Comment by aurareturn
8 hours ago
This new law is doing what it's suppose to do. You can't get a business visa for $300k in the US. You need $800k in a bad area or $1m in a good area to get an investment visa.
Why should Japan allow $30k? Doesn't make sense.
I had a friend who was looking to move to Japan and abuse this visa. The business was only there to get the visa with no intention of operating it.
I'm not Japanese and I don't live in Japan but even I think this new law makes more sense than previous.
What is the demographic looking to immigrate to Japan. I’m surprised to hear Chinese as my outsider view was that China was as good if not better place to live compared to China, is it because they’re afraid of their government and want a liberal democracy instead?
Or is folks from poorer and more distressed countries looking to come to Japan.
Considering BM was just a way to pay into Japanese residency (or use it as a sort of landlord visa), it's not surprising that a rich country that's a 4-hour flight away made up of the bulk of foreign residents on business manager status.
Anecdotal evidence, but pretty much every time I heard someone plan to apply for BM, it was to pay their way into Japan rather than actually start a business. When I did hear business plans, it was often "moving my software consultancy" or "buying an apartment with cheap Yen and leasing it out as an Airbnb".
As an interesting data point: this article from Sankei News claims a 96% reduction in applications for the BM visa since the new requirements took effect.
https://www.sankei.com/article/20260502-Z4W4O4YAQRFK3FZIAQDC...
Better passport for their kids, better and more reputable, internationally connected banking system to store their wealth. The latter bit is particularly important as China limits the amount of money one can send out of the country.
How would this give a passport to their kids? Isn’t Japanese citizenship notoriously difficult to obtain?
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China cracks down on corruption from time to time and lots of rich Chinese got their riches through corruption, so they're always looking for places to stash their ill gotten gains, their family and an offramp for themselves.
Helping launder this dirty Chinese money is a huge business here in BC (Canada) and across the world.