“Don’t I need a massive investment of hundreds of millions of yen to get a Highly Skilled Professional Visa?”
Due to this misconception, many foreign entrepreneurs launching businesses in Japan abandon the “Highly Skilled Professional (Business Management) Visa”—the most powerful option with immense benefits—right from the start.
To conclude, an abnormal expansion of “business scale” or “investment amount” is not required to transition to a Highly Skilled Professional Visa. What you need is a “logical design” conscious of the point calculation table set by the Ministry of Justice.
This article explains a strategic approach to shortcutting from a standard Business Manager Visa to a “Highly Skilled Professional Visa,” allowing you to obtain permanent residency in as little as one year.
1. It’s Not About Capital. The Absolute Rule of “Points”
A standard “Business Manager Visa” can be obtained by fulfilling requirements for the company’s “box,” such as securing at least 5 million yen in capital and an office space. On the other hand, the “Highly Skilled Professional Visa” is judged solely by an objective score determining whether the manager’s personal “education, work experience, and annual income” reach a total of 70 (or 80) points.
In other words, even without investing 100 million yen into your company, if you correctly design the balance between your personal background and the “executive compensation” paid to you by the company, a small company in its first year of establishment can fully meet the requirements for a Highly Skilled Professional.
2. Executive Compensation: The Strongest Controllable Variable
The primary weapons for entrepreneurs and managers to accumulate points are summarized into the following three categories:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree (10 pts), Master’s degree (20 pts), MBA (additional +5 pts, etc.)
- Work Experience: 3+ years of business management experience (10 pts), 10+ years (25 pts)
- Annual Income (Executive Compensation): 10 million yen (10 pts) up to 30 million yen or more (50 pts)
You cannot change your past education or work experience now. However, the third category, “Annual Income (Executive Compensation),” is the strongest variable you can control with a single managerial decision.
3. [Strategic Hack] Buying Points with Executive Compensation
If you currently have 60 points and are “10 points short” of the 70-point border for the Highly Skilled Professional Visa, you can legally create those 10 points by “increasing your own executive compensation.”
For example, if you raise your compensation from “10 million yen” to “15 million yen,” the points added for annual income jump from 10 to 20 points. Of course, you must calculate the balance of corporate tax, personal income tax, and social insurance premiums (net income). However, considering the overwhelming benefits the Highly Skilled Professional Visa brings, this is a strategy with an extremely high return on investment.
4. Overwhelming Benefits: Permanent Residency in 1 Year & Privileges
If you strategically design your points and obtain the Highly Skilled Professional Visa, you are granted privileges not available with a standard Business Manager Visa.
- Shortcut to Permanent Residency: An application that normally takes 10 years becomes possible in “3 years” with 70 points, or “as little as 1 year” with 80 points.
- Bringing Parents: Under certain conditions, you can bring your parents from overseas to help care for your children.
- Employing Domestic Workers: You are permitted to bring a maid or babysitter from your home country to Japan.
[Advice from an Expert]
A standard “Business Manager Visa” is merely a starting line to stay in Japan. Aimlessly renewing a standard visa is a waste of time. By taking inventory of your background and controlling the numerical value of your executive compensation, you should secure the solid foundation of a “Highly Skilled Professional” and “Permanent Residency” through the shortest possible route.