HSP Business Management Track: Points and the PR Fast Track

The HSP business management track is Japan's points route for executives and founders: score 70 or more on the category-3 table and the state treats you as a highly skilled professional, with a fast lane to permanent residence.¹² Points open the door, but the company's substance decides what happens inside.³

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Immigration Services Agency points-system pages. This article is general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice; for your specific case, consult a licensed gyoseishoshi for a points read, or an immigration lawyer for a refused recognition or PR application.

Last verified: 2026-09 against Immigration Services Agency sources.

Overview

The 高度専門職 (kōdo senmonshoku, "highly skilled professional") system has three activity categories: academic research, specialized or technical work, and business management. Category 3, 高度経営・管理活動 (kōdo keiei kanri katsudō, "advanced business management activities"), covers officers who run companies.¹⁴

Recognition needs 70 or more points. Holding 70 or more for three years, or 80 or more for one year, unlocks the PR fast track against the normal ten-year rule.³²

How category 3 works

Category-3 work means managing or administering a business as an officer with real decision-making involvement. A nominal title with no duties does not qualify.³ Points attach to the current contract and role, so every job or pay change re-opens the calculation.²

One floor is absolute. Annual income below 3 million yen ends category-3 recognition no matter how high the rest of the table scores. Income is proven by the officer contract, board minutes fixing remuneration, and payroll records.³

HSP-i grants a five-year stay with permission to combine activities around the principal management role, plus preferential processing of about five to ten days (as of 2026-03).² Family terms are generous: a spouse may work full-time white-collar jobs, and parents plus a household helper may accompany the household under income and cohabitation conditions.³²

What the points table rewards

The official table scores education, career, income, age, Japanese ability, position, and bonus rows. Income carries the most weight by far, which is why high officer salaries dominate founder strategies.⁴³

Income, career, and position

Annual income of 30 million yen scores 50 points, 25 million scores 40, 20 million scores 30, 15 million scores 20, and 10 million scores 10 (as of 2026-01).³ Bonuses count inside the annual figure.

Points row	Top band	Score
Annual income	30M yen or more (as of 2026-01)3	50
Management career	10 years or more4	25
Position	Representative director or equivalent4	10
Education	Doctorate, or MBA or MOT professional degree4	30 / 25

The table as a whole follows the ISA scoring PDF. Confirm band boundaries with the agency before filing, since yen bands move on government schedules.

Management career scores 25 points at ten years, 20 at seven, 15 at five, and 10 at three.⁴³ A representative director or representative executive officer adds 10 points, and other board or executive members add 5.⁴ A doctorate scores 30, a master's 20, and an MBA or MOT professional degree 25, with 5 extra for multiple degrees in different majors.⁴³

Japanese ability and other bonuses

N1-equivalent Japanese, or graduation from a foreign university with a Japanese major, scores 15 points. N2-equivalent scores 10.⁴³ A BJT score of 480 counts as N1-equivalent and 400 as N2-equivalent.⁴

Graduation from a Japanese university adds 10 points. Rows for SME innovation support add 10 or 5 points for qualifying organizations.⁴

HSP-i versus HSP-ii

After three years of qualifying HSP-i activity, holders may move to HSP-ii. The second stage has no stay limit and an activity scope close to permanent residence itself.² Founders who want stability before filing for PR often rest here.

The move is not a formality. Status change to HSP-ii on management activity must satisfy the post-reform substantive standards described below (as of 2025-10).³

The PR fast track and the post-2025 gate

The clocks are simple: 70 or more points held for three years, or 80 or more held for one year, before the PR application.² General PR conditions on conduct, tax, and pension and insurance payment apply on top of points.³

The gate is the part founders miss. Since the October 2025 reform, PR from management activity is refused without the post-reform substance: an eligible full-time employee, 30-million-yen scale, B2-equivalent Japanese, a professionally confirmed plan, and clean public-dues compliance (as of 2025-10).³ A high score with a hollow company fails at PR rather than at recognition.

Points without substance fail late, not early

Recognition scores the table while PR re-examines the company's reality. Discovering the gap at the PR counter wastes years, so build staff, premises, language cover, and compliance from the HSP-i stage onward.

Staying qualified: what kills renewal and recognition

Points attach to a live management role, so a salary drop below a band, a title change, or an employer move can end recognition.³² Recalculate before signing anything that changes pay or duties.

The status-level killers match the Business Manager ones. A paper company, a no-substance finding at a review gate, or office failure each destroy the management-activity premise that recognition rests on.³⁵ Filings re-check staff, premises, Japanese ability, and public-dues compliance the same way.⁵

Good to know

Salary under 3 million yen ends the inquiry

The floor is absolute for category 3 however high the rest of the table scores. Founders drawing token salaries while reinvesting everything should model this before choosing the track.³

Points without substance fail at PR, not at recognition

The two examinations ask different questions. Recognition asks what the table says, while PR asks what the company does. Pass the first and fail the second and the years in between buy nothing.³

Recalculate after every job or pay change

Points follow the current contract and role, not a past certificate. Any move, raise, cut, or title change deserves a fresh count against the official table before it takes effect.²

See also

• Business Manager Visa Requirements for Founders
• Corporate Accounting and Tax Filing
• The Gyoseishoshi for Visa and Immigration
• Hiring Your First Employee
• From Business Manager to PR or HSP
• Highly Skilled Professional Visa

References

Footnotes

1. 出入国在留管理庁. 高度人材ポイント制 (preferential treatment overview). https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/resources/newimmiact_3_index.html ↩ ↩²

2. JapanVisa. Japan HSP Visa 2026: Points System and Benefits. 2026-03-01. https://japan-visa.com/visas/highly-skilled ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

3. VisaJapan. Highly Skilled Professional 1(c) Points Calculator and gate conditions. https://english.visajapan.jp/koudo_point2.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸

4. 出入国在留管理庁. Points Calculation Table (PDF). https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/001398882.pdf ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

5. 出入国在留管理庁. 在留資格「経営・管理」. https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/applications/status/businessmanager.html ↩ ↩²