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）
It is possible to use an independent rented office as your business premises and to file the 認定 application for 高度専門職1号（ハ）. A contract term of 1 year is also, as a rule, not a negative. There is no condition such as a minimum 2-year contract. What is given weight is whether the place functions as a real base from which business activity can be carried on continuously.
Because screening is taking a long time, the enquirer wants to leave the shop lease until after the status of residence is granted, and to apply first with a rented office.
It can. However, independence must be secured — a dedicated space that can be locked, for example.
It is possible to use an independent rented office (shared space) as your business premises and to file the 認定 application for 高度専門職1号（ハ）.What is given weight is whether the place functions as a real base from which business activity can be carried on continuously.
Even in a shared office or a coworking space, what matters is that, by concluding a special contract or by choosing a particular plan, you have an exclusive right of use of a private room, that it can be locked, and that an independent working space is secured. Being able to receive post and to install a telephone is also required. With part of an open space that an unspecified number of people come in and out of, it is likely that the substance of an office will not be recognised.
The rented office needs to be a place that actually functions as the central base of the business activity. Whether the work set out in the business plan can be carried out there, and whether meetings with clients and work by employees are possible, are examined.
Please check whether the rented office contract expressly states that independence of the kind described above, and use for business activity, are permitted.
As a rule it has no negative effect. Nor is there any condition such as a minimum 2-year contract.
As to the effect on screening where, as you ask, "the contract term is 1 year", as a rule there is no negative effect.
Property leases in Japan, even for an office, are commonly for 1 year or 2 years, and that term does not directly negate the continuity or stability of the business. What is given weight is the continuity and stability of the business itself, and it is rare for an application to be denied solely because the office lease runs for 1 year.
Nor is there any condition that a minimum 2-year contract is required. There is nothing in Japanese law that sets a lease term of 2 years or more for an office as a requirement for obtaining a particular status of residence.
Please note the following points, however.
A convincing business plan, backing for the funds, a reasonable level of remuneration, and an account of your own advanced qualities are all called for.
The most important things are that the office is a place with real business activity behind it, and that the business plan you submit is convincing in its contents. Show your record of business in your home country clearly, and explain plainly that the business can be realised and repeated in Japan.
It is likely that it will not be. What matters is that an independent working space is secured — an exclusive right of use of a private room that can be locked, for example. Being able to receive post and to install a telephone is also required.
There is no such condition. There is nothing in Japanese law that sets a lease term of 2 years or more for an office as a requirement for obtaining a status of residence. A 1-year contract is, as a rule, not a negative.
There are cases where you do. Please be ready with a reasonable explanation — that you rent separate premises for storing stock, or that you have secured an exclusive area within the rented office and keep stock there.
Screening times have tended to grow longer, and you need to assume that it will take several months. Please allow room in your schedule for starting the business.
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This page is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.