No, if the person is a transferred employee of the foreign parent rather than the business owner. An employee dispatched from an overseas group company can enter on Intra-Company Transferee status (企業内転勤) or Engineer/Specialist status (技術・人文知識・国際業務), neither of which carries the Management Visa's JPY 30 million capital threshold. The owner or founder who personally runs the Japan entity cannot use either status for that purpose and needs Management Visa (経営・管理) status instead.
What Is the Difference Between Intra-Company Transfer and a Management Visa?#
Intra-Company Transferee status (企業内転勤) moves an existing employee of a foreign group company into the Japan affiliate to continue work in the same type of role; Management Visa (経営・管理) status is for the person who personally manages or administers the Japan business. The two statuses answer different questions. Intra-Company Transfer asks whether the person already works for the group and will keep doing the same kind of work in Japan. Management Visa asks whether the person is the one making management decisions for the Japan entity itself.
This distinction has a direct cost consequence. Intra-Company Transferee and Engineer/Specialist (技術・人文知識・国際業務) status carry no paid-in-capital requirement at all, so a company can staff a Japan office with transferred specialists while the principal stays abroad, at none of the JPY 30 million threshold set for Management Visa applicants under the October 2025 reform. The Management Visa reform guide covers that threshold and who it applies to.
Who Qualifies for Intra-Company Transferee Status?#
An employee must have worked continuously for at least one year at the sending group office immediately before the transfer, in work that matches the Engineer/Specialist (技術・人文知識・国際業務) category, and must perform the same type of work at the Japan office. The one-year requirement looks at continuous employment at the sending entity, not total tenure at the broader group, so an employee recently moved between group companies may not yet qualify. Remuneration in Japan must also be at or above what a Japanese national in a comparable role would receive; a below-market secondment package is a common reason this status is challenged.
Can the Owner of the Company Use Intra-Company Transfer Instead of a Management Visa?#
No. Where the person performs management or administration at the Japan site, the applicable status is Management Visa (経営・管理), not Intra-Company Transferee, regardless of how the assignment is structured on paper. Intra-Company Transferee status covers dispatched specialist staff continuing their existing role; it does not cover the owner-manager who is deciding how the Japan business is run. A foreign-company principal who wants to both own and personally manage the Japan entity needs Management Visa status and the JPY 30 million capital, qualifying employee, and language requirements that come with it, covered in full in Do You Need a Management Visa to Own a Japan Company You Run From Abroad?
The distinction is not a loophole to be structured around. Examiners look at who is actually making the decisions, not at which visa category the paperwork claims.
Has Intra-Company Transfer and Engineer/Specialist Status Gotten Harder to Obtain?#
Recent practice has tightened two specific points worth confirming before relying on either route. From April 2026, Engineer/Specialist applications for roles that use Japanese language, such as interpretation or direct customer contact, require documented Japanese ability, generally at JLPT N2 or CEFR B2 equivalent for interpersonal work. From March 2026, dispatch-type (派遣) applications have been refused where the dispatch destination is not yet defined at filing, meaning a transferred employee needs a confirmed Japan assignment, not a placeholder one, before the application goes in. Both points should be confirmed against current Immigration Services Agency (出入国在留管理庁) guidance before a transfer is filed, since practice in this area has moved more than once in the past year.
Which Status Fits a Market-Entry Company With No Resident Owner?#
Run this before deciding: who needs to be physically in Japan, and what will they actually do there.
(a) If nobody needs to be resident, the Japan entity can be formed and operated with directors who remain overseas; no status of residence is needed for anyone and no capital threshold applies.
(b) If staff need to be on the ground but the principal stays abroad, dispatch an existing employee on Intra-Company Transferee status, or hire locally or transfer on Engineer/Specialist status; neither carries a capital threshold.
(c) If the principal relocates to personally run the business, Management Visa status applies, with its full capital and employee requirements.
A company that only needs a Japan presence to handle local operations, not an owner physically managing the business, is frequently steered toward Management Visa by default when option (a) or (b) would meet the same operational need at a fraction of the capital commitment.
Frequently Asked Questions#
Can a foreign employee on Intra-Company Transferee status later switch to a Management Visa?
Yes, a status change (在留資格変更) is possible if the employee moves into an actual management or administration role and the company meets the Management Visa requirements at that point, including the capital, qualifying employee, and language thresholds. The change is assessed on the role the person will perform going forward, not on how long they held the prior status.
Does the one-year employment requirement reset if the employee was transferred between group companies before coming to Japan?
The requirement looks at continuous employment at the specific office sending the employee to Japan immediately before the transfer, so time spent at a different group company earlier in the employee's career does not automatically count unless that office is the one making the transfer. Confirm the sending entity and the employee's tenure there before filing.
Does hiring someone on Engineer/Specialist status satisfy the Management Visa's qualifying-employee requirement?
No. Engineer/Specialist (技術・人文知識・国際業務) visa holders are expressly excluded from the pool of qualifying employees that a Management Visa applicant can rely on; the qualifying employee must hold Japanese nationality, permanent residency, special permanent residency, long-term resident status, or spousal status tied to a Japanese or permanent-resident spouse. The two statuses solve different staffing problems and cannot substitute for each other.
This article is informational only and does not constitute legal, tax, or regulatory advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney (弁護士) or licensed administrative scrivener (行政書士) for your specific situation. Last updated: October 2026.