VZCZCXRO0571
RR RUEHCHI RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHPB
DE RUEHKO #0978 1180651
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 280651Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2606
INFO RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 7541
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 1401
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 6077
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 3739
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 4276
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 9021
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 5042
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 6768
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 7323
RUEHZU/APEC COLLECTIVE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 6508
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 5043
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS TOKYO 000978 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Department for CA/VO Tim Smith, EAP/J Marc Jackson and EEB 
Department pass to USTR FOR AUSTR CUTLER, MBEEMAN, AND EHOLLOWAY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CVIS ETRD ELAB EFIN EAGR CMGT OECD JA
SUBJECT: JAPANESE IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS: FOREIGN INVESTOR VISAS ARE 
FEW AND FAR IN BETWEEN 
 
Sensitive But unclassified.  Not for the internet. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The Japanese government issued 918 foreign 
manager/investor visas to all nationalities in 2007, according to 
the Ministry of Justice.  This number is less than one tenth of the 
total number of E (trader/investor) visas that Embassy Tokyo issues 
to Japanese citizens each year. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On March 13, Consular Section staff met with Chief of the 
Business and Employment Inspection Department, Entry and Status 
Division of the Immigration Bureau at the Japanese Ministry of 
Justice (MOJ), Mari Takai, and her staff member, Hideaki Matsui, to 
learn about Japanese investor visa practices. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Ms. Takai said the first step to obtaining a Japanese 
manager/investor visa is to set up a company and register it at a 
local legal affairs bureau.  The second step is to seek the approval 
of the Immigration Bureau by obtaining a "Certificate of 
Eligibility" (COE).  This must be done in Japan, and the COE can 
only be obtained if the business is already operational, meaning 
that the office or shop space is rented, equipment is purchased, 
etc.  Our interlocutors admitted that in practice it is very 
difficult to get this far without Japanese contacts and a good 
lawyer.  The final step is to appear at a Japanese Embassy or 
Consulate to obtain the visa. 
 
¶4.  (U) To qualify for a visa, the applicant must demonstrate an 
initial investment of at least 5 million yen (about $50,000) or show 
a minimum of two Japanese employees have been hired.  The visa 
validity varies from one to three years depending on the stability 
and size of the company.  The company review lasts from one to five 
months depending on the complexity of the case. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) There are also individual requirements.  In the case of a 
larger enterprise that qualifies for investor visa status, the 
applicant must be a top executive.  Furthermore, the bar is set 
quite high for executive authority.  For example, in a large 
multinational company, perhaps only the top three or four officers 
would qualify for manager/investor status, according to Ms. Takai. 
 
 
¶5. As a general rule, an applicant cannot change status in-country 
from another kind of visa to a manager/investor visa.  The MOJ does 
not maintain a registration system for companies, nor does it keep 
track of company size, nationality, type, or volume of investment. 
Japanese manager/investor visas are not based on a bilateral treaty. 
 When we asked about the proposed Japanese language requirement for 
business visas, we were told to consult the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs (MOFA). 
 
¶5. (SBU) A review of blogs devoted to Japanese visa issues suggests 
that applicants for this visa category encounter significant 
obstacles, such as securing a Japanese guarantor to rent business 
space.  Although the GOJ does not keep statistics, based on the low 
minimal investment requirement and conversations with third-country 
applicants at the visa window, we believe the investor visa category 
is mainly being used by small investors, while large multinationals 
use the intra-company transferee and engineer visa categories, with 
a combined issuance of approximately 17,000 in 2007. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: Japan attracts low levels of FDI per capita by 
international standards, but for large multinational companies this 
is not mainly because of visa obstacles.  In fact, a recent GOJ 
survey of large foreign investors suggests that visas are not seen 
as a hindrance to investment in Japan.  However, the low numbers of 
investor visas issued by the GOJ relative to the size of Japan's 
population and economy show that this visa category is not an 
incentive or vehicle for small entrepreneurs.  By contrast, around 
50% of the 6000 investor visas Embassy Tokyo issued last year were 
for small businesses.  End comment. 
 
ZUMWALT