Aplash focuses on entrepreneurs, business owners, and company executives. For HSP and J-Skip, we support only the advanced business-management routes, alongside Business Manager and Startup Visa planning.
Founder fast-track PR eligibility → HSP(i)(c) / J-Skip management (1 year) · Lowest capital barrier → Startup Visa · Full business ownership → Business Manager Visa
Each route is purpose-built for a specific profile. Compare the requirements, income thresholds, and permanent-residency timelines side by side.
Japan's pathways are built for specific profiles. Three questions narrow the field — and if none apply, the free consultation is the right first step.
Business Manager Visa if you can meet the ¥30M capital threshold and are ready to operate. Startup Visa if you need more preparation time — municipality-sponsored, no capital barrier.
HSP(i)(c) may fit if your advanced business-management activity and documented profile reach 70+ points. J-Skip's business-management route may fit if you have 5+ years of management experience and at least ¥40M in annual remuneration. Aplash does not support the academic-research or technical-employment categories of either programme.
J-Find Visa gives you 2 years to find employment or test a startup idea in Japan, with no income requirement during the visa period.
A 30-minute consultation maps your background to the right pathway — and identifies the requirements that need structuring before you apply.
We sit at the intersection of company formation and immigration law — so the parts that block most applicants are the parts we're built to solve.
Japan's October 2025 visa reforms changed the requirements in ways that catch most applicants off guard. We don't just fill forms — we structure your application around the new rules: certified business plans, staff arrangements, capital optimisation, and office compliance. Bilingual in law, not just language.
Most firms separate the visa from company setup. We coordinate both as one project, with clear ownership across KK or GK formation, registered office, governance, and the licensed immigration work required for the application.
Operating remotely without a Japan team? Can't meet ¥30M yet but want to start? Need Japanese-language operations but don't speak Japanese? We design compliant, case-specific support for the requirements that block most applicants.
On-the-ground support in Japan with coordination from Hong Kong and China. Your timezone, your language, your pace — we're set up to work the way you work.
Visa types, the fastest PR route, the October 2025 reforms, and remote setup — the essentials before you choose.
Our core work is founder and business-owner immigration: Business Manager Visa, Startup Visa planning, HSP(i)(c) advanced business management, and J-Skip advanced business management. For HSP and J-Skip, Aplash supports only founders and company executives; academic-research and technical-employment cases are outside our service scope. We also advise on linked family and case-specific residence matters for qualifying founder clients.
A qualifying founder on J-Skip's advanced business-management route may become eligible to apply for PR after 1 year. Under HSP(i)(c), a qualifying founder or executive may apply after maintaining 80+ points for 1 year or 70–79 points for 3 years. PR is always a separate application and these periods do not guarantee approval.
From October 2025: minimum capital increased to ¥30,000,000; at least one qualifying full-time employee is mandatory; a physical office is required; the applicant or an eligible full-time employee must document B2-equivalent Japanese capability; and the business plan must be certified by a licensed Japanese professional. Existing holders have a 3-year transitional period.
Many preparation steps can be coordinated from overseas, including document review, incorporation support, office arrangements, and preparation of a Certificate of Eligibility application. Identity checks, banking, signatures, entry, or case-specific immigration requests may still require the applicant's participation or presence.
Eligible spouses and children may apply for dependent status. A dependent spouse needs separate permission to work and is generally limited to 28 hours per week. HSP and J-Skip holders may have additional spouse provisions for specified professional activities, subject to their own conditions.
Field notes on visas, residence status, and relocating to Japan, written by the team that handles the applications.
View all articlesNo. A foreign national can own and hold a director title in a Japan KK or GK entirely from overseas, with no visa or status of residence at all, because Japan abolished the...
Read article Hsp VisaYes. Your Highly Skilled Professional (高度専門職) status is tied to the specific employer and role you scored 70 or more points on, not to the label in the abstract, so a new job can lower your score...
Read article Hsp VisaNeither is automatically the easier route. The Highly Skilled Professional visa (HSP, 高度専門職) has its own executive and management category, called 高度経営・管理活動, but it qualifies on a personal points...
Read article Hsp VisaYes. Children accompanying a Highly Skilled Professional (高度専門職) visa holder qualify for Dependent status (家族滞在), which permits residence and enrollment in Japanese schools. The HSP program also...
Read article Hsp VisaJapan's Highly Skilled Professional (高度専門職) visa has a dedicated track for researchers, category 1号イ (academic research activities, 高度学術研究活動), covering work at universities and research...
Read article Hsp VisaMost Japan Highly Skilled Professional (HSP, 高度専門職) visa rejections trace back to five recurring causes: points miscalculation (usually overclaimed experience years or a misread income-by-age...
Read articleTell us about your management background, proposed role, remuneration, and Japan company plan. We will compare Business Manager, HSP(i)(c), and J-Skip's business-management route.
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