This article is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. Read the Japanese original（日本語版を読む）
Rather than hiding the documents you cannot produce, the basic approach is to explain logically in a written statement why you cannot produce them and by when you will put matters right, and to make up for them with substitute documents. At a first extension, a degree of shortfall or delay in preparation is to some extent anticipated. On the tax side in particular, putting yourself in a position where you clearly intend to file, before you apply, is the shortest route to permission.
An enquiry from someone whose 1st-year deadline under 経営・管理 is approaching without either a tax payment certificate or the passbook for a corporate bank account.
Acknowledge frankly that you were not aware of the obligation, and state clearly in the written statement that you are proceeding with a late filing.
The most serious point is that no tax return has been filed, and no tax paid, in Japan. As long as you are living in Japan, in most cases an obligation to file arises in Japan even for salary earned abroad.
Acknowledge frankly your lack of awareness of the obligation to pay tax in Japan, apologise, and then state clearly that you are currently proceeding, through a certified tax accountant, with an amended return (or a late return) for the past periods.
Ideally, completing the late filing before you apply and attaching the receipt for the tax you have paid is the strongest way to recover the position. Tax is the point looked at most strictly in screening.
Show how you came to be refused an account, and prove your sales with the general ledger together with contracts and invoices.
Japanese financial institutions are very strict with newly formed companies run by foreign nationals, and opening an account can take half a year or more. This is a circumstance that the Regional Immigration Services Bureau also understands as a practical barrier.
Set out concretely what happened: that you applied to several financial institutions but were refused on grounds such as lack of track record, or that an application is currently under review.
As there is no passbook, the cash book and the general ledger are the only proof. Please be sure to submit the material supporting your sales as a set with them.
Back up the fact that your business base is now in place with documents showing what you have invested in the fit-out and the equipment.
At the stage where the fit-out has only just been finished, photographs do not yet convey a sense of the place being lived in or in use. In that case, put it positively: after a start-up period, the office that forms the base of the business has finally been made ready.
We recommend 4 parts: the progress of the business, the reasons for the documents not submitted, the transparency of your funds, and your plan for improvement.
At a first extension, what is looked at is not so much perfection as your integrity as a manager and the probability (the likelihood) of the business. You cannot put off applying just because the documents are not all in place, so you need to do the best you can with what you have.
Transitional measures are provided for applications for extension made before the day on which 3 years have passed from the date it came into force.
The ministerial ordinance setting the 上陸許可基準 (criteria for landing permission) for 在留資格「経営・管理」 has been amended and came into force on 16 October 2025 (令和7年10月16日). Those already residing under 経営・管理 are treated as follows.
Where a person already residing under 経営・管理 makes an 在留期間更新許可申請 before the day on which 3 years have passed from the date it came into force (16 October 2028, 令和10年10月16日), the decision whether to grant or refuse will be made in the light of the state of their business and the prospect of their coming into line with the amended criteria for permission, even if they do not meet those criteria. In screening, you may be asked to submit a document that has been assessed by a specialist in business management.
An 在留期間更新許可申請 made after 3 years have passed from the date it came into force must meet the amended criteria for permission.
A copy of the tax return filed in your home country with a translation, records of remittances to Japan (certificates of overseas remittance), a record of your exchanges with a certified tax accountant, and the like. The strongest course is to complete the late filing before you apply and to attach the receipt for the tax you have paid.
You can. Show how matters stand with the bank's notice of refusal or the receipt slip for an application under review, and then prove your sales by submitting, as a set, the general ledger and cash book, copies of the receipts that support your sales, and contracts and invoices with your customers.
We recommend 4 parts: a report on the progress of the business, an explanation of why documents have not been submitted, proof that your funds are transparent, and your plan for improvement. The plan for improvement in particular should be written as a concrete promise of what you will do and by when.
For an 在留期間更新許可申請 made before 16 October 2028 (令和10年10月16日), the decision whether to grant or refuse will be made in the light of the state of your business and the prospect of your coming into line, even if you do not meet the amended criteria for permission. Applications after that must meet the amended criteria.
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This page is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.