Thinking of starting a business in Japan? The Business Manager Visa is about to get stricter. Japan plans to raise the capital requirement from 5 million yen to 30 million yen (around $203,000) and make it mandatory to hire at least one full-time employee.

These changes aim to stop misuse of the visa like simply opening a minpaku (short-term rental) business and attract genuine entrepreneurs. While this could make the visa less appealing, exceptions will apply for holders of Startup and Future Creation Individual Visas, who can still switch under current rules.

The government hopes to boost international competitiveness while filtering out fake startups. Changes are expected by the end of the year.