Visa Lawyers and Consultants: Rates and Recommendations

Chat participants have discussed the rates charged by several practicing lawyers and 行政書士 (gyoseishoshi, administrative scriveners) for visa services, ranging from filing a Business Manager (BM) visa to work visas for employees. As a general benchmark: attorneys (弁護士, bengoshi) charge up to roughly 500,000 yen for any given request; 行政書士 and general "foreigner consultants" charge 200,000-300,000 yen; and for a clearly defined, narrow task the price can be as low as 60,000-70,000 yen. Handling visa matters through a 行政書士 or a Japanese representative is considered more reliable than doing it alone. A consultant recommended by Shibuya city hall charges 400,000 yen for a business visa, or alternatively 300,000 yen for the BM application plus 100,000 yen for an employee and 80,000 yen for the employee's family. A consulting office (reina-office.com) charges 160,000 yen excluding tax, plus a 4,000 yen stamp duty, for a change of status to Business Manager (typically 1-2 months from document collection to filing), and 150,000 yen plus tax for an employee's application; it can bundle an engineer together with spouse and children for 250,000-300,000 yen. A consultant (kamalegal.com) charges 220,000 yen for a Business Manager visa application, 180,400 yen for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) covering a work status plus two dependents, and 11,000 yen per hour for consultations. A 行政書士 office based in Kyoto (gaikokujin-backup.com) charges 330,000 yen (363,000 yen including tax) for a COE, founding a GK (合同会社, godo kaisha), and extending the Business Manager status from an initial 4 months to a full year; it also handles cases in Osaka and, in one instance, talked two co-founders out of filing their documents jointly. GK registration in Kyoto carries a separate 60,000 yen filing fee. In one case handled by that office, a COE application filed in May was granted in mid-August, and a visa application filed in September was granted within a week. samurai-law.com/en was also mentioned in the chat as a possible option, though without a direct recommendation — the participant who named it had no personal experience using this firm. Filing through a 行政書士 or a Japanese representative is generally seen as more reliable than applying alone: immigration clerks are reportedly more reluctant, psychologically, to reject an application submitted by a Japanese representative, particularly one carrying an official seal (hanko) on the documents. This view is an opinion from the chat, though it was corroborated by several participants. Separately, the administrative documents describing the official criteria used to evaluate visa applications can be formally requested from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) for a fee of 300 yen. Source: http://www.gaikokujin-backup.com/ — Website of a 行政書士 (gyoseishoshi) in Kyoto specializing in visa and company registration services.. Source: https://samurai-law.com/en/ — Website of a law firm mentioned in the chat without a direct recommendation.. Source: https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/publications/gyoseibunsyo.html — Official MOJ page on the procedure for requesting administrative documents..