Japan · Edition 003Friday, 16 October 2026
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The $500 Ladder

Primary sources. Published arithmetic. No courses.

Every Friday, one thing $500 of starting capital, held in yen, can actually become in Japan, checked against its own statutes, regulators and prices, with the arithmetic to $5,000 a month shown.

Japan · This week's $500 idea · Edition 003 · pattern break

Japan caps one support officer at 49 foreign workers while authorising 805,700 of them.

From 1 April 2027 the Immigration Services Agency rations the business of supporting 特定技能１号 workers by headcount: 「支援責任者等１名当たり５０人未満」 and 「支援責任者等１人当たり１０機関未満」 — fewer than fifty workers and fewer than ten client employers per full-time officer. The 2024 amendment to the 入管法 had already closed the alternative: 「特定技能所属機関（受入れ機関）が１号特定技能外国人の支援を外部委託する場合の委託先を、登録支援機関に限るものとする。」 [where a specified-skills employer outsources support for a Type 1 worker, the destination shall be limited to a registered support organisation]. Against that: 432,016 workers in the country at end-July 2026 and a cabinet-authorised 受入れ見込数 of 805,700. Entry to the rationed channel still costs ¥28,400.

The $500 Ladder — Japan Friday, 16 October 2026 Edition 003 13 sources

The consensus reading of the April 2027 rules is that Japan is shutting the door on small intermediaries. The documents describe the opposite transaction. The state has made one channel the only lawful destination for outsourced support, then written a hard ceiling on how much of that channel any single human being may hold, and simultaneously authorised almost a doubling of the workers who must flow through it. A ceiling per head, inside an exclusive channel, under a rising volume mandate, is not a barrier. It is a rationing order, and rationing orders create seats.

The reason the number is fifty rather than five hundred is on the record. The 最終報告書 of the 技能実習制度及び特定技能制度の在り方に関する有識者会議, chaired by 田中明彦 of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, recommended 「登録支援機関について、支援責任者等の講習受講や支援の委託元となる受入れ機関数等に応じた職員の配置の要件を設け登録要件を厳格化する」 because 「登録支援機関の中には、職業生活から日常生活までの全般的な支援を行うことができていないものも少なくない」. The council also recorded the risk it was taking, in writing: 「登録支援機関の要件厳格化の結果、登録支援機関を利用しない受入れ機関の増加という悪影響を招くおそれがあると考えられた。」 [tightening the requirements risks the ill effect of increasing the number of employers that use no registered support organisation]. The statute removed that escape; the ministerial order kept the squeeze. Both halves were deliberate.

So the scarce input is not a licence, a customer list or capital. It is a full-time human being who is already registered, because from April 2027 capacity in this market can only be manufactured one person at a time, and the one person each registration starts with is the applicant.

The one-line contrast with the country this page is not about: the United States imposes no federal headcount ratio on the firms that sponsor employment-based workers, so capacity there is priced by the market rather than issued by ministerial order.

0 25 50 75 100 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 two officers required above this line statutory ceiling 49 workers per officer JPY 16,142 per worker the minimum viable fee at 25,000 only 32 slots used workers needed for JPY 790,950 per month monthly support fee per worker, JPY
The curve is w = 790,950 ÷ fee, where ¥790,950 is $5,000 a month at ¥158.19. The horizontal line is the ceiling the Immigration Services Agency imposes from 1 April 2027: 「５０人未満」 per 支援責任者等, so 49 workers is the most one full-time officer may lawfully support. They cross at 790,950 ÷ 49 = ¥16,142 a worker a month. Left of the crossing the curve is above the ceiling: the target is unreachable for one person at any price, because the shortfall must be met by hiring a second full-time officer rather than by taking a fifty-first worker. Right of it the constraint stops binding and the slack is the whole point — at ¥25,000 the target needs 790,950 ÷ 25,000 = 31.6, so 32 of the 49 permitted slots, leaving 17 in hand. The separate ceiling of 「１０機関未満」 caps the same officer at nine client employers, which at 49 workers means an average book of 49 ÷ 9 = 5.4 workers per employer.

The evidence

9 findings
Regulator filing出入国在留管理庁 支援体制要件改正in force 1 Apr 2027

Fewer than 50 workers and fewer than 10 employers, per officer

「１号特定技能外国人への支援体制に係る要件の主な改正点」 sets four changes, made under the 入管法施行規則 and the 特定技能雇用契約及び１号特定技能外国人支援計画の基準等を定める省令: a 支援責任者 and 支援担当者 appointed per office 「それぞれ常勢の役員又は職員の中から１人ずつ以上選任することとする」; support work restricted to those officers 「支援業務に従事することができる者を支援責任者等に限定する」; mandatory 養成講習 for the 支援責任者; and the two ceilings 「支援責任者等１人当たり１０機関未満とする」 and 「支援責任者等１名当たり５０人未満とする」. The agency works its own examples: 25 client employers require 3 officers, 120 workers require 3.

Statute令和６年改正入管法 特定技能の適正化育成就労法 package

Outsourced support may go to a registered organisation or nowhere

The ministry’s own summary of the amending Act states the operative change in one sentence: 「特定技能所属機関（受入れ機関）が１号特定技能外国人の支援を外部委託する場合の委託先を、登録支援機関に限るものとする。」 The same package renames the 技能実習 statute to 「外国人の育成就労の適正な実施及び育成就労外国人の保護に関する法律」 and is to be brought into force 「公布の日から原則３年以内」. The channel and the ceiling inside it were legislated by the same reform.

Regulator filing登録支援機関の登録申請 · 手数料出入国在留管理庁

The entire statutory cash cost of entry is ¥28,400

The agency’s own procedure page gives one figure and one term: 「２８，４００円（申請時に納付する必要があります。）」 and 「登録の有効期間は５年間です。」 The renewal fee appears in the 有識者会議 papers as 「新規登録２万８，４００円、登録更新１万１，１００円」. There is no 登録免許税, no minimum capital, no premises schedule and no bond. ¥28,400 is 35.9% of ¥79,095.

Regulator filing経過措置出入国在留管理庁

Applications filed before the cliff are judged under today’s requirements

「施行日前に登録の申請をした場合は、施行日前の要件に基づいて登録の可否を判断することとなります」 [where registration is applied for before the enforcement date, whether to register is decided under the pre-enforcement requirements], with the new requirements biting at renewal. On the training obligation the agency adds 「当分の間は、講習を修了していなくても差し支えありません」 [for the time being it is acceptable not to have completed the course]. Note what is not grandfathered: the fifty-worker and ten-employer ceilings apply to everyone from 1 April 2027, whenever they registered.

Regulator filing特定技能１号の受入れ見込数及び在留者数令和８年６・７月末 · 速報値

Authorised 805,700, present 432,016, shortfall 373,684

特定技能１号 stood at 425,961 at end-June 2026 and 432,016 at end-July, against a 受入れ見込数 of 805,700 for the five years to 令和８年度. The largest fields are 飲食料品製造業 101,922, 介護 81,436, 工業製品製造業 63,032 and 建設 52,366. Four fields added in 2024 are still near zero — 自動車運送業 703 against 22,100 authorised, 鉄道 73 against 2,900, 林業 19 against 900, 木材産業 99 against 4,500 — and 物流倉庫 and 資源循環, together authorised for 12,300, report no residents at all.

Platform documentation登録支援機関登録簿as of 15 Oct 2026

A named, downloadable register of 11,684 competitors

The agency publishes the 登録支援機関登録簿 as a 2.7 MB Excel file, 「１１，６８４件登録」 as of 15 October 2026, updated 随時, with an English edition beside it. Its own 運用状況 sheet for end-June 2026 counts 「登録支援機関登録件数：１１，４５６件」, of which 株式会社・合同会社等 are 6,556, or 57.0%. Every competitor in this market is listed by name, with its registration number, before you spend a yen.

Regulator filing有識者会議（第１０回）資料 · 論点６令和５年４月末

Half the register has never had a single client — 4,069 of 8,137

The agency’s paper for the tenth session records 8,137 registered organisations and, of those, 「８，１５７機関⋯４，０６９機関（令和５年４月末時点で登録されている機関の５０％）」 holding a 支援委託契約, while 142,623 of 161,254 workers — 88.4% — were receiving support through one. Half the register is dormant paper. The dormancy is why the headcount ceiling binds on the active half twice as hard as the register size suggests.

Regulator filing参考様式第２-８号 · 最終報告書form · recommendation

The fee is monthly, itemised in 10 lines, and still not published anywhere

参考様式第２-８号「支援委託手数料に係る説明書（予定費用）」 carries the heading 「支援委託費用内訳（特定技能外国人１名当たりの月額）」 and ten numbered items from 事前ガイダンス to 定期的な面談・行政機関への通報, each an amount per worker per month — printed as 「○○○○円」. The 最終報告書 recommended 「支援実績や支援委託費等の開示を義務付け、情報の透明性を高める。」 Three years on, no price is disclosed on the register, in the 運用状況 or anywhere in the agency’s statistics. The state has defined the unit of account and declined to publish the price.

The ladder

From $500 to $5,000 a month · ¥79,010 → ¥790,100

¥28,400 at application, five years of validity, and the agency’s own transitional rule decides it under the pre-amendment requirements. The window is not the subsidy; the window is the adjudication standard. After the cliff the same application is read against the appointment, training and headcount rules.

  1. File the 登録支援機関 application before 1 April 2027

    ¥28,400 at application, five years of validity, and the agency’s own transitional rule decides it under the pre-amendment requirements. The window is not the subsidy; the window is the adjudication standard. After the cliff the same application is read against the appointment, training and headcount rules.

    ¥28,400 · 5 years · pre-施行日 standard

  2. Register as a one-officer organisation and mean it

    From April 2027 the 支援責任者 and 支援担当者 must both be 「常勢の役員又は職員」 and one person may hold both roles. A sole operator satisfies the new structure exactly, with no payroll to carry, while a thirty-client aggregator discovers it needs four of them.

    1 person = 1 officer = 9 employers, 49 workers

  3. Price at ¥16,142 or above, and know why that number

    「５０人未満」 converts the target into a price floor rather than a volume target. Below ¥16,142 a month per worker, no number of workers gets one person to ¥790,950, because the next worker is illegal before it is unprofitable.

    790,950 ÷ 49 = 16,141.84 → ¥16,142

  4. Pick the fields the cabinet authorised and nobody has filled

    自動車運送業 has 703 workers against 22,100 authorised, 鉄道 73 against 2,900, 木材産業 99 against 4,500, 林業 19 against 900. 物流倉庫 and 資源循環 are authorised for 12,300 between them and report no residents. These are the fields with no incumbent support relationship to displace.

    703 of 22,100 · 73 of 2,900 · 19 of 900

  5. Read the register before writing a word of outreach

    All 11,684 registered organisations are published by name in one Excel file, updated 随時, with an English edition. It names who is already registered in each prefecture and under which corporate form — 6,556 of them companies. The prospect list and the competitor list are the same download, and it is free.

    11,684 named · 2.7 MB · ¥0

  6. Quote the agency’s own arithmetic at the aggregator’s client

    The agency publishes the worked examples: 25 client employers require 3 officers, 120 workers require 3. An employer whose support is bought from an organisation holding hundreds of clients can be shown, from the agency’s page, how many full-time staff that organisation must appoint by April 2027 and has not.

    25 → 3 officers · 120 → 3 officers

  7. Publish your fee before the disclosure rule arrives

    The 最終報告書 recommended compulsory disclosure of 支援委託費; three years on nothing is published, and the ten-line 参考様式第２-８号 is the only template that exists. Filling it in publicly, voluntarily, is free positioning against 11,683 organisations whose price nobody can see.

    10 line items · per worker · per month

  8. Stop at nine employers, not at forty-nine workers

    The two ceilings bind at different places. Nine employers averaging 5.4 workers each fills the worker ceiling exactly; nine employers averaging two workers wastes 31 of the 49 slots. The scarce slot is the employer slot, so concentration inside a client beats client count.

    49 ÷ 9 = 5.4 workers per employer

Sources

13 primary documents
  1. 出入国在留管理庁 —「1号特定技能外国人への支援体制に係る要件の改正について（令和9年4月1日施行）」 — in force 1 Apr 2027
  2. 出入国在留管理庁 —「1号特定技能外国人への支援体制に係る要件の主な改正点」(PDF) — in force 1 Apr 2027
  3. 法務省 —「改正法の概要（育成就労制度の創設等）」(PDF) — 令和6年改正入管法
  4. 出入国在留管理庁 —「登録支援機関の登録申請」(fee ¥28,400, 5-year validity) — accessed 16 Oct 2026
  5. 出入国在留管理庁 —「登録支援機関」登録簿 (11,684件, Excel) — as of 15 Oct 2026
  6. 出入国在留管理庁 —「特定技能制度運用状況」(登録支援機関 11,456件; 株式会社等 6,556 / 57.0%) — 令和8年6月末・速報値
  7. 出入国在留管理庁 —「特定技能在留外国人数（令和8年6月末現在）」第1〜3表 (特定技能1号 425,961) — 令和8年6月末・速報値
  8. 出入国在留管理庁 —「特定技能1号の受入れ見込数及び在留者数について」(805,700 / 432,016) — 令和8年7月末・速報値
  9. 出入国在留管理庁 — 有識者会議（第10回）資料 論点6「特定技能制度の適正化方策」(8,137機関 / 4,069機関 / 142,623人 / 新規登録28,400円・更新11,100円) — 令和5年4月末時点
  10. 技能実習制度及び特定技能制度の在り方に関する有識者会議 — 最終報告書 (座長 田中明彦) — 令和5年11月
  11. 同会議 名簿（座長 田中明彦 独立行政法人国際協力機構理事長） — 令和5年
  12. 出入国在留管理庁 — 参考様式第2-8号「支援委託手数料に係る説明書（予定費用）」 — official form
  13. みずほ銀行 — FOREIGN EXCHANGE QUOTATIONS, 16 October 2026 — 16 Oct 2026