending-id> which identifies that exact version. A page also warns 未施行あり where amendments are enacted but not yet in force. The text is Japanese and there is no English anywhere on it; each page links out to the Ministry of Justice translation where one exists, which is how the two publishers are related. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty despite being a single-page application.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Japanese only. It publishes the consolidated law and not the amending acts, so an article number here is the article of the resulting law and the instrument that put it there has to be read from the header. It carries no commentary, no notification (告示) and no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Japanese immigration practice lives in 告示 made by the Minister of Justice which this site does not hold. It must not be cited for anything the Immigration Services Agency decides administratively, and it must not be cited for English: the English on the law pages is a link, not a text.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«三 申請に係る事業の経営を行い、又は当該事業に従事する者（非常勤の者を除く。）のうちいずれかの者が、高度に自立して日本語を理解し、使用することができる水準以上の能力を有している者であって、かつ、申請人が当該事業の経営を行い又は当該事業の管理に従事する時において、本邦に居住することとしているものであること。»Our translation - not official
(iii) Any one of the persons operating the business pertaining to the application, or engaged in that business (excluding part-time persons), is a person having ability at or above the level of being able to understand and use Japanese with a high degree of independence, and is a person who, at the time the applicant operates the business or engages in its management, will be residing in Japan.
Ours. The language condition attaches to the business rather than to the applicant: an employee or a co-founder can satisfy it. Nothing in the ordinance says how the level is evidenced.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Japanese government's own consolidated statute book, run by the Digital Agency. It is the only place that publishes Japanese law as it currently stands: each law page states the date the displayed text came into force, the amending instrument that produced it, and a Law RevisionID of the form <lawid>_<yyyymmdd>_<amending-id> which identifies that exact version. A page also warns 未施行あり where amendments are enacted but not yet in force. The text is Japanese and there is no English anywhere on it; each page links out to the Ministry of Justice translation where one exists, which is how the two publishers are related. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty despite being a single-page application.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Japanese only. It publishes the consolidated law and not the amending acts, so an article number here is the article of the resulting law and the instrument that put it there has to be read from the header. It carries no commentary, no notification (告示) and no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Japanese immigration practice lives in 告示 made by the Minister of Justice which this site does not hold. It must not be cited for anything the Immigration Services Agency decides administratively, and it must not be cited for English: the English on the law pages is a link, not a text.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«四 次のいずれかに該当していること。 イ 経営管理に関する分野又は申請に係る事業の業務に必要な技術若しくは知識に係る分野において博士の学位、修士の学位又は専門職学位（ 学位規則（昭和二十八年文部省令第九号）第五条の二 に規定する専門職学位をいい、外国において授与されたこれに相当する学位を含む。）を有していること。 ロ 事業の経営又は管理について三年以上の経験（特定活動の在留資格（ 法第七条第一項第二号 の告示で定める活動のうち本邦において貿易その他の事業の経営を開始するために必要な事業所の確保その他の準備行為を行う活動を含む活動を指定されたものに限る。）をもって本邦に在留していた期間がある場合には、当該期間を含む。）を有していること。»Our translation - not official
(iv) The applicant falls under either of the following: (a) holding a doctoral degree, a master's degree or a professional degree (meaning a professional degree under article 5-2 of the Degree Regulation (Ministry of Education Order No. 9 of 1953), including a corresponding degree conferred abroad) in a field relating to business management or in a field of the technology or knowledge needed for the business pertaining to the application; (b) having three or more years of experience in operating or managing a business (where there is a period of residence in Japan with the Designated Activities status of residence - limited to one designating, among the activities specified by the public notice under article 7(1)(ii) of the Act, an activity including the securing of premises and other preparatory acts needed to start trade or another business in Japan - that period is included).
Ours. The bracket in (b) is the start-up visa reaching forward: time spent in Japan preparing to launch the business counts towards the three years of management experience the same business then has to show.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Japanese government's own consolidated statute book, run by the Digital Agency. It is the only place that publishes Japanese law as it currently stands: each law page states the date the displayed text came into force, the amending instrument that produced it, and a Law RevisionID of the form <lawid>_<yyyymmdd>_<amending-id> which identifies that exact version. A page also warns 未施行あり where amendments are enacted but not yet in force. The text is Japanese and there is no English anywhere on it; each page links out to the Ministry of Justice translation where one exists, which is how the two publishers are related. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty despite being a single-page application.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Japanese only. It publishes the consolidated law and not the amending acts, so an article number here is the article of the resulting law and the instrument that put it there has to be read from the header. It carries no commentary, no notification (告示) and no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Japanese immigration practice lives in 告示 made by the Minister of Justice which this site does not hold. It must not be cited for anything the Immigration Services Agency decides administratively, and it must not be cited for English: the English on the law pages is a link, not a text.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«一 申請に係る事業を営むための事業所が本邦に存在すること。ただし、当該事業が開始されていない場合にあっては、当該事業を営むための事業所として使用する施設が本邦に確保されていること。»Our translation - not official
(i) A business office for operating the business pertaining to the application exists in Japan; provided, however, that where the business has not been started, facilities to be used as a business office for operating it have been secured in Japan.
Ours. A lease signed before the business exists satisfies this, which is what the four-month period of stay is for.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Japanese government's own consolidated statute book, run by the Digital Agency. It is the only place that publishes Japanese law as it currently stands: each law page states the date the displayed text came into force, the amending instrument that produced it, and a Law RevisionID of the form <lawid>_<yyyymmdd>_<amending-id> which identifies that exact version. A page also warns 未施行あり where amendments are enacted but not yet in force. The text is Japanese and there is no English anywhere on it; each page links out to the Ministry of Justice translation where one exists, which is how the two publishers are related. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty despite being a single-page application.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Japanese only. It publishes the consolidated law and not the amending acts, so an article number here is the article of the resulting law and the instrument that put it there has to be read from the header. It carries no commentary, no notification (告示) and no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Japanese immigration practice lives in 告示 made by the Minister of Justice which this site does not hold. It must not be cited for anything the Immigration Services Agency decides administratively, and it must not be cited for English: the English on the law pages is a link, not a text.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«(b) The amount of the stated capital or the total amount of the contribution is least 5 million yen.(c) The scale of the business is recognized to be equivalent to the scale set forth in (a) or (b).(iii) If the applicant intends to manage the business,the applicant has at least 3 years' experience o»Known to be out of date. This translation is the ordinance at Ministry of Justice Order No. 35 of 2014 and no longer states the rule. The figure is now thirty million yen, it is the total value of property devoted to the business rather than stated capital, and the scale test now requires every limb where this version required any one of them.
The Ministry of Justice's English for the same item, and the publisher's own typo - 'is least 5 million yen' - left as it stands.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Ministry of Justice's database of English translations of Japanese law. Its law pages carry the Japanese and the English interleaved paragraph by paragraph, which makes one reading serve for both languages, and each page states the amendment the translation was made from - 'Last Version: Act No. 63 of 2019' for the Immigration Act, 'Ordinance of the Ministry of Justice No. 35 of 2014' for the criteria ordinance, 'Act No. 88 of 2008' for the Nationality Act.
Standing:
Cannot be cited for: It says of itself, on its own front page: the translations are not official texts, not all of them are finalised, only the original Japanese has legal effect, and they are to be used solely as reference material. So it may never be cited as the law. It must be cited only as a translation, beside the Japanese, and the Japanese must come from e-Gov where the question is what the law says today - because the second limitation compounds the first: the snapshots are years behind. Its Nationality Act still prints the naturalisation age as twenty, which Act No. 24 of 2022 lowered to eighteen; its criteria ordinance still prints 5 million yen for the Business Manager status, which has been 30 million since the 2026 ordinance; its Immigration Act still cites article 61-2-12 where the current text says 61-2-15. A title marked 'tentative translation' has not been proofread at all.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«| 経営・管理 | 五年、三年、一年、六月、四月又は三月 | | 法律・会計業務 | 五年、三年、一年又は三月 | | 医療 | 五年、三年、一年又は三月 | | 研究 | 五年、三年、一年又は三月 | | 教育 | 五年、三年、一年又は三月 | | 技術・人文知識・国際業務 | 五年、三年、一年又は三月 | | 企業内転勤 | 五年、三年、一年又は三月 | | 介護 | 五年、三年、一年又は三月 | | 興行 | 三年、一年、六月、三月又は三十日 | | 技能 | 五年、三年、一年又は三月 | | 特定技能 | 一 法別表第一の二 の表の特定技能の項の下欄第一号に掲げる活動を行う者にあつては»Our translation - not official
Business Manager: five years, three years, one year, six months, four months or three months.
Ours. Four months appears for no other status in the table.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Japanese government's own consolidated statute book, run by the Digital Agency. It is the only place that publishes Japanese law as it currently stands: each law page states the date the displayed text came into force, the amending instrument that produced it, and a Law RevisionID of the form <lawid>_<yyyymmdd>_<amending-id> which identifies that exact version. A page also warns 未施行あり where amendments are enacted but not yet in force. The text is Japanese and there is no English anywhere on it; each page links out to the Ministry of Justice translation where one exists, which is how the two publishers are related. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty despite being a single-page application.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Japanese only. It publishes the consolidated law and not the amending acts, so an article number here is the article of the resulting law and the instrument that put it there has to be read from the header. It carries no commentary, no notification (告示) and no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Japanese immigration practice lives in 告示 made by the Minister of Justice which this site does not hold. It must not be cited for anything the Immigration Services Agency decides administratively, and it must not be cited for English: the English on the law pages is a link, not a text.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The criteria read here are the e-Gov text in force from 1 April 2026, which states the amending instrument as Ministry of Justice Order No. 12 of 2026. The order itself was not read, so what it changed is taken from comparing the text in force with the Ministry of Justice's translation of the 2014 edition rather than from the amending instrument.
The Designated Activities start-up route that item (iv)(b) refers to is created by a public notice of the Minister of Justice under article 7(1)(ii), which is not on e-Gov and has not been read for this record.
Nothing read here says how the Japanese-language level is evidenced, or how the thirty million yen is proved. Both are likely to sit in the Immigration Services Agency's document list, which was not read.
The Act's own description of the status excludes operating or managing a business that by law requires one of the Legal/Accounting Services qualifications, so a foreign national cannot use this status to run a Japanese law or accountancy practice.
- consolidates出入国管理及び難民認定法第七条第一項第二号の基準を定める省令 - e-Gov 法令検索
e-Gov 法令検索 (e-Gov Law Search) · consolidated to 2026-04-01
About this source
The Japanese government's own consolidated statute book, run by the Digital Agency. It is the only place that publishes Japanese law as it currently stands: each law page states the date the displayed text came into force, the amending instrument that produced it, and a Law RevisionID of the form <lawid>_<yyyymmdd>_<amending-id> which identifies that exact version. A page also warns 未施行あり where amendments are enacted but not yet in force. The text is Japanese and there is no English anywhere on it; each page links out to the Ministry of Justice translation where one exists, which is how the two publishers are related. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty despite being a single-page application.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Japanese only. It publishes the consolidated law and not the amending acts, so an article number here is the article of the resulting law and the instrument that put it there has to be read from the header. It carries no commentary, no notification (告示) and no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Japanese immigration practice lives in 告示 made by the Minister of Justice which this site does not hold. It must not be cited for anything the Immigration Services Agency decides administratively, and it must not be cited for English: the English on the law pages is a link, not a text.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidates出入国管理及び難民認定法 - e-Gov 法令検索
e-Gov 法令検索 (e-Gov Law Search) · consolidated to 2026-10-01
About this source
The Japanese government's own consolidated statute book, run by the Digital Agency. It is the only place that publishes Japanese law as it currently stands: each law page states the date the displayed text came into force, the amending instrument that produced it, and a Law RevisionID of the form <lawid>_<yyyymmdd>_<amending-id> which identifies that exact version. A page also warns 未施行あり where amendments are enacted but not yet in force. The text is Japanese and there is no English anywhere on it; each page links out to the Ministry of Justice translation where one exists, which is how the two publishers are related. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty despite being a single-page application.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Japanese only. It publishes the consolidated law and not the amending acts, so an article number here is the article of the resulting law and the instrument that put it there has to be read from the header. It carries no commentary, no notification (告示) and no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Japanese immigration practice lives in 告示 made by the Minister of Justice which this site does not hold. It must not be cited for anything the Immigration Services Agency decides administratively, and it must not be cited for English: the English on the law pages is a link, not a text.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidates出入国管理及び難民認定法施行規則 - e-Gov 法令検索
e-Gov 法令検索 (e-Gov Law Search) · consolidated to 2026-10-01
About this source
The Japanese government's own consolidated statute book, run by the Digital Agency. It is the only place that publishes Japanese law as it currently stands: each law page states the date the displayed text came into force, the amending instrument that produced it, and a Law RevisionID of the form <lawid>_<yyyymmdd>_<amending-id> which identifies that exact version. A page also warns 未施行あり where amendments are enacted but not yet in force. The text is Japanese and there is no English anywhere on it; each page links out to the Ministry of Justice translation where one exists, which is how the two publishers are related. Renders through Firecrawl without difficulty despite being a single-page application.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Japanese only. It publishes the consolidated law and not the amending acts, so an article number here is the article of the resulting law and the instrument that put it there has to be read from the header. It carries no commentary, no notification (告示) and no ministerial guidance, and a great deal of Japanese immigration practice lives in 告示 made by the Minister of Justice which this site does not hold. It must not be cited for anything the Immigration Services Agency decides administratively, and it must not be cited for English: the English on the law pages is a link, not a text.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- publishesMinisterial Order to Provide for Criteria Pursuant to Article 7, paragraph (1), item (ii) - Japanese/English
Japanese Law Translation (Ministry of Justice) · consolidated to 2014
About this source
The Ministry of Justice's database of English translations of Japanese law. Its law pages carry the Japanese and the English interleaved paragraph by paragraph, which makes one reading serve for both languages, and each page states the amendment the translation was made from - 'Last Version: Act No. 63 of 2019' for the Immigration Act, 'Ordinance of the Ministry of Justice No. 35 of 2014' for the criteria ordinance, 'Act No. 88 of 2008' for the Nationality Act.
Standing:
Cannot be cited for: It says of itself, on its own front page: the translations are not official texts, not all of them are finalised, only the original Japanese has legal effect, and they are to be used solely as reference material. So it may never be cited as the law. It must be cited only as a translation, beside the Japanese, and the Japanese must come from e-Gov where the question is what the law says today - because the second limitation compounds the first: the snapshots are years behind. Its Nationality Act still prints the naturalisation age as twenty, which Act No. 24 of 2022 lowered to eighteen; its criteria ordinance still prints 5 million yen for the Business Manager status, which has been 30 million since the 2026 ordinance; its Immigration Act still cites article 61-2-12 where the current text says 61-2-15. A title marked 'tentative translation' has not been proofread at all.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source