Every Japan Long Stay Route Compared
Which Japan long stay visa can you get?
Japan has no retirement visa and no investment visa. Every status comes from a job, a company, a marriage, or a points score. Three questions decide most cases: can you get a Japanese employer, can you score 70 points, and are you married to a Japanese national. If the answer to all three is no, the only remaining settlement path is Specified Skilled Worker Type 2.
The master table
| Route | Needs | Stay | Settlement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Nomad | JPY 10,000,000 income, 51 nationalities | 6 months, no extension | none |
| Highly Skilled Professional Type 1 | 70 points, JPY 3,000,000 floor | 5 years, renewable | PR in 3 years, or 1 at 80 points |
| Highly Skilled Professional Type 2 | 3 years on Type 1 | indefinite | direct |
| J-Skip | JPY 20,000,000 plus master’s, or JPY 40,000,000 plus management | 5 years | PR in 1 year |
| Business Manager | JPY 30,000,000 capital, Japanese hire, B2 | 5, 3 or 1 years | discretionary, 10 years |
| Startup Visa | municipal approval | up to 2 years | switch required |
| Engineer / Specialist in Humanities | degree or 10 years experience | 5, 3 or 1 years | discretionary, 10 years |
| Specified Skilled Worker Type 1 | skills test plus JFT-Basic or N4 | up to 5 years | none |
| Specified Skilled Worker Type 2 | higher skills test | no limit | possible, 10 years |
| Spouse of a Japanese national | genuine marriage | 5, 3 or 1 years | PR in 5 plus 3 years |
| Dependant | sponsor’s status | tied to principal | switch required |
Question one: can you get a Japanese employer?
If yes, you are on the ordinary work route, which is the Engineer, Specialist in Humanities and International Services status for white-collar roles. The tests are a relevant degree or ten years of experience, and a salary equal to a Japanese national doing the same work. It renews indefinitely and it is the main feeder into ten year permanent residence.
The degree must match the job. A literature graduate hired as a programmer is refused without relevant experience or a qualification. Losing the job means losing the status within three months unless a new sponsor is found.
Question two: can you score 70 points?
If yes, the Highly Skilled Professional route is better than the ordinary work status in almost every respect: a five year grant instead of three, dependants, a spouse who can work, and permanent residence after three years instead of ten. At 80 points it is one year.
The catch is that the score is re-examined at renewal, and it rewards youth and salary so heavily that a competent person in their forties often cannot reach it. If you are close, calculate before accepting an offer, because a missed bonus item can cost two years.
Question three: are you married to a Japanese national?
The spouse status is a residence status in its own right, not a dependant category. It carries unrestricted work rights, no sponsor, and a faster permanent residence clock: five years of marriage plus three years of residence.
The screening is heavy, because marriages of convenience are the reason the route exists in the form it does. Separate addresses, no shared finances and inconsistent interview answers are the usual refusal grounds, and a refusal can bar reapplication.
The route nobody talks about
Specified Skilled Worker is the only settlement path in Japan open to someone without a university degree. Type 1 covers fourteen labour shortage sectors, tests skills and language rather than qualifications, and runs to a five year cap with no dependants. Type 2 has no stay limit, allows a family, and counts as a work status, which makes ten year permanent residence possible.
Type 2 exists in only eleven of the sixteen sectors. Nursing care, automobile transport, rail, forestry and wood products are Type 1 only, so a care worker has no Type 2 exit. That detail decides whether the route is a job or a life.
The two dead ends
Digital Nomad. Six months, no extension, no residence card, no permanent residence credit, and a six month wait before reapplying. It is a long tourist permission with a tax risk attached.
Startup Visa. Up to two years, then the full Business Manager test applies, which since October 2025 means JPY 30,000,000 and a Japanese hire. The preparation years do not count toward anything.
What each route is good at
- HSP: speed. The fastest legitimate path to permanence in Asia, at one year on 80 points.
- Ordinary work: accessibility. A degree and an offer is enough.
- Spouse: rights. No sponsor, any work, a shorter clock.
- SSW Type 2: access without a degree. The only such route.
- Business Manager: control. You are the employer, if you can fund it.
- Digital Nomad: nothing durable. A season, not a stay.
The decision that overrides the rest
Do you need permanent residence, or a long stay?
If permanence, then only these lead there: HSP, ordinary work, spouse, SSW Type 2, long-term resident, and Business Manager. Everything else ends.
If a long stay is enough, the digital nomad route and the Startup Visa become usable, as long as you accept that both end.
Watchpoints
- There is no retirement or investment route. Property and deposits buy no status.
- The PR clock is not uniform. Three years at 70 points, one at 80, ten ordinarily.
- Dependant time counts toward residence but not toward the five year work requirement. A spouse who wants permanence must switch and work.
- SSW Type 1 cannot reach permanent residence. The five year cap blocks the ten year rule.
- The Business Manager route closed for small founders in October 2025. Plan around JPY 30,000,000.
- Naturalisation is separate and requires renouncing other nationalities.
Sources
- Immigration Services Agency, status of residence pages, checked 2026-10-23
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs, digital nomad and spouse visa pages, checked 2026-10-23
- Immigration Services Agency, PR guideline revised 1 October 2026, checked 2026-10-23
- Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Startup Visa, checked 2026-10-23