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Japan eyes startup visa program

asia.nikkei.com

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Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#101

Post by laurieg »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #99
laurieg wrote: post #92

Japan's immigration system seems heavily set up to encourage young people to come, work and then leave. This startup visa is good for getting a toe-hold on Japan but only targets people out of country. If you live in Japan already (so you might already speak the language and have helpful local knowledge) there aren't any great paths to starting a business without permanent residency. You can't start a side business o…

I absolutely agree with the message you've arrived at and think you're right, along with the fact that they're free to set their own laws/determine their stance about the outside world. One minor correction: I think you can become eligible for permanent residency with consistent 1 year visas -- from what I understand as long as the TYPE of visa is unchanged and you've had the same type of visa for 5-7 years it counts…

Regular working visas and the points system are completely seperate systems.

It is true that if you have enough points on the highly skilled professional visa you can get permanent residence (PR) in only one year.

On a regular work visa you must have 10 years consecutive residence in Japan and "must hold the longest visa type available to you (for these purposes longest means 3 or 5 years)" (my rough translation).

I have consulted with an immigration lawyer on the topic of applying for PR with a 1 year visa and he confirms this.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#102

Post by patio11 »

laurieg wrote: post #92

Japan's immigration system seems heavily set up to encourage young people to come, work and then leave. This startup visa is good for getting a toe-hold on Japan but only targets people out of country. If you live in Japan already (so you might already speak the language and have helpful local knowledge) there aren't any great paths to starting a business without permanent residency. You can't start a side business o…

You can't start a side business on a regular work visa.

You know YC's question "How have you ever hacked a non-technical system?" This is my answer to it. You can start a side business on a regular work visa if the character of your business matches your status of residence and you don't intensify the business to the point where it is undeniable that it is a business as opposed to employment, e.g. by hiring full-time employees.

So, for example, if you were an engineer, and you happened to run a software company on the side, you could convince the Ministry of Justice to accept the argument that you were employed as an engineer by the 個人事業 (sole proprietorship) of you, which (since you have an engineering status of residence) doesn't require their pre-approval, and then (while establishing a record of e.g. tax paying and similar) bootstrap that into a renewal of your status of residence with yourself as the sponsor, and from there roll on to either a management/investor status of residence or one of the other more stable options.

For totally-not-a-lawyer gloss on this I'm happy to chat with anyone; you can make reasonable assumptions as to why I am fairly confident that the MoJ can be convinced to allow this.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#103

Post by ekianjo »

laurieg wrote: post #92

Japan's immigration system seems heavily set up to encourage young people to come, work and then leave. This startup visa is good for getting a toe-hold on Japan but only targets people out of country. If you live in Japan already (so you might already speak the language and have helpful local knowledge) there aren't any great paths to starting a business without permanent residency. You can't start a side business o…

> Japan's immigration system seems heavily set up to encourage young people to come, work and then leave.

Indeed, even though you have to pay all taxes like a local when you live in Japan, you can never benefit from stuff like pensions if you ever want to retire there.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#104

Post by hardwaresofton »

laurieg wrote: post #101
hardwaresofton wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely agree with the message you've arrived at and think you're right, along with the fact that they're free to set their own laws/determine their stance about the outside world. One minor correction: I think you can become eligible for permanent residency with consistent 1 year visas -- from what I understand as long as the TYPE of visa is unchanged and you've had the same type of visa for 5-7 years it counts…

Regular working visas and the points system are completely seperate systems. It is true that if you have enough points on the highly skilled professional visa you can get permanent residence (PR) in only one year. On a regular work visa you must have 10 years consecutive residence in Japan and "must hold the longest visa type available to you (for these purposes longest means 3 or 5 years)" (my rough translation). I…

Hey do you have any links for the points system vs the work visa systems, that are in english for people that might be interested? Even japanese would be helpful as well.

Also, +1 for consulting with immigration lawyers. I employ/consult with one as well, and that's about the best information you can get, it's well worth the money (and usually the consultation is free) -- they're very unlikely to get the paperwork/process wrong.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#105

Post by ekianjo »

kotrunga wrote: post #96
ekianjo wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, very safe indeed. It can be quite fun when you are in your 20s, if you live in big urban centers (night life, etc.) - but it's also an impenetrable society. Not being Japanese will place barriers around you in many aspects of the society, sooner or later (even if you are fluent in the language). It's important to be aware of this.

Do you mind expanding on this? I’m curious about what barriers will be put up, as I’ve thought about moving there.

I can elaborate - contact me via PM.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#106

Post by agibsonccc »

laurieg wrote: post #88
romanovtexas wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This process is hard but not as nightmarish as people who don't live in the country reading articles make it sound. Agree wholeheartedly. Been living in Fukuoka myself for the past two years, and I cannot help but notice that the foreign population here has been steadily growing. Although the city is marketing themselves to be the new Startup hub in Japan, I still think it has to be as global as say, Tokyo, to catch…

Hello fellow Fukuokarite! The city has definitely been pushing hard for foreign startups but the changes they are making are only baby steps and PR in my opinion. I thought it was rather strange that the press conference held by the mayor to promote foreign startups had to have an interpreter because the mayor couldn't manage any English and the foreign entrepreneurs on stage didn't speak Japanese.

I've talked to some folks from Fukuoka and it definitely seemed that way when I talked to them.

FWIW, JETRO is like that too. A lot of the process happens in Japanese (it's basically only foreigner friendly in name)

It's still a good start but it's definitely not what it's spun to be.

I have people I'm complaining to and they are changing though (even if it's taking them a few months)

The willingness to change is definitely new for Japan.

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#107

Post by Terretta »

nihonde wrote: post #67
sasas wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and I hope you’ve been practicing your kanji Shinsei bank offer applications in English > or foreign transfers until you’ve got a few years in your business Fortunately there are options to transfer JPY funds overseas using companies like Transferwise.

I’ve never heard of Shinsei bank. My accounts are at UFJ, and obtaining them was my second proudest achievement in Japan after my driver’s license.

How or why did you choose UFJ?

// disclosure: head of Tech Strategy for Americas

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#108

Post by davidw »

graeme wrote: post #56
davidw wrote: post #12

I don't think Italy is a great place to do business, but it's a good place to live in many ways. They've got something similar that might be of interest to the right person http://italiastartupvisa.mise.gov.it/#ISVhome

That website is compeltrly broken on mobile. Is there another link with a summary of the program. (The link jumps erratically, and completely breaks the back button)

Uh, you want to live in Italy, you'd better get used to shitty government web sites ;-)

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#109

Post by delhanty »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #93
delhanty wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or you've got some cool projects for me to undertake, feel free to get in touch (see my profile or the gaisma page) vados@gaisma.co.jp Are you on the Hacker News Tokyo Slack forum? [1] @jason_tko (Jay Winder Make Leaps CEO who runs the Hacker News Tokyo community meetup that you mentioned - also on Meetup [2]) just launched it. You could join and introduce your self perhaps ... It's mainly an expat community but th…

Oh hey no problem, my attendance has been pretty few and far between so far! Slack's not really my style (I find it hurts focus sometimes), but I might pop in there actually just to say hi. I (along with a different startup's CTO that I'm currently working with) somehow missed the recent meeting this week somehow, I thought it was going to be on thursday, and it was supposedly the biggest one yet :( I dunno who is wh…

Hey Victor, thanks for the reply!

It was a big event.

Jay's promotional post trended on HN. [1]

Also, Jay et al launched the Meetup page.

Hope to meet you in person at the Super Deluxe sometime - Paul Delhanty.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15775065

Re: Japan eyes startup visa program

#110

Post by agibsonccc »

jim-jim-jim wrote: post #89
agibsonccc wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Silicon valley -> Tokyo expat here. It took me Just like anything, there's right and wrong ways to do it. If you do it the traditional way with a japanese speaking landlord who mistrust foreigners, yes it can be hard. That is a significant portion of the market. One thing I will say, there are real estate companies that actually cater to foreigners. This has been my landlord for a year and I just renewed: http://toky…

You moved to another country to live and work there. What makes you an "expat" and not an immigrant? The color of your skin?

Depends I guess? I identify more as an expat right now because I don't actually have permanent residency?

It really depends on what your definition is I guess. I also don't really feel like I've integrated with the culture. I've really only been here a year. I don't know a lick of the language (I mean I can do basic things like order food, have basic conversation etc) but ultimately I don't think I'll consider myself an "immigrant" till after that happens. Hope that helps. I'm sure other folks would define it as well.

It's a gray area. I still get paid by america (while living in japan)

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