Japan dramatically relaxed Green Card system !
Bold new opportunity to obtain Japan’s new Green Card.
Are you interested in Japanese Green Card with Japan’s social security and universal healthcare service ?
Here is what you should do.
Invest in the property here and get the ‘business manager’ status.
Japan is facing the acute shortage of workforce.
To address the issue, Prime Minister Abe has been drastically relaxing the immigration control for both low skilled workers and high skilled professionals.
Japan needs both low skilled workers as well as advanced skilled managers.
There is a new visa category called Highly-Skilled Professionals (HSP).This new category was relaxed dramatically last year and now Japanese government is offering preferential treatment for the category, which makes applicants much easier to apply for the so-called
‘GREEN CARD’.
In this relaxed category, HSP can apply for ‘GREEN CARD’ earliest within ONE YEAR (subject to your points) after you
get status of HSP. The Green Card application procedure is based on the points-based system.
The new approach follows the government’s introduction of a point system for highly skilled professionals in 2012.
Under this system, people are scored according to factors such as academic background, career background and annual salary, and are categorized under the field of “academic research,” “technical activities,” or “business management.”
A person is classified as highly skilled if they reach a score of 70 points or more.
If the resident is recognized as being a highly skilled worker, they are then given preferential treatment.
It is necessary for other foreign residents to live in Japan for at least 10 years continuously before they can apply for permanent resident status, whereas highly skilled workers can do so after five years.
Following the latest the government review, it is now highly skilled workers who score a total of 80 points or more will be allowed to apply for a permanent residence visa (Green Card) after just one year of living in Japan.
What is Highly Skilled Professional ? (HSP)
Foreign nationals eligible for a status of residence for work are assigned points for their academic background and professional career, annual salary, and so on.
If the total points reach a certain score (70) the foreign nationals will be recognized as “highly-skilled foreign professionals”.
What is points based system ?
The Points-Based System for Highly-Skilled Professionals is a points-based
system that provides highly-skilled foreign professionals with preferential immigration
treatment. In other words, it is a system that uses the mechanism of “points” to
promote the entry of foreign nationals recognized as “highly-skilled foreign
professionals” by giving them preferential treatment in matters of immigration control.
Here is our strategy to obtain HSP status. (assuming you are residing abroad and have capital to invest)
1. You establish an entity in Japan (It will be your vehicle for your investment activity)
2. You either invest in property or acquire small business in Japan through your entity.
(This investment should make you eligible for applying for HSP of ‘business management’ category.)
3. You come to Japan or run your company from your country as an owner.
4. You earn more points (you need to get HSP status first) and then apply for Green Card.
Frankly, to qualify as ‘business management’ of HSP, it does not have to be the real estate business.
You could run your IT company or acquire a Japanese small retail shop.
But we think realistically speaking, setting up a real estate investment company is the most viable option for foreign nationals.
What are the benefits of being allowed to enter Japan as a highly-skilled foreign professional?
HSP status has point based system. With HSP status, you are entitled to very attractive preferential treatment.
・Permission for multiple purposes of activities
・Grant of the “5 years” period of stay
・Relaxation of requirements for grant of the permission for permanent residence
・Preferential processing of entry and residence procedures
・Permission for the spouse of highly-skilled foreign professional to work in Japan
・Permission for bringing the parent(s) to accompany the highly-skilled foreign
professional to Japan
・Permission for a domestic worker to accompany the highly-skilled foreign
professional to Japan
Here is summary of point calculation table (Some key activities only for for business manager category)
Holders of doctors degree or masters degree : 20 pts
Holders of bachelor’s degree : 10 pts
Holder of doctor’s degrees,
master’s degrees or professional
degrees in multiple areas : 10 pts
Professional career with 10 years or more : 25 pts
Annual salary with 10 million yen or more : 10 pts *1)
Representative director (company) : 10 pts
Holder of a foreign qualification, etc. related
to the work : 5 pts
Acquisition of a degree
from a Japanese institution of
higher education : 10pts
Acquisition of Leve
N2 of the Japanese Language
Proficiency Test : 10 pt
Investment of 100 million yen or
more in the business the person
manages : 5 pts
*1) : Salary you earn from an entity in Japan not current your job in your home country
But why real estate investment ?
The real estate business is very simple. (That said, I am not saying it is easy to make money though)
Compared with other industry, the barrier for foreign nationals in the real estate investment in Japan is low
and easier to handle. If you have the sufficient capital, it is a much less complicated business model.
You buy a good property for rental and it works for you. Japan’s regulations are very robust and transparent.
Your title deed stamped by the legal official can be issued in one day and your rights are well protected by the government. You don’t have to wait for your deed for two years like Vietnam. Japanese real estate market is in very healthy status (not bubble like Hong Kong) and showing the very steady growth.
Tokyo real estate market booming ahead of Olympics (Nikkei article)
If you decide to shut down your business, real estate is much easier to exit. As far as you have a good property, the liquidation won’t cause your major head aches.
Down side to the business is that profit margin is not high and it is very capital intensive.
However, imagine you open up a start up in Tokyo in IT solution. You have to have command of business Japanese and bring your own successful strategy. And you need to hire a few Japanese nationals to support you. Firing your staff in this country is a night mare.
Alternatively, I suggest you acquire a small hotel (or Airbnb property) in a tourist place here.
Hotel business is booming due to the sky rocketing foreign tourists. Japan needs more accommodations.
Final thoughts
The most important point about our strategy is to make real estate investment through your entity.
By doing that, you are almost automatically recognized as ‘business management’ position, then you have to earn more points.
When your points reach 70 pts, you can apply for HSP.
70-80 pts are very doable for any high skilled professional person.
Buying real estate or acquiring small business at the destination for Green Card application is universally common strategy in many destinations.
Even if you are not heavily funded, you can seek the financing (mortgage loan) by the Japanese banks.
Another advantage of real estate business is that you don’t need to stay in Japan. You can remotely manage your business from your own country.
We together with a partnered lawyer can offer one stop packaged service for foreign investors to apply this new category (HSP) through the real estate investment in Japan. We are only company who can provide one-stop service so that
you can bypass all hassles of managing various specialists such as accountant, certified administrative procedures legal specialist and judicial scrivener.
Too good to be true ? If you are interested in more details, please contact us.
Other Helpful Articles
The lure of Japan’s hidden treasures : Why are so many houses abandoned in Japan ?
Japan’s real estate price update: Price up for 3 consecutive years. Very strong growth in Tokyo buoyed by the booming inbound tourism
Where is the most attractive city to invest in Asia ? : CBRE institutional investors reports 2018
Relevant articles in the media
Japan OKs economic plan that allows more foreign workers (Asahi Shimbun)
Foreign workers: Should they stay or should they go? (Japan Times)
One in ten Tokyoites in their 20s are now foreigners (Nikkei)
*Editing on November 4, 2018
We have received many inquiries about the new green system since we have posted the article.
There are some common misunderstandings about the system.
-The new fast track green card system does not necessarily require the real estate investment.
You can apply for the green card by starting other new ventures such as IT solutions and travel company.
In other words, the real estate investment is merely a tool to help your application but not the norm.
-The immigration law does not specify any criteria for the real estate investment. (because it is not about the real estate investment)
-There is no minimum investment required for green card application but if you invest more than 100 mil yen then you can get extra points.
-You have to hire a specialist(immigration lawyer) who is familiar with the immigration law. Average gyoseishoshi (行政書士）cannot handle the new system.
Gyoseishoshi could support you but they mainly handle the documentation only. You have to have input more than documentation to convince
the immigration office to justify your application. Your story is more important than your documentation/your investment result.
Consultation service
Spot consultation is available for those who are interested in getting Japan’s green card leveraging the real estate investment.
Consultation over the internet telephone is possible for those who are distant from Tokyo.
If you are seriously interested in obtaining the green card, please contact us. Consultation fee starts from 50,000 yen per two hours (plus tax)
Toshihiko Yamamoto
Real estate investing consultant and author.
Founder of Yamamoto Property Advisory in Tokyo.
International property Investment consultant and licensed
real estate broker (Japan).
He serves the foreign companies and individuals to buy and sell
the real estates in Japan as well as own homes.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from
Osaka Prefecture University in Japan
and an MBA from Bond University in Australia
Toshihiko’s book, “The Savvy Foreign Investor’s Guide to Japanese Properties: How to Expertly Buy, Manage and Sell Real Estate in Japan”is now out on Amazon, iBooks (iTunes, Apple) and Google Play.
About the book
Amazon.com Link
