Amid Japan’s evolving immigration landscape, employers of foreign talent face both challenges and opportunities. Following our joint-chamber event on this topic with the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan in July, we wanted to hear directly from the people experiencing these changes first-hand. CCCJ Small Business member Dave Enright, CEO of Evergreen Outdoor Center, located in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture, shared his experience navigating Japan’s visa system as an employer of seasonal and year-round international staff. He offers an inside look at the wider impact the immigration reforms might have on small businesses and the rural communities they are helping to build.

We procure multiple kinds of work visa for our seasonal and year-round staff each year. The visa types we seek include the designated activities and sports instructor visas for our ski instructors, the engineer/specialist in humanities/international services visa for staff working on our business operations and the skilled labour visa for our guides and snowboard instructors. 

On Oct. 1, 2026, Japan’s Immigration Services Agency replaced its flat-rate fee system for visa renewals and status changes with a tiered fee structure based on the period of stay granted. Under the previous system, the fee for a change of status or an extension of period of stay was ¥6,000 for in-person applications and ¥5,500 for online applications, regardless of the period of stay. Now, for a stay of three to six months, the fee is ¥18,000 in person (¥15,000 online) and for a stay of one year, the fee is ¥33,000 in person (¥27,000 online). 

In addition, the application fee for a single-entry visa — including for work — issued at a Japanese embassy or consulate has increased from ¥3,000 to ¥15,000 (effective July 1, 2026).

The fee increases represent a substantial rise in our employee-related costs due to the number of seasonal staff we sponsor each winter across ski and snowboard instruction, guiding and administration roles.

Another significant challenge we face is the unpredictability of visa processing. We hire from June through mid-September for staff whose contracts begin in December. Processing times by immigration, however, are highly inconsistent, with applications in the same visa category taking anywhere from three weeks to three months. Furthermore, there does not appear to be a discernible pattern to this variability, which makes it difficult for us to plan start dates for working and advise employees on when to expect their documentation.

With every application to the Immigration Services Agency, we submit a work contract specifying the start and end dates of employment to provide a clear timeline for the visa’s validity window. However, processing often runs right up against that timeline, which makes it difficult for new hires to book flights once a certificate of eligibility has been issued in their home country.

One positive outcome of the fee increases is that additional revenue will be reinvested into immigration offices, specifically in increased staffing and improved processing speed. Faster, smoother processing would be especially valuable for companies like Evergreen Outdoor Center that serve resort areas where inbound tourism is critical to the local economy. If the increased fees result in a more efficient system, it could help alleviate the lengthy and unpredictable waits we have experienced while supporting the much-needed labour required in tourism communities.

Tackling illegal labour 

Informal labor has a long history in Japan. It was common from the 1970s through the 1990s when there were many young Japanese seasonal workers at ski and beach resorts willing to work or even trade labour for food and board. That domestic supply, however, is largely no longer available and young international travelers on the working holiday visa typically fill seasonal roles today.

However, the working holiday visa is not accessible to everyone. Even some partner countries on the program have fixed annual limits on the number of working holiday visas issued to their nationals. As a result, some travellers on short-term stays work at accommodations, ski schools or restaurants for cash under the table, or through more organized arrangements in which they are paid into offshore bank accounts or through online cash transfer services. Alternatively, some travellers trade labour for food and board.

These workers and arrangements need to be addressed. Rather than making legal work visas harder to obtain or capping the number of working holiday visas allocated, the government would achieve better outcomes by searching for illegal workers in resort areas and cities where they reside. Passports with multiple entries on a temporary visitor status that use their full allowance period every year, particularly when centred around ski season or the high tourist season for cities, should be flagged for review. Companies suspected of employing this kind of labour, meanwhile, should be audited for both staffing practices and tax payments.

Small businesses and rural revitalization

A further concern that the visa reforms have not adequately considered is the compounding effect on small businesses and Japan’s depopulating communities. Rural Japan and small independent businesses face decline and are more connected than policy discussions tend to acknowledge. 

Large-scale investment rarely arrives in rural regions first; it follows only after small businesses have established a critical mass, a local identity, or a new trend worth building on. This is why small-scale international entrepreneurs who bring outside ideas and fresh capital are vital to rural communities: the hidden, mysterious places that foreigners so often gravitate to, fall in love with and choose to invest their lives in.

The alpine resort of Hakuba is a clear example. Without the injection of foreign inspiration and investment into its spectacular natural, cultural and historical assets roughly 30 years ago, Hakuba would not be the destination it is today. 

In the lead up to Hakuba’s hosting of some competitions of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, the village benefited from heavy development, global attention and the skyrocketing popularity of skiing. Post-Games, it experienced a slump as Japan entered an economic recession and domestic interest in skiing plummeted. 

Rural Japan and small independent businesses face decline 

and are more connected than policy discussions tend to acknowledge

Small-scale reinvestment and marketing — much of it foreign-led — rebuilt Hakuba, which continues to see rising visitor numbers year over year. Companies working in partnership with local communities have inspired projects by both Japanese and foreign entrepreneurs elsewhere, helping seed community-building efforts in aging villages across the country.

The reform of Japan’s business manager visa, however, threatens this trend. Since taking effect on Oct. 16, 2025, the reform requires a minimum capital investment of ¥30 million, a sixfold increase from the previous threshold of ¥5 million. Further requirements include hiring a full-time local employee, holding a business plan validated by a certified professional, and having Japanese language proficiency (either the applicant or the full-time employee).

For a young entrepreneur with modest savings, a good idea and the energy to see it through — typically the profile of people who revitalized places like Hakuba — this investment threshold is largely out of reach. The businesses most likely to be priced out are the small, ground-floor ventures that rural and depopulating communities depend on to attract the critical mass needed before larger investment will follow. 

In attempting to curb abuse of the business manager visa by shell corporations, the reforms risk shutting out the small mom-and-pop ventures, often run by young families, that have historically been the first spark of revitalization in Japan’s aging villages. I think the investment amount should be determined by the location of the business. By doing so, family-run businesses in rural areas that support economic and demographic revival in small communities would not lose out.

With a ¥5 million investment 20 years ago, Evergreen Outdoor Center has become a thriving year-round business that employs 25 people year-round and fulltime. In addition, it employs 30 seasonal workers each summer and more than 300 seasonal workers each winter. The company generates millions of yen each year and paved the way for substantial investment in Hakuba Valley. Just a few small businesses with minimal initial investment have transformed what was a tired resort 25 years ago into a renowned snow sports destination.