Japan Digital Nomad Visa (Designated Activities 53) Guide｜Requirements, Processing Time, Key Points

In short: “You can stay in Japan as a digital nomad if you meet certain requirements.”

Japan’s Digital Nomad Visa (Designated Activities・Notification 53), introduced in 2024, allows foreign nationals to temporarily stay in Japan while performing remote work based on contracts with overseas companies or clients.

However, the system imposes relatively strict conditions such as minimum income requirements, mandatory private overseas health insurance, eligible nationalities, and suitability of activities. In addition, there are several practical issues: long processing times, absence of an inviting organization in Japan, and the need for overseas residents to enter Japan with a Temporary Visitor visa before applying.

The following sections explain the制度 structure, application requirements, and practical considerations in a clear and simple manner. If you are wondering, “Am I eligible?”, please read until the end.

2. Application Requirements for the Digital Nomad Visa

1. Requirements for Remote Workers / Freelancers

Japan’s Digital Nomad Visa (Designated Activities – Notification No.53) is a status of residence based on the premise that you “work online for companies or clients located overseas, not in Japan.” Therefore, unlike ordinary work visas, it is not intended for those who are employed by Japanese companies.

Specifically, the following working styles are covered:

• Employees of overseas companies who work fully remotely for their overseas head office or branch while staying in Japan
• Freelancers / sole proprietors who provide online production, development, consulting, etc. to overseas clients
• Owners or executives of corporations registered overseas who manage and operate those businesses remotely from Japan

On the other hand, the following cases are likely to fall outside the intended scope of this status:

• Being employed by a company or business operator in Japan and treating Japan as the principal place of work
• Freelance activities in which most clients are located in Japan
• Face-to-face work at shops or offices in Japan, or occupations involving on-site physical labor

When applying, it is important to clearly explain, using contracts, work descriptions, purchase orders, etc., “who you work with,” “under what kind of contractual relationship,” and “for which market or clients you provide services.”

2. Income Criteria (Annual Income and Proof of Continuity)

Under the Digital Nomad Visa, applicants must have a certain minimum level of income. As a general rule, the overseas annual income is expected to be around 10 million yen or more.

For freelancers and sole proprietors, the assessment is based not on total sales but on income after deducting business expenses. You must therefore present recent tax returns, tax certificates, and similar documents to show your actual income level.

Examples of documents that can be used to prove income include:

• If employed by an overseas company: employment contract, pay slips, annual income certificates, etc.
• For freelancers: service agreements with clients, records of incoming payments, copies of invoices
• For business owners: financial statements, dividend certificates, minutes regarding executive compensation, etc.

In addition to high income at a single point in time, immigration also examines whether a similar level of income can reasonably be expected to continue in the future. It is therefore advantageous to submit documents showing multi-year income trends and long-term contract relationships.

3. Requirement to Have Overseas Health Insurance

For the Digital Nomad Visa, it is mandatory to enroll in insurance that covers illness, injury, death, etc. during your stay in Japan. This requirement exists to avoid placing a burden on Japan’s public finances if high medical or rescue costs arise.

In general, the insurance must satisfy the following conditions:

• Provide sufficient coverage for medical and hospitalization expenses incurred in Japan
• Cover the entire planned period of stay (up to 6 months)
• Include coverage above a certain level for rescue costs and repatriation of remains

At the time of application, you must submit documents such as a copy of the insurance policy and an English-language coverage certificate issued by the insurer, clearly indicating the period of coverage, scope of coverage, and policy limits.

Since this system is different in nature from Japan’s National Health Insurance, those staying under the Digital Nomad Visa are expected to have adequate private insurance coverage during their temporary stay.

4. Screening Points: Tax Compliance, Background and Anti-Social Checks

The Digital Nomad Visa evaluates not only an applicant’s income level but also their credibility and legal compliance. In particular, the following aspects are examined:

• Tax compliance in the home country / country of residence: whether taxes have been properly paid, as shown in tax returns, tax certificates, etc.
• Source of funds: whether income and savings are derived from legitimate business activities
• Criminal record: existence of serious criminal records or previous refusals of entry / deportations
• Links to anti-social forces: whether there is any involvement in terrorism, money laundering, or similar activities

Where necessary, applicants may be required to submit additional documents such as a Police Clearance (Certificate of No Criminal Record), bank balance certificates, or transaction statements.

As Designated Activities (Notification No.53) is still a new category, immigration authorities tend to make detailed inquiries on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, it is important to understand that merely meeting the formal requirements does not guarantee approval.

5. Requirements for Accompanying Family Members (Spouse / Children)

Under certain conditions, a digital nomad’s spouse and children may accompany them to Japan under “Designated Activities (Notification No.54)”.

The main requirements are as follows:

• Spouse: a legally valid marriage (de-facto marriages and cohabiting partners are generally not eligible)
• Children: must be minors, and the parent-child relationship (biological or adopted) must be verifiable through family registers, birth certificates, etc.
• Financial support: the principal applicant’s income must be sufficient to support the entire household, including accompanying family members

In principle, accompanying family members are granted the same period of stay as the digital nomad (up to 6 months, non-renewable). The system is not designed on the assumption that the spouse will work in Japan; rather, it is closer to “staying together in Japan for a short period, also enjoying the country as tourists.”

In practice, it is essential to carefully prepare documents proving the substance of the marriage and parent-child relationships (family registers, marriage certificates, photos, remittance records, etc.) in order to facilitate smooth screening. If you are considering filing applications together with accompanying family members, we recommend organizing the required documents and schedule in advance.

3. Practical Considerations (Points You Must Check)

At Gyoseishoshi Corporation ACROSEED, we already have successful approval cases for Digital Nomads under Designated Activities (Notification No.53).

Because we filed applications at a very early stage after the system was introduced, we observed the following practical characteristics and points to watch.

1. In Some Cases, Screening Can Take 8 Months or Longer

The Digital Nomad Visa under Designated Activities (Notification No.53) is a new system, and applications are highly diverse. As a result, it is a status of residence for which the screening period tends to be long. In practice, you should assume that it may take around 8 months from application to approval.

Why Is the Screening So Long? (System Particularities, Volume of Cases, and Frequency of Inquiries)

The prolonged screening period can be attributed to factors such as:

• The system is new, and immigration officers are carefully confirming operational standards and decision frameworks as they examine each case.
• Applicants’ countries of residence, sources of income, and contracting parties are spread across multiple countries, making it time-consuming to fully understand the actual situation.
• The high income requirement and the need for thorough background and anti-social checks require particularly careful screening.
• Individual inquiries and requests for additional documents tend to arise in each case.

For these reasons, if you assume that the visa will be issued “within a few weeks to a couple of months, like other visas”, your schedule may be significantly disrupted.

Importance of Advance Planning and Risk Management

On the assumption that screening may take a long time, it is important to plan in advance from the following perspectives:

• Avoid making your intended start date of stay in Japan overly dependent on the timing of approval.
• Build in sufficient buffer periods into project timelines and contract periods with clients.
• Consider flexible life plans, including the possibility of temporarily returning to your home country or staying in other countries.
• Prepare a financial plan that anticipates the possibility of a refusal or unexpectedly prolonged screening.

In particular, if you sign a lease for housing or proceed with school procedures in Japan on the assumption that you will be living here, any delay in screening may directly lead to financial loss and serious disruption to your life.

Impact on Work and Housing Plans

When screening takes a long time, it can affect your work and housing plans in the following ways:

• It becomes difficult to decide when to start projects that assume residence in Japan, leading to more frequent schedule adjustments with clients.
• If you plan to bring your family, coordination with children’s school term start dates and your spouse’s work becomes more complex.
• You may remain uncertain for an extended period about which country to use as your base, making it difficult to stabilize your living arrangements.

To reduce these risks, it is essential not to count backwards from “the date you want a decision by”, but instead to build a generous timeline on the assumption that screening will take longer than expected.

2. Handling Cases Where There Is No Inviting Organization in Japan

For many statuses of residence, a Japanese company, school, or similar organization acts as the “affiliated institution” or “inviting organization” and handles the application for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) and management during the period of stay. In contrast, the Digital Nomad Visa is premised on the fact that no such affiliated organization exists in Japan.

How It Differs from General Statuses of Residence

The differences from typical work visas or student visas can be seen in the following aspects:

• No Japanese company or school prepares or submits the application documents on your behalf.
• There is no affiliated institution in Japan to manage or report on your activities during your stay.
• There is no framework for invitations from Japanese organizations, such as “letters of invitation” or “letters of guarantee.”

As a result, the applicant themself must explain and prove their activities, income, insurance, tax compliance, and other factors entirely on their own.

Procedures Led by the Applicant Themself

Since there is no Japanese affiliated institution involved, the applicant will, in practice, take the lead in the following steps:

• Organize their work history, nature of activities, and contract relationships, and self-check whether they meet the visa requirements.
• Obtain necessary documents (contracts, income certificates, proof of insurance, tax certificates, etc.) from relevant overseas institutions.
• If Japanese or English documentation is required, consider official translations or notarizations.
• Compile the full set of application documents and personally submit them to the immigration office in Japan.

Because there is no Japanese company to “handle all the arrangements,” whether or not you use professional support can greatly affect the burden of the process.

Why Document Preparation Is So Difficult

Preparing documents for the Digital Nomad Visa is challenging not merely because of the number of documents, but because you must collect certificates from multiple institutions in different countries with different systems.

• If your clients or corporations are spread across several countries or regions, you must obtain documents from each of them.
• Tax and insurance systems may differ greatly from Japan’s in many countries, so you must carefully organize and explain which document proves what.
• If obtaining official documents takes time, it can significantly affect your overall application schedule.

For this reason, it is advisable to begin preparations months in advance, rather than right before applying.

3. Overseas Residents Must First Enter Japan with a Temporary Visitor Visa

For overseas residents who wish to obtain a Digital Nomad Visa, the typical practical flow is to first enter Japan with a Temporary Visitor Visa (or similar), and then apply for a change of status during that stay.

Why Online Application Is Not Possible

For many statuses of residence, affiliated institutions can apply online for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE), but for the Digital Nomad Visa this is difficult for the following reasons:

• The system assumes that there is no Japanese affiliated or inviting organization.
• The intended process is that the applicant themself enters Japan and performs a “change of status of residence” procedure.
• The scope of online application is primarily designed for affiliated institutions such as companies and schools.

Therefore, you should not assume this is a visa that can be “completed entirely online from overseas.” Instead, you must plan your schedule on the premise that you will need to travel to Japan once to carry out the procedures.

Burden of Applying for a Temporary Visitor Visa

Obtaining a Temporary Visitor Visa itself also involves the following preparations and burdens:

• Booking flights and accommodation, and preparing a proposed itinerary
• Applying for the visa at the Japanese Embassy or Consulate-General in your home country or country of residence
• In some cases, submitting additional documents such as letters of guarantee or letters of invitation

Since screening for the Temporary Visitor Visa also takes time, you must make thorough preparations well in advance as a preliminary step to the main Digital Nomad Visa application.

Need to Temporarily Leave Japan Before Long-Term Stay

Even if you apply for a change of status to the Digital Nomad Visa while staying in Japan as a temporary visitor, the screening process may still take a long time, which can lead to situations such as:

• The result is not issued before your Temporary Visitor period of stay expires.
• You cannot remain in Japan while waiting for the decision.
• You must once leave Japan and then re-enter after the result is issued.

In other words, you must recognize that “coming to Japan once and applying does not necessarily mean you can immediately stay long-term without interruption.”

Scheduling and Travel Cost Burdens

If you first come to Japan on a Temporary Visitor Visa and then travel again in line with the screening result, the following burdens and risks arise:

• Increased travel costs such as round-trip airfares and accommodation
• The need to flexibly change flight dates depending on when the decision is made
• If you plan to bring your family, coordinating the schedules of all family members becomes necessary

For these reasons, the Digital Nomad Visa should realistically be viewed not as “a visa you can casually try out,” but rather as one that requires careful planning with a full understanding of the time, costs, and risks involved.

4. Our Services (ACROSEED)

1. Eligibility Analysis Based on Approved Cases

At Gyoseishoshi Corporation ACROSEED, we conduct an eligibility analysis based on our successful approval cases for Digital Nomads under Designated Activities (Notification No.53), identifying each applicant’s “strengths” and “risks.”

In addition to the formal requirements laid out in the system, we comprehensively review the following points:

• Current income level, balance of income sources, and continuity
• Whether the nature of the work fits the purpose of the system as “overseas-oriented remote work”
• Tax and social security situation in the home country / country of residence
• Whether requirements are met when accompanying family members are also applying

Based on this, we offer concrete recommendations regarding application strategy, such as “whether you should apply immediately or first take time to prepare further”, and the optimal timing for filing.

2. Identifying Missing Documents and Providing Improvement Advice

For the Digital Nomad Visa, a large volume of documents is required to show your income and the real nature of your activities, including overseas tax documents, contracts, payment records, and more.

Through interviews and document review, ACROSEED provides the following support:

• Checking how far the current set of documents can satisfy the requirements
• Listing additional official documents that need to be obtained (tax certificates, bank balance certificates, Police Clearance, etc.)
• Proposing directions for revising or supplementing contracts and work descriptions if they are insufficient
• Suggesting formats to organize multi-year income and tax records

Rather than merely “checking” documents, we provide improvement advice based on how immigration officers are likely to interpret the materials, thereby helping to reduce the risk of refusal.

3. Support for English Communication with Overseas Parties

In many cases, the application requires English-language documents from overseas employers, clients, financial institutions, and insurance companies.

ACROSEED supports various English communications, including:

• Drafting English request letters to employers and clients
• Preparing explanatory letters in English describing the purpose of the visa application
• Organizing inquiries to insurance companies and banks and drafting English email templates
• Preparing draft English responses to questions from immigration authorities

We design communications so that your intentions are clearly conveyed to overseas counterparts, thereby improving both the speed of obtaining required documents and the accuracy of their content.

4. Full Support from Temporary Visitor Visa to Main Application

For many overseas residents, the process typically involves “coming to Japan on a Temporary Visitor Visa → applying for a change of status for the main Digital Nomad Visa”.

ACROSEED provides support throughout this entire process:

• Organizing required documents and schedules for the Temporary Visitor Visa application
• Providing concrete guidance on application windows and procedures during your stay in Japan
• Preparing and filing the application for change of status, statements of reason, and explanatory documents on your behalf
• Helping design the timing of the application and your entry/exit schedule

In particular, we focus on how far you can proceed within the period of stay allowed under the Temporary Visitor Visa, and assist in building a realistic plan by working backwards from your travel schedule.

5. Follow-Up During the Screening Period

Because screening for the Digital Nomad Visa often takes a long time, it is a status of residence that can cause a lot of anxiety after applying. ACROSEED provides ongoing follow-up even after your application has been submitted.

• Supporting responses to additional document requests or inquiries from immigration authorities
• Explaining the status of screening and the approximate expected timeline
• Clarifying risks and options if the screening period becomes longer than expected
• Analyzing reasons in the event of a refusal and considering next steps and countermeasures

Even if screening takes several months, we will continue to support you as a partner who helps you organize the situation and consider your next move from a medium- to long-term perspective.

5. Digital Nomad Visa Application Service Fees (Excluding Tax)

・There are no additional fees based on your individual conditions.

・ACROSEED’s services are available throughout Japan. Clients living outside the Tokyo area can also use our services at the same fees below.

・Payment by VISA and Mastercard is available.

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