The 4-Month Business Manager Variant: Founding from Inside Japan
The 4-month Business Manager variant lets a founder abroad enter Japan before the company exists. Capital transfer, the office lease, and incorporation registration all move to after entry, which breaks the chicken-and-egg problem of founding from overseas.1 Four months is short, the current criteria still apply at conversion, and the window forgives no drift.2
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Immigration Services Agency site. This article is general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice; for your specific case, consult a licensed gyoseishoshi before filing, given the short conversion window.
Last verified: 2026-09 against Immigration Services Agency and practitioner sources.
Overview
The variant dates to April 2015. Its purpose was precise: founders abroad could not register residence on a visitor stay, and without an address they could not open a bank account or sign an office lease, so incorporation from overseas needed a local collaborator.13
The 4-month stay survives the October 2025 revision. ISA still lists 4 months among the Business Manager periods of stay: 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, 6 months, 4 months, or 3 months.42 Unlike a 90-day visitor stay, it brings a residence card and resident registration.13
What the 4 months solve
After entry the founder registers residence, obtains a seal certificate, opens a personal bank account, transfers capital into it, signs the office lease, and registers incorporation.1 None of this needs a collaborator's account or signature anymore, which removes the largest pre-visa risk: parking large funds with a stranger before approval.1
One caution travels with the benefit. A residence card is not a bank-account entitlement. Each bank applies its own review on address, status, remaining stay, purpose, and business substance.2 Japan Post Bank instructs applicants with three months or less of remaining stay to apply after renewal, which narrows the practical window to the early weeks (as of 2026-07).2
Eligibility under the current rules
The revised criteria apply to new 4-month filings. The file must address 30-million-yen scale, an eligible full-time employee, B2-equivalent Japanese, a qualifying background, a professionally confirmed plan, and suitable premises (as of 2025-10).23
What changes is timing, not substance. At filing the founder shows draft 定款 (teikan, "articles of incorporation") stating the capital, the funding plan with transfer routes, office candidates with location and budget evidence, a staffing plan, permit timetables, and a week-by-week post-entry schedule (as of 2026-07).2
Proof of the 30-million-yen figure at filing runs through the draft articles plus a professionally verified plan; the actual transfer into a Japanese account happens after entry (as of 2024-09).5 The office lease likewise need not be signed at filing. Documented candidates stand in for the contract.5
The application path
A qualified representative in Japan files the certificate of eligibility. On issuance the founder seeks the visa at the mission abroad and enters.26 Everything to the COE stage can be handled remotely.6
Draft articles should fix the company name, purpose, capital, head-office locality, fiscal year, investors, and directors. Stock-company articles need notarization, with affidavit substitutes where the founder has no seal registration.15 COE examination takes about two to three months, and consultation-to-entry runs about four to six months (as of 2026-07).16
Filing support has a price. Practitioner schedules start near USD 1,900 for the COE filing including plan preparation, plus USD 300 to 700 for external plan certification, with incorporation and registration costs separate (as of 2026-07).6
The 4-month work plan
The post-arrival sequence is fixed: address registration, seal registration, personal bank account, capital transfer, office contract, company seal, incorporation registration, tax-office notifications, permits, corporate account, and insurance enrollment.15
Plan it week by week before filing. Designing the sequence after arrival wastes a stay that bank queues and lease negotiations already compress.2 Preserve every receipt, contract, and payroll record from day one: all of it becomes extension evidence.2
Account opening and office contracting cause most 4-month failures. Start both in week one, in parallel, with backup institutions and backup properties already identified.
Converting to one year, and what kills it
Filing the extension before expiry does not automatically yield a one-year stay. The founder must document the setup actually completed plus live management substance in the now-existing company.2 Renewal applies the current criteria: staff, capital, office, language, background, and vetted plan.3
The killers are familiar. A paper company that incorporated but never operated, a no-substance finding where staffing or sales never materialized, or office failure where the lease lapsed or was never real, each end the route.23 Tax, labor, and social-insurance compliance from the start is checked at conversion, so enroll on time rather than catching up.3
4-month variant versus startup visa
The two runways serve different founders. The 4-month variant is a Business Manager stay for near-ready founders who can finish setup in weeks. The startup visa is Designated Activities for up to two years of preparation.27
Founders far from the capital or staffing bar fit the longer runway better (as of 2026-04).7 Founders with funds ready, a staff candidate identified, and a vetted plan in hand should prefer the 4-month route and convert fast.
Good to know
Four months is shorter than it sounds
COE processing plus bank and lease friction consume the window fast. Any founder who needs months of fundraising or hiring after entry chose the wrong runway.26
A bank account is practice, not entitlement
Banks decide independently, and short stays draw refusals outside accommodating desks. Practitioner experience points to Japan Post Bank as the most accessible counter, but confirm current policy with the branch itself.21
File the extension before the stay expires
Expiry without a pending extension ends lawful options except departure preparation. Calendar the filing for well before month four, with the evidence file already assembled.2
See also
- Business Manager Visa Requirements for Founders
- The Incorporation Process
- KK vs. GK: Choosing a Corporate Entity
- Bank Account Opening Documents in Japan
- Business Manager Visa: Japan's Founder Status
- Startup Visa: The Municipal Founder Runway