Looking for a retirement visa? Japan doesn't run one — its routes require a job offer, a registered business you actively run, or a company transfer. See other countries' guides
Working in Japan: do you qualify?
A work-based system with several specialist tracks, and a distinctly long road to permanent residence.
Two ways in, and Japan checks them differently
An employer, a government nomination or an approved body puts its name behind the application.
- Engineer/Specialist in Humanities
- Highly Skilled Professional Visa (HSP)
- Intra-company Transferee
You qualify on your own record — skills, points or capital — with no sponsor standing behind you.
- Business Manager Visa￥30,000,000
The conditions behind the routes above
Your degree, work experience or occupation has to clear a bar set for that specific route.
Age, education, experience and language each add up to a score — you need to clear the pass mark.
An employer, a government nomination, or an approved endorsing body has to stand behind the route.
Pick a route, see the real commitment
Every official figure below is what Immimaps has verified for that route against Japan's official programme rules — not a marketing minimum. Service fees are what independent firms publish for the route, shown only once five or more are on file.
For founders and managers actively running a registered business in Japan, with capital and operating requirements to meet.
The common route for office professionals — engineers, marketers, translators, and similar specialist roles — sponsored by a Japanese employer.
A points-based track for high-qualification candidates that can shorten the path to permanent residence substantially.
For employees transferring to a Japanese office of the same company they already work for abroad.
A financial threshold applies, shown as proof of means — nothing is transferred.
The order Engineer/Specialist in Humanities follows
No confirmed rule change has been flagged for Japan since it was last checked against the official moj.go.jp portal on 2026-08-29. Immimaps keeps watching official immigration sources and will list dated changes here as soon as one is confirmed.
Check the moj.go.jp portal directly →Strategy Path takes your occupation, your situation and whether you have an employer, and lays the route out step by step — cost, milestone and wait on each leg.
Upload it and Immimaps checks it against what Japan's official programme actually requires, and reads the contract clause by clause. Free, no account.
Check my documentEvery official figure on this page is checked against Japan's official immigration sources. Service fees are what independent firms publish for a route — not an official figure, and never any one firm's price. Immimaps does not publish success rates, approval odds or any probability score — here or anywhere else.
Don’t take a life-changing move on someone else’s word.
Immimaps is not an agency and takes no placement fees. We show the real figures on every route, show the working, and tell you what it actually costs.
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