IMI Podcasts · Christian Henrik Nesheim

Regional Investment Visa Guide for East Asian Markets

March 20, 2026·23 min·2 clips

Japan demands you build a real business, while South Korea lets you park money in a government fund—discover East Asia's five divergent investment visa pathways.

The episode provides a comparative analysis of investment immigration programmes across five East Asian jurisdictions. It opens by highlighting their fundamentally different approaches: Japan requires building a real business, South Korea allows passive fund deposits, Hong Kong offers passive portfolio investment at a premium, Taiwan grants immediate permanent residency via the Plum Blossom Card, and China makes permanent residency extremely difficult. Japan's Business Manager Visa was overhauled in October 2025, raising the minimum capital requirement from 5 million to 30 million yen due to widespread abuse, with only about 4% of existing holders meeting the old standard. New requirements also include employing a local worker, management experience or a master's degree, and Japanese language proficiency. Japan's startup visa serves as a stepping stone, now available nationwide. South Korea offers multiple tracks including the D8 visa for active business investment and the IISPB passive fund route, which saw its minimum triple to 1.5 billion won in June 2023. The real estate investment route has a sunset date of April 30, 2026. Hong Kong relaunched its Capital Investment Entrant Programme in March 2024, requiring 30 million Hong Kong dollars deployed in permissible assets, with no applicants using the residential real estate option since October 2024. Taiwan's Plum Blossom Card offers immediate permanent residency through a $480,000 investment creating jobs or a $960,000 bond purchase, though the bond route is reportedly more expensive in practice. China does not have a golden visa programme; its permanent residency permit requires direct investment in an operating business with thresholds varying by region, and only about 12,000 foreigners held it as of 2023. The episode concludes that all programmes expect tangible outcomes from foreign capital and have undergone recent reforms, making verification of current requirements essential.

As heard by us

East Asia's residency routes are treated as distinct policy choices, each with its own capital demands and level of involvement.

The piece treats East Asia's five investment migration options as separate bets rather than one neat menu. Japan asks for a real business, South Korea leans on a government fund, Hong Kong sits at the premium passive end, Taiwan offers immediate permanent residency through the…

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Compare East Asia's five investment-residency routes before you commit capital or speak with counsel.

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