On wide shows, they only focus on the “Investor/Manager Visa” The real engine of increasing foreign immigrants: the “Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa” “If you even graduate from a Japanese university, you automatically get a visa.”“It’s more cost-effective to send your child to a Japanese university.” —Such sweet whispers have recently been circulating on Chinese social media and among study-abroad agents. Recently, the media and politicians have been fussing over the “Investor/Manager Visa.” This visa is a residency status for foreigners who start businesses in Japan. It has been raised as a concern that it might be misused or abused to send children to Japanese schools or to receive medical care. Indeed, the footage reported on wide shows of a 40-room building registering over 100 Chinese paper companies, a ghost building, was striking. However, with the enforcement of the ministerial ordinance revision on October 16, 2025, the requirements for obtaining an Investor/Manager Visa have become stricter. The capital requirement was raised from 5 million yen to over 30 million yen, at least one full-time employee is mandatory, and either three years of management experience or a master’s-level degree plus expert verification of the business plan is now required. But what if there exists a visa that is obtained by roughly ten times as many foreigners as the Investor/Manager Visa and is the true engine of increasing foreign immigrants—and is being left unchecked? That is the visa introduced at the beginning: “Status of residence for foreigners who graduate from a Japanese university, or who receive equivalent or higher education, and who engage in activities related to technology, humanities, and international services in Japan”—abbreviated as the “Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa”. The Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa was created on April 1, 2014, with the amendment to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, at the same time as the Investor/Manager Visa. In the past five years, holders of this visa have increased by 170,000 people—about 20 times the number of Investor/Manager Visa holders (approximately 8,000). This clearly reflects how Japanese universities have become diploma factories. As mentioned above, the Investor/Manager Visa now requires capital of 30 million yen, at least one full-time employee, and three years of experience, a very high—or rather cumbersome—bar. Going forward, following the Chinese saying “If the policy goes above, the countermeasures go below,” it seems likely that people will prefer the Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa as the safer, more reliable option. Employment paths for graduates of F-rank universities “Our university, fortunately or unfortunately, had largely been ignored by Chinese students but we might see an increase again.” says Professor A, an active faculty member at a university commonly referred to as an “F-rank university.” “Nepalese, Myanmar, and Vietnamese international students work desperately and study diligently. Chinese students, on the other hand, don’t work part-time, so it’s obvious. Almost all are barely passing. Their lack of effort in studies is comparable to Japanese students on sports scholarships. Such students don’t improve their Japanese at all. As a result, they don’t understand classes and fall further behind in a vicious cycle. When their promotion to the next year becomes uncertain, their parents fly in from China, speaking in full dialect, and plead tearfully at the school: ‘It’s our fault our child has no education. We want to make them graduate from a Japanese university.’ Our school isn’t exactly a university where you need to spend six years paying nearly 10 million yen to graduate” Their post-graduation paths are similar to those of other F-rank universities. Professor A showed some data that had been removed from the university website this year. Of approximately 100 international students per grade, about 50 were Chinese. About 20 graduates (40%) found jobs in Japan About 20 graduates (40%) returned home About 10 graduates (20%) found jobs overseas Professor A’s wry explanation reveals a troubling reality: “In the past two years, only one Chinese student of mine has been able to secure a full-time job at a mid-sized Japanese company. Data shows that about 70% of mainland Chinese are NEETs due to a tough job market. Whether those in Japan actually find stable work is uncertain. The domestic employment group may account for 40%, but only companies run by Chinese residents in Japan will pick them up. We can’t disclose the employers—not because we won’t, but because we simply can’t. Even I don’t know the company names. The Engineer/Humanities/International Services Visa is only renewed if the student is employed as a full-time or contract employee in a job relevant to their major. But relevance to the major is only signed off by the international student office. Employment proof is a single company certificate. Immigration doesn’t verify the university quality or the work itself. Originally, almost all Chinese students were NEET prospects (and their parents) who studied abroad without knowing they were attending an F-rank university. They graduate, get a residency visa, but then often leave Chinese-run companies within 1–2 years and move between jobs.”