Startup Visa to Business Manager Visa: A Month-by-Month Plan for the ¥30M Threshold
Quick answer: Since the October 2025 reform raised the Business Manager visa bar to ¥30 million capital, a qualifying full-time employee, and JLPT N2 / CEFR B2 Japanese proficiency (applicant or employee), the Startup Visa — available nationwide since January 2025, with validity extended to up to two years since April 2025 — has become the realistic on-ramp for most lean founders. But two years disappears quickly against those three requirements. The founders who transition successfully treat the window as a project plan with the capital raise, the qualifying hire, and the language requirement all resolved by around month 18, leaving real margin for the Business Manager application itself.
What the Startup Visa actually gives you
Quick answer: The Startup Visa (正式には「外国人起業活動促進事業」) lets you reside in Japan and prepare a business without yet meeting Business Manager requirements. You apply through an approved municipality (or private supporting organization) with a business plan; if the municipality endorses it and Immigration approves, you get a residence status of up to two years to reach full Business Manager eligibility.
Three practical points founders miss. First, the municipality relationship is ongoing, not a one-time stamp — you report progress against your endorsed plan, and municipalities differ meaningfully in support offered (subsidized offices, advisor programs, banking introductions). Second, since January 2025 the program is available nationwide, so the choice of municipality is a real strategic decision rather than a Tokyo-or-Fukuoka default. Third, the endorsed plan should already be written toward the ¥30M Business Manager standard — reviewers now explicitly look at whether the idea can survive that transition.
The three gaps you're closing, and their real lead times
Quick answer: Everything in the two-year window serves three requirements: (1) ¥30 million paid-in capital — a fundraise or personal capitalization with real lead time, plus a registration step; (2) one qualifying full-time employee — a Japanese national, permanent resident, spouse of Japanese/PR, or long-term resident, where recruiting in Japan routinely takes 3–6 months; (3) JLPT N2 / CEFR B2 Japanese — satisfiable by you or a full-time employee, which quietly turns the hiring decision into a language-strategy decision.
The third point deserves emphasis because it collapses two problems into one: a qualifying hire who is a native Japanese speaker satisfies both the employment and the language requirement on day one. Reaching N2 yourself from zero inside two years while running a company is, for most founders, not a plan — it's a hope. Our first-hire guide covers how to structure that hire's contract and registrations properly.
The month-by-month plan
Assuming the full two-year window (some municipalities grant an initial period with renewal — confirm yours):
| Months | Capital | Hiring | Language | Office / operations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–3 | Confirm the capital plan: investor commitments, personal funds, or a corporate shareholder. Know where ¥30M comes from before you need it. | Write the qualifying-hire role definition | Decide the language path: your N2 study vs. hire-satisfies-it | Land in the municipality's program; use subsidized space if offered |
| 3–6 | Open the banking conversation early — corporate accounts are the slowest workstream | Start recruiting; expect 3–6 months to a signed qualifying hire | If self-study: N2 needs ~12+ months of runway from here | Incorporate (GK or KK — comparison here) if not already done |
| 6–12 | Close the raise or transfer; capital must be paid in and registered — the registration itself is a shihoshoshi filing with its own lead time | Qualifying hire signed and enrolled in social insurance from day one | JLPT sits twice a year (July / December) — book the sitting that leaves a retake margin | Move to a real lease if on subsidized/home space: home offices no longer qualify |
| 12–18 | ¥30M registered capital reflected in the corporate registry | Employee tenure building (a just-signed hire is weaker evidence than six months of payroll) | Language requirement demonstrably satisfied | Business plan certification by a CPA / zeirishi / SME consultant — now mandatory |
| 18–24 | — | — | — | File the Business Manager application (COE or change of status) with 3+ months of margin for review and one round of follow-up questions |
The structural logic: every hard requirement lands by month 18 because Immigration review plus one round of supplementary questions consumes most of what remains, and a Startup Visa that expires mid-review is exactly the failure mode this plan exists to avoid.
Flagged for review, not verified: whether Immigration formally accepts a Business Manager change-of-status filing while a Startup Visa is in its final months without friction, and how municipalities handle bridging if review outlasts the visa, varies by municipality and case in current reporting. We have not verified a single authoritative ISA rule on bridging — confirm the mechanics with your municipality and a gyoseishoshi before relying on month-24 timing.
What "capital" means here — and what it doesn't
Quick answer: The ¥30 million must be paid-in capital (資本金) or total investment registered to the entity — not cash you can show in an account, not a loan sitting on the balance sheet, and not revenue. Converting a commitment into registered capital involves a deposit into the founder/representative's designated account, evidence documentation, and a registration filing — plan two to four weeks for the mechanics alone, more if the money crosses borders.
Founders raising from overseas investors should also expect the source-of-funds documentation to be scrutinized twice: once by Immigration, once by the bank. Preparing one clean capital-source narrative that serves both reviews is one of the highest-leverage documents of the whole transition.
FAQ
Can I skip the Startup Visa and apply for the Business Manager visa directly? Yes, if you can meet all post-2025 requirements at the point of application — see the full requirement list in our Business Manager visa mistakes guide. The Startup Visa exists precisely for founders who can't yet.
Does the two-year clock pause if my business pivots? No. Municipalities generally accommodate plan revisions within reason, but the residence period doesn't extend because the business changed. A major pivot at month 12 effectively restarts your evidence-building with half the window gone.
Which municipality should I apply through? It depends on where your business actually needs to be — but compare support programs, not just geography. Some municipalities bundle subsidized offices, mentoring, and banking introductions; others are lightweight endorsements. This choice is also a subsidy-eligibility decision, which we assess as part of Step 0 feasibility work (pricing).
What happens if I hit month 24 without meeting the requirements? There's no automatic extension into Business Manager status. Options narrow to other visa categories, employment by another sponsor, or leaving and re-entering later — all materially worse than restructuring the plan at month 12 when gaps first become visible. This is the strongest argument for treating the milestones above as hard checkpoints.
For how this transition slots into the full entry sequence — entity, banking, hiring — see our founder's entry checklist and the subsidiary setup guide.
This article reflects the Startup Visa program and Business Manager visa criteria as publicly documented as of July 2026. Municipality programs and Immigration practice vary by case — this is planning guidance, not legal advice. Confirm specifics with your municipality and a licensed gyoseishoshi.