Indian restraunteur ordered to leave Japan after 30 years after visa rejection: Go back to India

PTC News Desk: In a heartbreaking incident, an Indian restraunteur who has been living in Japan for over three decades was asked to leave the country after his visa got rejected. 

Manish Kumar, who runs an Indian restaurant in Saitama Prefecture, said Japan’s Immigration Services Agency rejected his application under the country’s revised immigration rules. Struggling to control his tears during a speech translated from Japanese, Kumar said, “My children were born here and are now in high school. They only speak Japanese and all their friends are Japanese. I worked hard and even bought a house. How is it humane to suddenly tell me to go back to India?”

The restaurateur broke down while delivering an emotional speech at an event on May 13, saying, “My children only speak Japanese...and we’re told to go back to India.” A video of the gathering has since gone viral online.

Kumar said he had spent decades building his life in Japan with the support of local authorities, customers, and the community.

“I’ve worked hard to reach this stage because of the support of fellow chefs and customers,” he said. “I have done nothing wrong. It is cruel to ask people to return to their home country just because the rules have suddenly changed.”

Reports said Kumar had continued renewing his visa instead of applying for permanent residency or Japanese citizenship, and he was unable to meet the new requirements introduced under the revised rules. It is not yet clear whether his curry restaurant in Saitama, near Tokyo, is still operating.

Japan updated its business manager visa rules late last year, increasing the minimum capital requirement from 5 million yen to 30 million yen (about $190,000). Authorities said the stricter rules were introduced because of concerns that some people were misusing the visa programme for migration purposes, and investigations had reportedly found shell companies operating under the scheme.