Prepare for Business Manager Visa Renewal Assuming a Document Request Will Come

More and more business owners are surprised when, after filing an extension application for the Business Manager status of residence, Immigration contacts them asking for additional documents. In Japanese practice this request is called tsuikan. This article explains what it is, which documents are typically requested, how to prepare for the short deadline, and how all of this relates to the reform enforced on October 16, 2025 (Reiwa 7) and its transitional measure.

References: Immigration Services Agency of Japan, “Status of Residence: Business Manager”; “Amendment of the Ministerial Ordinance on Criteria for Landing Permission for the Status of Residence ‘Business Manager’”; “Application for Extension of Period of Stay”; “What is the special period?”

What a request for additional documents is

After accepting an application, Immigration may, during the review, ask you to submit materials supporting a particular point. The request arrives as a written notice, or by telephone or e-mail, naming the documents required and the submission deadline.

This is not an off-the-books practice. On its required-documents page for Business Manager, the Immigration Services Agency of Japan states in advance:

Please note in advance that, after you file the application, materials not described on this page may be requested during the course of the examination by the authorities. (Immigration Services Agency of Japan, “Status of Residence: Business Manager”)

In other words, even if you submit every published required document perfectly, further requests are anticipated from the outset.

What matters most here is how you receive it. A request for additional documents is not a notice of denial. It merely tells you that the examiner lacks the material needed to decide, or that the documents already filed do not fully convey the substance of the business. Put differently, you are being given a chance to explain before a denial is issued. If you stay silent or let the deadline pass, the decision will be made on the documents already in the file.

Today, such requests have become the norm for Business Manager renewals

In the Business Manager extension cases our office handles, being asked for additional documents during review has become the ordinary course rather than the exception. This is not about any particular company or any particular filing; it is the overall trend.

And responding is genuinely difficult for ordinary applicants and ordinary business owners. There are three main reasons.

1. The notice names the documents but not the reason. Without reading what the examiner is worried about, assembling the documents in form alone will not resolve the underlying doubt.
2. Most of the materials must be obtained from outside the company. The Labour Bureau, the Pension Office, the tax office and the municipal office are all separate windows, and issuance takes time.
3. Even those who have renewed many times see unfamiliar items. The instinct that “last time this was enough, so it will be enough again” is currently the most dangerous assumption of all.

The third point deserves emphasis. The reform enforced on October 16, 2025, discussed below, added new review points such as employment of a full-time employee and Japanese language ability, and the required-documents guidance itself was updated. The longer you have run a company in Japan, the harder it is to notice that the premise “renewal is the same every time” no longer holds.

Which documents are requested

The following table maps the materials most often requested in practice onto the items the Immigration Services Agency of Japan lists as required documents for Business Manager. This is a general tendency; what is actually requested varies with the size and sector of the company and the content of past applications.

Material requested	What it is meant to verify
The part of the application form prepared by the organization (including corrections to entries)	Whether the business activities, job duties and remuneration declared by the company are consistent with the other materials
A document evidencing enrollment in labour insurance and payment of the premiums	Whether employees are genuinely employed, and whether public dues are being paid
A document evidencing enrollment in social insurance and payment of the premiums	The same. Reply forms confirming premium payment and copies of receipts fall under this
Documents on wage payment to the full-time employee, a certificate of residence and other materials showing that at least one full-time employee exists	Whether the employment of a full-time employee is real and continuing, not nominal
Materials establishing Japanese language ability	Whether either the applicant or a full-time employee meets the required level
A document specifically explaining the content of the business management activities during the most recent period of stay	Whether the applicant personally engaged in management activities, rather than serving as a director in name only
A copy of the most recent financial statements, and residential tax taxation (or non-taxation) and payment certificates	The continuity and stability of the business, and the record of tax payment

These overlap directly with what the new standards seek to test: employment of a full-time employee, Japanese language ability, and the substance of the business. Consider a request for additional documents to be the mirror image of whichever part of the new standards the examiner is not yet satisfied about.

Regarding full-time employees, the Immigration Services Agency of Japan explains the concept as work in which the person “must be engaged in the work at all times during the prescribed hours every day under a fixed work plan, excluding holidays and other days on which work is not required.” An employment contract alone is insufficient; the arrangement must be backed by an actual record of wage payment and by enrollment in social and labour insurance.

The reality of a short deadline

What strains practice most is the deadline. The period stated in the notice is by no means generous. Within it you must request certificates from the Labour Bureau and the Pension Office, put the company’s books in order, and draft explanatory documents.

If you realize you cannot make the deadline, do not leave it alone. In practice, applicants contact the office shown on the notice as early as possible, state specifically which documents are missing and when they can be submitted, and ask whether the deadline can be extended. This is an individual determination rather than a published procedure, so it is not guaranteed, but it is far preferable to letting the deadline lapse without a word.

There is one more thing worth knowing: the special period. If you hold a residence card and filed the extension application by the expiry date of your period of stay, you may remain in Japan under your previous residence status and continue your previous activities until either the decision is made or two months have passed from the expiry date, whichever comes first. An exchange over additional documents that carries the review past your expiry date does not immediately mean you can no longer stay.

That said, the special period is capped at two months. The standard processing period for an extension application is stated as two weeks to one month, and a request for additional documents extends it accordingly. File from roughly three months before expiry, not at the last moment.

The October 16, 2025 reform and the transitional measure

Behind the increase in document requests lies the amendment of the Business Manager criteria enforced on October 16, 2025 (Reiwa 7). The principal changes are as follows.

Item	Standard after the amendment
Capital, etc.	30 million yen or more (for a sole proprietor, the total amount invested for the purpose of running the business)
Full-time employee	At least one (limited to Japanese nationals, special permanent residents, or holders of a status of residence under Appended Table II of the Act)
Background	Three years or more of experience in the operation or management of a business, or a doctoral, master’s or professional degree
Japanese language ability	Either the applicant or a full-time employee at CEFR B2 equivalent or above under the Framework of Reference for Japanese Language Education
Business plan	Confirmation by a person with specialist knowledge of management (SME management consultant, certified public accountant, or certified tax accountant) is required
Office	Using one’s home as the business office is, in principle, not accepted

For the full picture of the system and a detailed explanation of each requirement, see our Complete Guide to the Business Manager Visa. If you are moving from Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services to running your own company, see Changing from Engineer Visa to Business Manager Visa.

For those already running a company in Japan, the transitional measure is the key point.

Until three years have elapsed after enforcement (until October 16, Reiwa 10), an application for extension of period of stay will not be denied solely on the ground that the new standards are not met. (Immigration Services Agency of Japan, “Amendment of the Ministerial Ordinance on Criteria for Landing Permission for the Status of Residence ‘Business Manager’”)

October 16, Reiwa 10 is October 16, 2028. After that date, conformity with the new standards is required. The Agency also indicates that even after the three years, there is room for a comprehensive assessment where, for example, the business is in sound condition, tax obligations have been fulfilled, and the standards are expected to be met by the next renewal.

One misunderstanding arises easily here, so let us be explicit. The transitional measure does not mean that renewal examinations disappear for three years. What it protects you from is denial for failing the new standards, and nothing more. Whether the business is genuinely operating, whether the office actually exists, and whether social insurance, labour insurance and taxes are properly paid remain subject to the same examination as before, throughout the transitional period. That is precisely why requests for documents on public dues arise.

What to prepare now

The companies that handle document requests well are not those that scramble after the notice arrives; they are the companies whose materials can be produced at any time as a matter of routine. We recommend reviewing the following five points at least six months before your renewal.

1. Enrollment in and payment of social insurance and labour insurance. Being enrolled matters less than having no arrears. If payments are behind, clear them before filing the extension application. For how tax, pension and insurance records are viewed in residence examinations, see Permanent Residence and Taxes, Pension and Health Insurance.
2. Financial statements and tax filings. Keep the most recent financial statements and the payment certificates for corporate tax, consumption tax and corporate residential tax ready to produce. A loss is not by itself a ground for denial, but you will need material explaining the continuity of the business.
3. The physical existence of the office. The lease agreement, photographs of the signage and interior, and materials showing that the premises are genuinely used as a business office. Combining the office with your home is, in principle, not accepted.
4. The reality of full-time employment. Not only the employment contract, but the wage ledger, records of salary transfers, the certificate of residence, and the record of social insurance insured status together provide the backing for “full-time.”
5. Japanese language ability. Be ready to show, with a certificate of passing an examination or a transcript, that either you or a full-time employee meets the requirement. Decide in advance whose ability will satisfy it.

Alongside this, keep records that let you explain what you personally did during the most recent period of stay: contracts, minutes, transaction records, and notes of daily work. The hardest item to draft in response to a document request is precisely this “document specifically explaining the content of the business management activities.”

For the general mindset that keeps a renewal application on track, our Checklist to Avoid Denial When Renewing an Engineer Visa is also useful, though it concerns a different status. For business owners considering naturalization in the future, see Naturalization for Business Owners and Company Directors.

Summary

• A request for additional documents is not a notice of denial; it is an opportunity to explain. Respond within the deadline, thinking through why the material was requested.
• For Business Manager extensions, such requests are no longer the exception. The more times you have renewed, the more likely you are to be asked for something you have never seen.
• The materials most often requested concern labour and social insurance enrollment and payment, wage payment to full-time employees, Japanese language ability, and an explanation of your activities during the most recent period of stay.
• Deadlines are short and many materials must be obtained from outside bodies. If you cannot make it, contact Immigration rather than letting it lapse.
• The new standards enforced on October 16, 2025 (Reiwa 7) come with a transitional measure running to October 16, 2028 (Reiwa 10), but the substance of the business and the payment of public dues are examined regardless of the transitional measure.

Our Services

For consultations on extending the Business Manager visa and on responding to requests for additional documents, please rely on Kaneko Hidetaka Gyoseishoshi Lawyer Office. We also accept cases at the stage where Immigration has already asked you for documents.

• 98% approval rate
• Languages: Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, English
• Free initial consultation
• Nationwide service centered on Chiba and Tokyo (online consultation available)

Contact us here