Joseph's Office of Administrative Scrivener

(Last Updated: March 3, 2026)

Artist visa is for you if you intend to earn an income through activities in music, art, literature and other artistic activities. So if you are a musical composer, painter, sculptor, etc., then this visa may be for you. Likewise, if you are providing instructions on art related activities and earning an income, then this visa may be for you as well.

Criteria

The key idea here is if your activities in art would generate income or not. Hence, if you are not earning an income, then this visa would not be for you. In such a case, you may want to look at visas under "Cultural Activites" or "Entertainment."

Now the question is, what exactly does it mean by "other artistic activities" above? Would website design qualify as an "artistic activity?" It seems to qualify if you ask me. Nowadays, thanks to technologies, a lot of activities previously not considered may be categorized as "artistic activities." If you are unsure whether or not your intended activity would fall under an "artistic activities" category, the chance is that the immigration administration side who does the reviewing is not sure either. In other words, we would not know for sure unless we apply so it is worth giving a shot.

Required Documents For Applications

Required documents differ between renewals and new applications. Focus is placed on income and tax records for renewals whereas for new applications focus is on eligibility. To prove eligibility in new applications, you would need to either provide an employment contract or documents outlining your activities and expected income. Besides that, you need to provide documents to prove your qualifications as an artist. Examples are your CV, letters of recommendation from your previous employers or institutions, awards, media records such as newspaper articles, etc.

Return to Top

(Last Updated: November 3, 2025)

Activities that fall under Business Manager Visa include directing or managing businesses of international trade and other areas but exclude businesses that require a license such as legal or accounting businesses. Businesses referred here are not only big corporations but also start-ups. Hence, if your intention is to prepare and establish a start-up company, that activity would fall into the Business Manager Visa category. That being said, a "business" referred here has to exist in actuality and managed properly. That is, merely having a paper company would not suffice. The key is to be perceived by the authority as having a consistency and stability in business.

Intended personnels under the Business Manager Visa are corporate executives, directors, those in managerial positions in a corporate department and those who direct or manage a company with specialized knowledge and skills which may include foreign lawyers and foreign public accountants employed by a company. For those who intend to direct or manage a legal or accounting business, please refer to the category "Legal or Accounting Services."

Criteria

1. Having a business address is a must. Merely having a business address for a point of communication or business registration would not suffice. Actual management and operations have to take place at this business address. If your business has not been operational yet, you still should have a physical facility in Japan where you intend to use it for managerial and operational purposes later on.
2. The size of your business or employer must meet all of the following:
   1. Besides those who engage in business or management, employ at least one full-time employee residing in Japan. That full-time employee must be a Japanese national, special permanent resident, permanent resident, spouse of Japanese national, spouse of permanent resident or long term resident.
   2. Invested capital or equity must be at or above JPY 30 million.
3. Either applicant or a full-time employee must have an adequate Japanese language proficiency. On top of that, applicant shall be residing in Japan when engaging in business or management of business.
4. Applicant shall meet one of the following.
   1. Having a master or equivalent degree or over in business administration or in a field relevant to the line of business stated in application.
   2. Having over 3 years of business experience. Business experience may include the time spent for start-up preparation under the visa category "Designated Activities."
5. If applicant intends to engage in the management of business, applicant shall receive remuneration equal to or greater than that of a Japanese national in that position.

Required Documents For Application

What documents are required would depend on the size of your business or employer or the type of your organization and are categorized into 1 to 4, where 1 requires the least amount of documents and 4 the most. Publicly traded companies would fall into Category 1 while Category 2 and 3 would depend on the amount of withholding taxes collected from employees and anyone not falling into Category 1, 2 or 3 would be in Category 4. Under a special circumstance such as being approved of a government funding in establishing a start-up business, applicant may qualify to be in Category 1.

Return to Top

(Last Updated: March 26, 2026)

Under Cultural Activity visa, you may not earn an income in Japan so if you intend to earn an income then this is not the visa for you. The activites covered under this visa are:

• Academic or artistic activities.
• Activities involving research into Japanese culture or arts.
• Learning Japanese culture or arts under the guidance of an expert, excluding activities under the International Student or the Trainee visa.

Criteria

There is no criteria for landing permission for this visa.

Required Documents For Applications

Required documents differ between new applications and extensions and also between those who intend to learn the Japanese culture or arts under the guidance of experts and otherwise. In all cases, you or your institution has to explain the kinds of activities you intend to do and for how long. If there are marketing materials from your institution such as brochures, that will help. You need to provide a letter of recommendation from a relevant institution as well as your CV explaining your past relevant activities such as awards, thesis, etc. This is to prove consistency between your intended activity and your background. If you intend to be learning under an expert, then you will need to provide his/her CV as well.

Lastly, you have to prove that you can pay for your expenses while in Japan. If you are paying all of your expenses by your own, then you have to provide information on any sholarships you get, the amount of deposits in your bank account or any other documents that prove you have adequate resources to cover your intended activity without disruption. If anyone other than yourself is covering for your expenses, then that person has to provide the tax records for certain periods provided that person resides in Japan, or provide documents such as bank account statements to prove having adequate resources provided that person resides in countries outside of Japan.

Return to Top

(Last Updated: July 28, 2025)

This is the visa for you if your contract with a public or private insitution in Japan requires responsibilities that involve knowledge and skills in natural sciences (i.e., engineering, research and development, etc.), humanities (i.e., finance, legal, human resource, etc.) or thoughts and feelings of a foreign culture (i.e., language instructions, interior design, public relations, etc.). If you are qualified to apply to the following visa category, you may not apply to this visa: Teaching, Art, Media, Business Manager, Legal and Accounting, Medical, Research, Education, Intra-Company Tansfer. The idea here is that this visa category functions as a catch all if you don't fall into one of those specific working visa category.

What it means by public and private institutions is that they are not only multinational corporations and government agencies (both foreign and the Japanese) but also small-medium sized businesses and even home offices. However, for smaller entities, they shall be run and organized well enough to prove that they can employ a foreign worker to perform duties requiring certain knowledge and skills. That is, actual work has to be performed and having an employee in name only would not suffice.

And your "contract" with a public or private insitution doesn't necessarily have to be a labor contract. That is, a project based contract (or even subcontract) to work is possible in theory. The requirements are that a work has to be continuous in duration and consistent with a particular institution offering a contract. Additionally, a "contract" shall be in accordance to the Japanese laws and regulations. For example, a work requiring a license or certificate to perform, such as handling hazardous materials, would necessitate you having that particular license or certificate and if your compensation to that work is below the Japanese minimum wage, then such "contract" would be considered illegal and hence does not qualify for this visa.

A job responsibility that requires an understanding in thoughts and feelings of a foreign culture shall be a job nonfungible within Japan meaning such job wouldn't spontaneously arise out of the Japanese society and culture. Also, such job should entail on par or above a standard of a specialized skill set. For example, merely flipping burgers wouldn't qualify for this visa because it is considered an unskilled manual labor whereas a restaurant chef designing and preparing a burger (i.e., product design) would.

Criteria

You should meet all of the following conditions in order to be considered for this visa. However, these requirements do not apply to a foreign lawyer working on an international arbitration case.

1. If your responsibilities from a contract require knowledge or skills in natural sciences or humanities, then you should prove that you have acquired relevant knowledge or skills by meeting one of the following. However, this rule does not apply to you if your responsibility involves knowledge or skills in information technology and you have a license or a certificate from the list notified publicly by the Minister of Justice. For more information regarding the list of IT licenses and certificates, please visit the Ministry of Justice website here.
   1. Having graduated with an undergraduate degree majoring in a subject relevant to the knowledge or skills required by your contract responsibilities or having acquired an equivalent or above in other education.
   2. Having completed an appropriate program from a Japanese vocational school in accordance to the requirements notified by the Minister of Justice and majored in a subject relevant to the knowledge or skills required by your contract responsibilitites.
   3. Having 10 or more years of both workin experience and studying in an educational institution combined. Both working experience and studying (i.e., your major) should have releveance to the knowledge or skills required in fullfilling your responsibilities stated in your contract.
2. If your responsibilities under a contract require thoughts and feelings of a foreign culture, then you should meet all of the following conditions.
   1. Your areas of responsibility should involve translation, a foreign language instruction, public relation, advertising, international trading, fashion design, interior design, product development or other similar areas.
   2. Having three or more years of working experience relevant to your areas of responsibility. However, this rule does not apply if you have graduated with an undergraduate degree and your areas of responsibility involve translation or a foreign language instruction.
   3. The remuneration to your responsibilities under a contract should be at or above the remuneration typically received by a Japanese national doing the same or similar work. For example, if you are working under an employment contract, your remuneration should be at or above that received by a Japanese worker in the same or similar role both within your company and society in general. That is, your remuneration may be higher than the one received by a Japanese national of similar role in other company but if it is significantly lower than that of your Japanese colleague in the same company, then this condition is not met and hence your visa application is likely to be rejected.

Required Documents For Applications

What documents are required would depend on which category your employer falls into, according to the size or type of organization. There are four categories in total, where Category 1 requires the least amount of documentation whereas Category 4 requires the most. Hence, depending on your situation, you may be required to submit your employment contract, academic record, certificate of employment, your employer's business registration, a record of your employer's withholding income taxes collected from the previous year, etc.

Return to Top

(Last Updated: June 22, 2026)

The activities covered under this visa are theatrical and musical performances, sports and other performing arts activities excluding the activities covered under the Business Manager visa. Examples include actors, singers, dancers, professional athletes, models and staffs who accompany as managers, trainers, etc. Depending on a person's particular circumstances, the correct visa needed may be "Skilled Worker" or "Designated Activities" rather than "Entertainer."

*Due to cumbersome wordings and references to the particular Acts in the law and regulations, I have simplified them in translations. For the original document, please visit the website at: laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/402M50000010016/.

Criteria

Entertainment activities are broken down three categories and depending on the background of an applicant's employer, the nature of particular activity and the facility where that particular activity takes place, there are further requirements that need to be met. The list of categories are as follows.

1. Activities related to theatrical, comedy, singing, dancing or musical performances.
2. Performances other than the ones listed in the previous statement.
3. Entertainment activities other than performances.

Category 1:

An applicant has to meet one of the following three cases (i.e., "A," "B" or "C") if the intended activity belongs to the Category 1.

1. The applicant works in a facility other than the facility that provides services directly to customers in order to entertain or provide food and drinks for pleasure, based on a contract with a public or private organization that meets all of the following conditions.
   1. The business manager or supervisor shall have at least three years of experience in hiring and managing a foreign worker under the "Entertainer" visa.
   2. The business manager and any full-time employee of the employing organization shall not fall under any of the following.
      1. Engaged in, instigated or assisted in human trafficking.
      2. Committed, incited or assisted a foreign laborer to work illegally in the past five years.
      3. In relation to the business activities of the employing organization in the past five years, had utilized fraudulent methods such as forgery and alteration, in order to obtain visas and other immigration related permits for foreign laborers or have incited or assisted foreign laborers to do so.
      4. Had been sentenced to any crime in relation to bringing in or attempting to bring in a group of illegal immigrants who are under control or management, or brokering prostitution, and has not elapsed five years since the end of execution or cessation of the execution.
      5. Has been, and currently is, a designated gang member, or has not elapsed five years since ceasing to be a designated gang member.
   3. Having paid in full for all the remunerations obliged to the foreign laborers with the "Entertainer" visa, in accordance to the the labor contracts in the past three years.
   4. Besides a., b. and c., having the ability to properly manage and supervise foreign laborers to operate entertainment business.
2. The activity that the applicant intends to engage in shall fall under one of the following.
   1. Entertainment activities such as theatrical performances that are supported by public institutions or institutions directly established by law or special act, or activities done in schools which schools are defined under the School and Education Act.
   2. Activities sponsored by a public or private organization funded by a national or local government institution, or an independent administrative agency, for the purpose of cultural exchanges.
   3. Entertainment activities such as theatrical performances that are regularly performed by foreign laborers in a facility over 100,000 square meters or more with a theme of foreign scenery or culture.
   4. Activities done in the facilities that are operated without profit by public or private institutions in Japan or have a seating capacity of 100 or more, and do not provide food and beverages in seating areas for a fee and do not entertain customers for pleasure.
   5. The amount of compensation from entertainment activities (total amount if a group performance) shall be at least JPY 500,000 per day and residence period shall not exceed 30 days.
3. The activity that the applicant intends to engage in shall meet all of the following conditions.
   1. The activity that the applicant intends to engage in shall meet one of the following conditions. However, this requirement does not apply if the amount of compensation from the entertainment activity (total amount if a group performance) is at least JPY 5 million per day.
   1. The applicant should have majored in a subject relevant to the activity at a foreign educational institution for a period of at least two years.
   2. The applicant should have at least two years of relevant experience working in a foreign country.
   2. The applicant who intends to engage in theatrical and other performances should have a contract (from now on, "Performance Contract") with an organization in Japan that meets all of the following conditions (limited to organizations that explicitly state in the contract that the remuneration to the applicant is at least JPY 200,000 per month). However, this condition does not apply if the applicant intends to perform singing, dancing or playing a musical instrument of a foreign indigenous music in a restaurant serving foreign cuisine (excluding facilities that provide food and beverages and entertainment for pleasure purposes) that is operated by a hiring organization, under a contract in which the remuneration is at least JPY 200,000 per month.
      1. Having a manager or a supervisor with at least three years of cumulative experience in managing foreign laborers for performance and related activities.
      2. Having at least five full-time employees.
      3. Any manager and any full-time employee of the hiring organization should not fall under any of the following conditions.
         1. Engaged, instigated or assisted in human trafficking.
         2. Engaged, instigated or assisted in illegal employment of a foreign laborer, put a foreign laborer under control for illegal employment or brokered a foreign laborer for illegal employment in the past five years.
         3. Any person who, in the past five years, in connection with the business activities of the hiring organization, has forged or altered documents or drawings, created false documents or drawings or used, possessed or provided forged or altered documents or drawings or falsified documents or drawings, for the purpose of getting a foreign laborer to fraudulently obtain a certificate, an endorsement or a permission for landing, a permission of landing under the provision of Chapter 3, Section 1 or 2 of the Act, or a permission under the provision of Chapter 4, Section 1 or 2 of the Act, or Chapter 5, Section 3-2 of the Act, or who has instigated or assisted in such acts.
         4. Any person who has been sentenced to the crimes under Articles 74 to 74-8 of the Act (i.e., cases involving illegal immigration) or Articles 6 to 13 of the Prostitution Prevention Act (i.e., brokering prostitution) and has not elapsed five years from the end of the execution of the sentence or the termination of the sentence.
         5. Any person who has not elapsed five years since ceasing to be a member of an organized criminal group.
      4. Having paid in full all the remuneration obligations per performance contracts that are signed in the past three years to the foreign laborers residing in Japan based on the "Entertainer" visa.
   3. The facility where theatrical and other performances, in relation to the application, are done shall meet all of the following conditions. However, if the applicant is the only one with the "Entertainer" visa engaging in the entertainment related activities, then the facility shall also meet the condition (vi).
      1. Having a capacity that can accommodate foreign laborers to perform entertainment activities for an unspecified and a large number of customers.
      2. If the facility is operating a business as defined in the Article 2, Paragraph 1, Item 1 of the Entertainment Business Act (i.e., providing customers food and beverages and entertainment for pleasure), then all of the following conditions shall be met.
         1. Having at least five employees whose job is solely to entertain customers for pleasure purposes.
         2. Having no risk for foreign laborers under the "Entertainer" visa to engage in entertaining customers for pleasure purposes.
      3. Having a stage of at least 13 square meters in size.
      4. Having a dressing room of at least 9 square meters for performers (if there are more than five performers, then the required area would be 9 square meters plus 1.6 square meters for each additional performer).
      5. Having at least five employees.
      6. All managers of the organizations operating the facility or all full-time employees engaging in the operations in relation to the facility shall not fall under any of the following conditions.
         1. [The same as in b. (iii) 1. above]
         2. [The same as in b. (iii) 2. above]
         3. [The same as in b. (iii) 3. above]
         4. [The same as in b. (iii) 4. above]
         5. [The same as in b. (iii) 5. above]

Category 2:

If the applicant intends to engage in the entertainment activities other than theatrical performances and other performance related activities, then the applicant shall receive remuneration greater than or equal to that of the Japanese national.

Category 3:

If the applicant intends to engage in the show-business activities other than the entertainment activities, then the applicant's intended activity shall be one of the following activities and the remuneration shall be greater than or equal to that of the Japanese national.

1. Activities related to the advertising of products or businesses.
2. Activities related to the production of broadcast programs (including cable broadcast programs) or films.
3. Activities related to commercial photography.
4. Activities related to voice recording, videotaping or any other method on a recording medium for commercial purposes.

Required Documents For Application:

Depending on an individual's circumstances, employer, facility where an activity is taken place, seating capacity in a facility, amount of remuneration, etc., the documents required to apply for a petition vary. Due to a rather complex nature of this visa, we suggest reaching out to a professional to find out if this is the right visa for you. If you are considering to reach out to us, please provide your background information such as your intended activity, education or work experiences, information about your employer, details about the facility where the job takes place, amount of remuneration, etc. If you are an employer in Japan considering to support a foreign laborer under this visa, please provide the same information as above in addition to the details regarding the background of a foreign laborer. It goes without saying that we are obliged to do a face-to-face (via online such as Zoom) interview for the said foreign laborer in order to confirm that the person is applying on his/her own accord.

Return to Top

(Last Updated: September 28, 2025)

International Student (study abroad) visa is for you if your objective is to receive education in Japan. Under this visa, it covers from elementary school all the way up to college. Japanese langauge schools or programs are under this visa as well, but they have to be officially recognized or certified as explained in details below. If you are an individual considering to study in Japan, most likely the school or educational institution you are applying to will take care of your student visa procedure. When checking out admission requirements etc. for each educational institution, make sure to review if that educational institution does the student visa procedure on your behalf and if they do, what kind of documents you are expected to provide. If the educational institution you are applying to does not do student visa procedure on your behalf, then you may want to consider hiring a professional. Of course, if you are a school administrator or manager considering to outsource student visa procedure, feel free to contact us.

Now, the activity officially defined under this visa is to receive education at a Japanese university, technical college, high school, junior high school, elementary school, special needs school (of elementary, junior high and high school), vocational school, or any other institution that conforms to such schools in facility and organization. If you are pursuing an associate degree program at a community college, then it is considered that you are receiving education at a university. If you are planning on doing research or audit only, then there are additional requirements (refer to No. 3 below).

Criteria

Basically you would have to go through all No.1 to 9 below wherever applicable to your case.

1. Applicant must meet one of the following requirements.
   1. Applicant must receive education by enrolling in a university or equivalent institution, a technical college or a specialized curriculum at a vocational school in Japan. Excluding cases of exclusively receiving Japanese language education (offerred by institutions officially recognized for Japanese language education), night time only curriculum or remote only education.
   2. Applicant must enroll in a university that offers a graduate program with night time classes and exclusively receiving education through night time classes only.
   3. Applicant must enroll in a university or equivalent institution, a technical college or a specialized program at a vocational school in Japan exclusively to receive Japanese language education or enroll in and receive education at a high school (excluding part-time), a junior high school, an elementary school, a special needs school (elementary, junior high and high school), an advanced or a general curriculum in a vocational school, any other vaious schools or equivalent educational institution in terms of facility and organization, excluding night time only curriculum or remote only education.
2. Applicant must have ample enough assets, scholarships and other means to pay for the cost of living expenses while being a resident in Japan. However, this requirement does not apply if a person other than the applicant pays for the cost of living expenses.
3. The educational institution where an applicant is trying to receive education must have established an appropriate management system to manage class attendance, monitor compliance with Immigration Control Act Article 19 Paragraph 1 (about laws banning income generating activities by international students without permit) and monitor academic progress of its international students.
4. If an applicant is receiving education exclusively by auditing as a research student or auditor (a.k.a. student-at-large), then an applicant must fall under either 1.a. or 1.b. above and enroll in an educational institution through admission process where an applicant receives education and audit ten hours or over in a week in that educational institution.
5. If an applicant intends to receive education at a high school, the age of an applicant must be less than or equal to twenty years old and has received Japanese language education or education based on Japanese language for one year or longer at an educational institution. However, this requirement does not apply to students accepted through a student exchange program or any other similar international exchange program formulated by local or national government agencies, independent administrative agency, national universities, educational institutions, public welfare organizations or public welfare foundations.
6. If an applicant intends to receive education at a junior high or elementary school, or a special needs school of junior high or elementary school, then an applicant must meet all of the following requirements. However, meeting a. or b. below is not necessary if a student or a child is accepted through a student exchange program or any other similar international exchange program formulated by local or national government agencies, independent administrative agency, national universities, educational institutions, public welfare organizations or public welfare foundations.
   1. If an applicant intends to receive education at a junior high school, then the age of an applicant must be at or below 17 years old.
   2. If an applicant intends to receive education at an elementary school, then the age of an applicant must be at or below 14 years old.
   3. An applicant must have a guardian in Japan.
   4. The educational institution where an applicant intends to receive education must have a full-time personnel in charge of providing guidance counseling to foreign students or children.
   5. Having secured a dormitory with a full-time personnel or any other accommodation where an applicant can live his/her daily life without any problems.
7. If an applicant intends to receive education at a vocational school or other miscellaneous school (excluding cases where an applicant intends to receive exclusively in Japanese language education), then an applicant must meet all of the following requirements. However, if an applicant intends to receive education at an educational institution established to enroll a considerable number of foreigners from abroad to provide primary and secondary education based on a foreign language, then an applicant is not required to meet a. below.
   1. An applicant has received Japanese language education for over one year at an educational institution providing Japanese language education to foreigners as constituted by the Minister of Justice with consultation from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology through public notice (hereon out "Publicly Notified Educational Institutions For Japanese Language") or over one year at a study abroad program (which study abroad program is regulated under the Accreditation Standards for the Accredited Educational Institutions For Japanese Language Article 2, Paragraph 1) at an Accredited Educational Institution For Japanese Language (as regulated under Educational Institutions For Japanese Language Accreditation Act, Article 3, Paragraph 1), or has demonstrated Japanese language proficiency adequate enough to receive education at a vocational school or other miscellaneous school through Japanese language examination or has received over one year of education at a school (excluding kindergarten) regulated under School Education Act, Article 1.
   2. The educational institution where an applicant intends to receive education must have a full-time personnel in charge of providing guidance counseling for foreign students.
8. If an applicant's intention is to exclusively receive Japanese Language education at a university or equivalent institution, technical college, vocational school, miscellaneous school or equivalent school in terms of facility and organization, then that educational institution must be either a Publicly Notified Educational Institution For Japanese Language or an Accredited Educational Institution For Japanese Language (if said educational institution is an Accredited Educational Institution For Japanese Language, then an applicant must be in the study abroad program to learn the Japanese Language).
9. If an applicant intends to receive education at an educational institution equivalent to miscellaneous schools in terms of facility and organization (excluding cases of exclusively learning Japanese language), then that educational institution must be constituted by the Minister of Justice through public notices.

Required Documents For Applications

What documents are required for your procedure would depend on which school you are applying to, your country of citizenship and who would be responsible for your tuition and cost of living expenses, among other things. For procedural purposes, educational institutions are categorized into four groups and further divided into "qualified" and "non-qualified" schools. This categorization scheme is done based on past violations of immigration laws and regulations, abuses and other factors. Hence, depending on which school you are applying to, it may result in shorter or longer duration of student visa period. As for the "country of citizenship" category, you may want to refer to the "student" section of the ISA website. As stated in the beginning, most likely the educational institution you are applying to will take care of your student visa procedure. If this is not the case and you would like to have a professional help, please feel free to contact us. If you are a school administrator looking to outsource student visa procedure, please feel free to contact us for bulk deal quotation. In your email, please write the name of your institution as well.

Return to Top