Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for a review of newly tightened Japanese business visa requirements, as a video of an emotional speech by an Indian restaurant owner spread widely online.
The rule was revised late last year, requiring applicants to have ￥30 million (US$190,000) in capital, up from ￥5 million, due to concerns that the system was being abused. However, campaigners say the new rule could force out long-time residents, and the petition highlighted the plight of foreign restaurant owners in particular.
“My children only speak Japanese... and we’re told to go back to India,” Manish Kumar, who has lived in Japan for 30 years, said at a gathering about the visa issue on Wednesday.
His business manager visa was not renewed last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
“I’ve worked hard to get this far thanks to the support” from fellow chefs and customers, Kumar said.
“I’ve done nothing wrong. It’s cruel to tell people to return to their home country just because the rules have suddenly changed,” he said.
It was unclear whether Kumar’s curry restaurant in Saitama, near Tokyo, is still operating. The clip showing his tearful speech was viewed millions of times.
As of yesterday, the number of signatures on the Change.org petition calling for the government to scrap the ￥30 million requirement had reached nearly 60,000.
It was submitted to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan this week.
The number of applications for business manager visas has dropped 96 percent since the tightening of the rule, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
Japanese Minister in Charge of Economic Security Kimi Onoda welcomed the change, telling a news conference on Tuesday that “concerns that [the requirement] might be misused for the purpose of migration have been largely allayed.”
Concerns about the system had grown in the past few years, with Chinese social media posts claiming it was easy to get a visa in Japan.
The number of business manager visa holders jumped to 45,000 by June last year, half of them Chinese and 2.7 times the number a decade ago, public broadcaster NHK said.
Investigations by regional immigration services bureaus have also revealed numerous shell companies.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has promised to tighten immigration rules, even though Asia’s second-largest economy is struggling with labor shortages and a falling population.
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