The Atarashift Blog
Insights for working in Japan
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
The Atarashift Blog
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
Japan's Immigration Services Agency sorts every visa-sponsoring employer into one of 4 categories. The category decides how much paperwork lands on you.
Before Japan's Immigration Services Agency looks at your résumé, it looks at your employer. Every organization that sponsors a work visa gets sorted into one of four categories (Immigration Services Agency of Japan). That category decides how many documents you personally have to chase down for your Certificate of Eligibility. A listed company means a light application. A brand-new startup means a much heavier one, and the paperwork burden falls on you, not just your employer.
Most job seekers never hear about this system until they are deep in their visa application. By then, they are staring down a request for documents their employer does not have ready. Here is what the four categories mean, and what each one requires. A new rule takes effect in April 2026, and Category 3 and 4 applicants need to know about it now.
Key Takeaways
- Japan sorts every visa-sponsoring employer into Category 1, 2, 3, or 4, based on company size and tax history (ISA).
- Category 1 and 2 employers need almost no extra paperwork. Category 3 and 4 need company registry documents, financial statements, and more.
- Category 4 covers brand-new companies with no tax filing history, so if your employer cannot produce a category-proving document, you default here.
- From April 15, 2026, Category 3 and 4 employers must file a new declaration form, and some roles now need proof of B2-level language proficiency.
- The system applies at every stage, and renewals add a residence tax certificate that first-time applicants never have to submit.
Japan's Immigration Services Agency places every visa-sponsoring organization into one of four categories, based on size, status, and tax record. The category applies mainly to the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa, Japan's most common work visa. It is confirmed at every stage: the initial Certificate of Eligibility, an in-Japan change of status, renewal, and acquisition of status (ISA).
The dividing line between Category 2 and Category 3 is a specific number: 10 million yen in withheld salary income tax reported for the previous year (ISA). That single figure, drawn straight from your employer's tax filings, separates a mid-size, established company from a smaller one in the eyes of immigration.
| Category | Who qualifies |
|---|---|
| 1 | Listed companies, government bodies, public-interest corporations |
| 2 | Employers with 10 million yen+ in withheld salary tax last year |
| 3 | Employers that filed the withholding tax report, below 10 million yen |
| 4 | Everyone else, typically new or very small companies |
Company size is a rough proxy here, but it is not the literal test. A well-funded startup that has not filed a full year of payroll tax yet still lands in Category 4, regardless of its funding or headcount. A modest but established company with a decade of tax filings can sit comfortably in Category 2 or 3. What immigration is really measuring is documented history, not brand recognition.
Every applicant submits the same core paperwork: the Certificate of Eligibility form, a photo, a return envelope, and one document proving the employer's category. For Category 1, that is proof of stock exchange listing or government status. For Category 2 and 3, it is a copy of the employer's statutory withholding tax report. For Category 4, there is nothing to submit, since the absence of a qualifying document is what defines the category (ISA).
Categories 1 and 2 stop there. Categories 3 and 4 do not. Those two categories require a second, much longer set of documents. That is where most of the friction in a Japan work visa application actually comes from.
If your employer falls into Category 3 or 4, immigration wants proof that goes well beyond a tax filing. The official checklist adds five more items on top of the core paperwork (ISA). Here is the full picture, by company category:
| Document | Cat 1 | Cat 2 | Cat 3 | Cat 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application form, photo, return envelope | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Category-proof document | Listing or government proof | Withholding tax report | Withholding tax report | None exists |
| Your job duties (labor contract terms) | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Your education and work history proof | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Company registry certificate | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Business description and major clients | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Financial statements, or a business plan | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Representative declaration (from Apr 15, 2026) | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Two things stand out in that table. Category 1 and 2 applicants submit essentially one document about their employer, while Category 3 and 4 applicants submit six. And the education and work history proof only appears for Category 3 and 4, so smaller employers mean immigration scrutinizes your personal background more closely too.
Category 3 employers usually have most of these on hand, since they have been operating long enough to file taxes. Category 4 employers, especially brand-new ones, often do not. If you are joining an early-stage company, expect to be more involved in gathering this paperwork. A friend joining an established employer usually has it easier.
The Immigration Services Agency confirms this category system for the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa. It applies across the Certificate of Eligibility, change of status, renewal, and acquisition of status applications (ISA). Immigration bureaus commonly apply a similar framework to other work-visa types too. Those include the Highly Skilled Professional visa, Business Manager, Researcher, Intra-company Transferee, and Skilled Labor visas. That pattern comes from the checklists those bureaus publish, rather than a single ISA rule covering all of them.
If you already hold a visa in one of these categories, keep this in mind when evaluating a job offer. Ask how established the company is on paper, not just how it looks. For the details of Japan's most common work visa specifically, see our guide to the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa.
Starting April 15, 2026, Category 3 and 4 employers face two new requirements on every application, according to the Immigration Services Agency (ISA). First, they must submit a new declaration form about the organization's representative, an anti-fraud measure aimed at smaller, less-established employers. Second, if the role is primarily interpersonal work that relies on language ability, the applicant now needs to prove CEFR B2-level language proficiency.
This rule applies to the initial Certificate of Eligibility, a change of status, and renewal applications filed on or after that date. If you are currently negotiating an offer with a small or newly founded company, build this extra step into your timeline. The same applies if you are due for a renewal after April 2026.
Renewals use the same four categories, but a different checklist. The most important difference for Category 3 and 4 employees is a document that never appears in the initial application: a residence tax certificate (ISA). Immigration wants two pieces here. You need a certificate of taxation or non-taxation, plus a tax payment certificate showing a full year of income and whether you actually paid.
That catches people out. Your first visa application says nothing about your personal tax record, because you had not lived in Japan yet. By renewal time, you have, and immigration checks it. If you have unpaid residence tax, sort it out at your city office before you file.
One more renewal-specific trap is worth knowing. If you changed jobs to a Category 3 or 4 employer, your first renewal after that move may require the CEFR B2 language proof described above. That applies particularly where your role centers on language-based work. A job change and a renewal landing close together is the highest-friction combination in this whole system.
Do not treat Category 3 or 4 as a red flag on its own. Plenty of legitimate, well-run companies simply have not existed long enough to file a full year of payroll taxes yet. What it does mean is a longer document checklist and more back-and-forth with your employer's HR or accounting team.
Before accepting an offer from a smaller or newer company, ask directly whether they have sponsored a work visa before. Also ask how quickly they can produce a company registry certificate and financial statements. An employer that has done this before will have the paperwork ready. One that has not may need weeks to pull it together, which can delay your start date. Our guide on which Japanese companies actually offer visa sponsorship covers how to vet an employer's sponsorship track record before you sign anything.
A few questions are worth asking directly, ideally before you sign an offer letter:
None of this should scare you away from a promising early-stage company. It just means budgeting extra time, and possibly doing more of the document-gathering legwork yourself, before your Certificate of Eligibility can be filed.
The category itself is not a pass or fail test. It determines which documents you must submit, not whether your application ultimately succeeds. A well-prepared Category 4 application can succeed just as a poorly prepared Category 1 application can stall (ISA).
Ask your employer directly whether they are a listed company, and if not, whether they can share last year's statutory withholding tax report. If they cannot produce either, or if the company was only recently founded, you should plan for the Category 4 document list.
Yes. The same category system applies to your initial Certificate of Eligibility, any change of status while in Japan, and every renewal (ISA). If you stay with a Category 3 or 4 employer, expect to resubmit a similar document set at each renewal.
If that happens, you default to Category 4. The document list gets longer: proof of your work and education history, plus a company registry certificate and a business description. You will also need financial statements, or a business plan if the company is brand new (ISA).
The Immigration Services Agency confirms this exact system for the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa. Immigration bureaus commonly apply a similar category framework to other work-visa types too, including the Highly Skilled Professional visa. Each visa has its own published checklist, so it is worth reviewing that one directly.
Yes. Your category is tied to whichever employer is sponsoring you at the time, not to you personally. If you move from a Category 1 employer to a Category 4 startup, this applies right away. Your next application, whether a change of status or a renewal, follows the Category 4 document list.
Your employer's category is not something you control, but it is something you can plan around. Ask about it before you accept an offer, especially from a small or newly founded company. That way, you will not be blindsided by a document request three weeks before you need to start work. Larger, established employers make the paperwork side of a Japan work visa nearly invisible. Smaller ones just mean more homework, and now you know exactly what that homework looks like.
Looking for employers who already know how to handle this process? See our guide on which companies offer Japan work visa sponsorship to find sponsors with a track record. If you are earlier in the process, start with our playbook for landing a job in Japan as a foreigner.
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