JAPANESE IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS: FOREIGN INVESTOR VISAS ARE

UNCLAS TOKYO 000978 SIPDIS Department for CA/VO Tim Smith, EAP/J Marc Jackson and EEB Department pass to USTR FOR AUSTR CUTLER, MBEEMAN, AND EHOLLOWAY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CVIS ETRD ELAB EFIN EAGR CMGT OECD JA SUBJECT: JAPANESE IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS: FOREIGN INVESTOR VISAS ARE FEW AND FAR IN BETWEEN Sensitive But unclassified. Not for the internet. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Japanese government issued 918 foreign manager/investor visas to all nationalities in 2007, according to the Ministry of Justice. This number is less than one tenth of the total number of E (trader/investor) visas that Embassy Tokyo issues to Japanese citizens each year. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) On March 13, Consular Section staff met with Chief of the Business and Employment Inspection Department, Entry and Status Division of the Immigration Bureau at the Japanese Ministry of Justice (MOJ),Mari Takai, and her staff member, Hideaki Matsui, to learn about Japanese investor visa practices. ¶3. (SBU) Ms. Takai said the first step to obtaining a Japanese manager/investor visa is to set up a company and register it at a local legal affairs bureau. The second step is to seek the approval of the Immigration Bureau by obtaining a "Certificate of Eligibility" (COE). This must be done in Japan, and the COE can only be obtained if the business is already operational, meaning that the office or shop space is rented, equipment is purchased, etc. Our interlocutors admitted that in practice it is very difficult to get this far without Japanese contacts and a good lawyer. The final step is to appear at a Japanese Embassy or Consulate to obtain the visa. ¶4. (U) To qualify for a visa, the applicant must demonstrate an initial investment of at least 5 million yen (about $50,000) or show a minimum of two Japanese employees have been hired. The visa validity varies from one to three years depending on the stability and size of the company. The company review lasts from one to five months depending on the complexity of the case. ¶5. (SBU) There are also individual requirements. In the case of a larger enterprise that qualifies for investor visa status, the applicant must be a top executive. Furthermore, the bar is set quite high for executive authority. For example, in a large multinational company, perhaps only the top three or four officers would qualify for manager/investor status, according to Ms. Takai. ¶5. As a general rule, an applicant cannot change status in-country from another kind of visa to a manager/investor visa. The MOJ does not maintain a registration system for companies, nor does it keep track of company size, nationality, type, or volume of investment. Japanese manager/investor visas are not based on a bilateral treaty. When we asked about the proposed Japanese language requirement for business visas, we were told to consult the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). ¶5. (SBU) A review of blogs devoted to Japanese visa issues suggests that applicants for this visa category encounter significant obstacles, such as securing a Japanese guarantor to rent business space. Although the GOJ does not keep statistics, based on the low minimal investment requirement and conversations with third-country applicants at the visa window, we believe the investor visa category is mainly being used by small investors, while large multinationals use the intra-company transferee and engineer visa categories, with a combined issuance of approximately 17,000 in 2007. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: Japan attracts low levels of FDI per capita by international standards, but for large multinational companies this is not mainly because of visa obstacles. In fact, a recent GOJ survey of large foreign investors suggests that visas are not seen as a hindrance to investment in Japan. However, the low numbers of investor visas issued by the GOJ relative to the size of Japan's population and economy show that this visa category is not an incentive or vehicle for small entrepreneurs. By contrast, around 50% of the 6000 investor visas Embassy Tokyo issued last year were for small businesses. End comment. ZUMWALT