Japan Immigration Services

Newland Chase offers full support with all aspects of corporate immigration to Japan. Please find an overview of the typical corporate immigration processes below. Every situation is unique, so please do get in touch, either through your usual Newland Chase contact or using the details on the right hand side of the page. Our immigration experts will be glad to discuss your needs in greater detail.

With offices in Tokyo Metropolitan, Newland Chase Japan provides corporations and individuals operating in Japan with complete support for all their immigration and visa needs – inbound to Japan and outbound to more than 190 countries around the world. Our full spectrum of services allows us to manage all of your business visa and employee immigration needs.

Our Japan team located in central Tokyo supports not only the Tokyo area, but also Hokkaido, Chubu region, Kansai region, Shikoku, Kyushu region, and Okinawa. With more than 10 years of experience supporting Japan immigration, we provide comprehensive strategic immigration solutions for complex business challenges. Offering a complete solution, we also assist with document translation, procurement, legalization, apostilles, consular authentication, and notarization in Japan.

  • Japan Immigration Management

    We provide support in all areas of Japanese immigration for corporations and individuals – from short-term work authorization and temporary residency to long-term work authorization, permanent residency, and citizenship, including both company employees and accompanying family members. Our approach covers you from comprehensive guidance and pre-planning of new assignments and immigration options to completion of all in-country requirements to ongoing compliance monitoring.

    For up-to-date information on the most common work authorization routes in Japan, see Immigration Summary tab.

  • Comprehensive Global Immigration Management

    For corporations and individuals located in Japan, we also provide support in all areas of immigration to more than 190 countries around the world. Our Japan team is part of the larger Newland Chase global team of 1,700+ expert immigration and visa professionals – specializing in everything from short-term work assignments and temporary residency to long-term work assignments, permanent residency, and citizenship throughout the world.

  • Business Traveler Management

    Business Visas are a key component of a globally mobile workforce – allowing individuals to enter Japan and other countries for non-work business activities. Business visas typically apply to business meetings, seminars, conferences, trade shows, limited sales activities, contract negotiations, and some supervisory activities. Newland Chase Japan offers comprehensive services for business travelers both inbound to Japan and outbound to more than 190 countries.

    Our services include everything from personalized assessment of the activities and destination for visa compliance to obtaining the proper visas to tracking of the number and length of stays of your business travelers for legal compliance.

  • Immigration Policy and Compliance

    Our Japan immigration experts offer an extensive suite of advisory services and immigration compliance strategies to ensure that your organization and employees remain compliant with all Japanese immigration and visa requirements. Our services include strategic guidance on immigration plans, development and implementation of immigration policies, sponsor compliance, education and training, audit support (including mock audits), and immigration compliance technology solutions.

  • Consulting and Advisory Services

    Our Japan immigration experts act as trusted business advisors – supporting you in virtually any unique or complex immigration-related matter. Our Japan team is able to manage the scope of immigration in large-scale projects and employee moves, as well as guide you through the immigration complexities involved in corporate restructuring and mergers and acquisitions.

Employment Immigration

Japan has several categories of working visa based on the applicant's specialism or the nature of the employment or assignment. A working visa applicant first requires a Certificate of Eligibility issued by the Ministry of Justice. The visa is usually issued for one, three or five years and may be renewed indefinitely.

For Engineers or Specialists in Humanities or International Services, the applicant must have an employment contract directly with the Japanese entity. However, in some very limited circumstances, on a case-by-case basis, it may be possible for an intra-company transferee (where an appropriate corporate relationship exists) who does not have the twelve months of experience with the sending entity required to qualify for the dedicated Intra-Company Transferee category, to remain on home contract and still qualify for this category.

The Business Manager category is applicable to an applicant with more than three years of management experience who will work at a company in Japan, or a foreign national who is establishing a new business in Japan. The employment contract can be held either in the home country or in Japan.

For the Intra-Company Transferee working visa, the applicant must have worked for the sending company for at least twelve months and must not have a local contract in Japan. The sending company outside Japan and the host company in Japan must be linked by common ownership.

Applicants who meet certain criteria, assessed on a points-based system, may receive Highly Skilled Professional status, which confers preferential immigration treatment on the holder, including additional benefits for dependents, fast-track processing and a faster route to permanent residence.

To qualify, the applicant must score at least 70 points on the Ministry of Justice points-based system and be engaged in advanced academic research, advanced specialised/technical activities or advanced business management activities.

Our Japan team members are highly qualified and dedicated professionals with extensive experience in all aspects of Japanese immigration. They come from the best of legal, consulting, in-house corporate and government backgrounds and bring a breadth of experience and insight both in immigration and a multitude of industry sectors. With a dedication to service and a consultative approach, our people act as your trusted advisors and partners in achieving your business goals in Japan.

Yumiko Okada

Immigration Manager

Tokyo, Japan