Setting up business in countries which lead to citizenship

[SmartestSmarty]

Hello all,

Hopefully this thread will be informative to all that read it.

I want to create a list here of all the countries that one can open a business, with no (or very low) minimum capital requirements, and also, no (or low) minimum income requirements.

Then from there, the option to self-employ, or manage the business from that country for a number of days per year (with no 183 day stay requirement), in order to obtain a renewable residence permit which leads to citizenship.

My intention is to utilise this to obtain multiple residences leading to citizenship.

If there are such countries, please help me to compile a list.

Thanks.

 

[troubled soul]

• Portugal: Portugal offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €500,000 in real estate or €350,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Portugal without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Portuguese citizenship.
• Spain: Spain offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €500,000 in real estate or €200,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Spain without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Spanish citizenship.
• Greece: Greece offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €250,000 in real estate or €300,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Greece without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Greek citizenship.
• Malta: Malta offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €100,000 in real estate or €500,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Malta without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Maltese citizenship.
• Cyprus: Cyprus offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €300,000 in real estate or €2 million in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Cyprus without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Cypriot citizenship.

 

[SmartestSmarty]

• Portugal: Portugal offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €500,000 in real estate or €350,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Portugal without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Portuguese citizenship.
• Spain: Spain offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €500,000 in real estate or €200,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Spain without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Spanish citizenship.
• Greece: Greece offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €250,000 in real estate or €300,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Greece without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Greek citizenship.
• Malta: Malta offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €100,000 in real estate or €500,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Malta without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Maltese citizenship.
• Cyprus: Cyprus offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €300,000 in real estate or €2 million in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Cyprus without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Cypriot citizenship.

Hi thank you but I am looking for options without such large investment, and going through a business route instead.

 

[troubled soul]

• Bulgaria: Bulgaria allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of BGN 500 (around €250). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Bulgaria without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Bulgarian citizenship.
• Hungary: Hungary allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of HUF 2 million (around €6,000). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Hungary without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Hungarian citizenship.
• Czech Republic: The Czech Republic allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of CZK 200,000 (around €8,000). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from the Czech Republic without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Czech citizenship.
• Poland: Poland allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of PLN 50,000 (around €10,000). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Poland without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Polish citizenship.

Georgia also offer this type of things but not worth it IMHO

 

[SmartestSmarty]

• Bulgaria: Bulgaria allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of BGN 500 (around €250). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Bulgaria without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Bulgarian citizenship.
• Hungary: Hungary allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of HUF 2 million (around €6,000). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Hungary without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Hungarian citizenship.
• Czech Republic: The Czech Republic allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of CZK 200,000 (around €8,000). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from the Czech Republic without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Czech citizenship.
• Poland: Poland allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of PLN 50,000 (around €10,000). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Poland without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Polish citizenship.

Georgia also offer this type of things but not worth it IMHO

Thank you so much, four countries with a route to citizenship via business. Not bad.

When you say not worth it, you mean Georgia, or this option in general?

 

[troubled soul]

Thank you so much, four countries with a route to citizenship via business. Not bad.

When you say not worth it, you mean Georgia, or this option in general?

well I am not expert ...but whatever the perk they providing will not last long...they just want to attract international business man specially Russian .........Once they achieve their target number...they just change the rule of tax

 

[luap]

• Portugal: Portugal offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €500,000 in real estate or €350,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Portugal without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Portuguese citizenship.
• Spain: Spain offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €500,000 in real estate or €200,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Spain without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Spanish citizenship.
• Greece: Greece offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €250,000 in real estate or €300,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Greece without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Greek citizenship.
• Malta: Malta offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €100,000 in real estate or €500,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Malta without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Maltese citizenship.
• Cyprus: Cyprus offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €300,000 in real estate or €2 million in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Cyprus without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Cypriot citizenship.

This list is out of date. Portugal closed most of their program, Greece changed the conditions and doubled the amounts in many places, and Cyprus added a ton of conditions (including income requirements) this year. It looks like this was just copy/pasted or generated in ChatGPT without any proofreading.

 

[SmartestSmarty]

well I am not expert ...but whatever the perk they providing will not last long...they just want to attract international business man specially Russian .........Once they achieve their target number...they just change the rule of tax

Maybe, but they have lowers some rates from 2018, it is possible they will slowly increase the rates over time. Maybe.

 

[uranium]

Go for this

Offshore Cayman Special Economic Zone

Setup in CEC and enjoy no taxes, no visa restrictions, offshore intellectual property, and an unparalleled Caribbean lifestyle.

www.caymanenterprisecity.com

Setup tax free company there and get visa for 5 years
After living 5 years on cayman islands. You can apply for citizenship

You can get citizenship by naturalization if you've lived in Cayman for at least 5 years without spending more than 90 days at a time away from the Islands. After five years, you gain the status of a British Citizen Overseas.

 

[Allisgood]

Then from there, the option to self-employ, or manage the business from that country for a number of days per year (with no 183 day stay requirement), in order to obtain a renewable residence permit which leads to citizenship.

This just doesn’t exist. Any serious country with any useful citizenship will only give such citizenship to legitimate residents who spend on average 80%+ of their time in that country. In addition they would be expected to pay taxes, usually on local salary income for all those years.
Any serious country with a good passport will right away understand people who will try to game the system to gain citizenship. No 183 day stay requirements, no investment and no meaningful annual taxes will lead to no serious citizenship.

• Bulgaria: Bulgaria allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of BGN 500 (around €250). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Bulgaria without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Bulgarian citizenship.
• Hungary: Hungary allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of HUF 2 million (around €6,000). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Hungary without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Hungarian citizenship.
• Czech Republic: The Czech Republic allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of CZK 200,000 (around €8,000). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from the Czech Republic without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Czech citizenship.
• Poland: Poland allows you to open a business with a minimum capital of PLN 50,000 (around €10,000). There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Poland without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Polish citizenship.

Georgia also offer this type of things but not worth it IMHO

Not sure where all this Eastern Europe citizenship info comes from. This will never work. You can probably hold some residency permit to manage your business and live abroad, but if you aren’t really living there most of the year, these residencies will never lead to citizenship, especially in Eastern Europe.

The requirement will usually be to live ‘continuously’ in the year and for multiple years to gain citizenship. On top there will be language requirements for all these countries, and good luck learning Bulgarian, Polish, Czech and especially Hungarian lol.

 

[uranium]

This just doesn’t exist. Any serious country with any useful citizenship will only give such citizenship to legitimate residents who spend on average 80%+ of their time in that country. In addition they would be expected to pay taxes, usually on local salary income for all those years.
Any serious country with a good passport will right away understand people who will try to game the system to gain citizenship. No 183 day stay requirements, no investment and no meaningful annual taxes will lead to no serious citizenship.


Not sure where all this Eastern Europe citizenship info comes from. This will never work. You can probably hold some residency permit to manage your business and live abroad, but if you aren’t really living there most of the year, these residencies will never lead to citizenship, especially in Eastern Europe.

The requirement will usually be to live ‘continuously’ in the year and for multiple years to gain citizenship. On top there will be language requirements for all these countries, and good luck learning Bulgarian, Polish, Czech and especially Hungarian lol.

I totally agree
This is Europe not some island in the Caribbean
You have to live there learn the language and probably pass language test to aquire citizenship

 

[JohnLocke]

Go for this

Offshore Cayman Special Economic Zone

Setup in CEC and enjoy no taxes, no visa restrictions, offshore intellectual property, and an unparalleled Caribbean lifestyle.

www.caymanenterprisecity.com

Setup tax free company there and get visa for 5 years
After living 5 years on cayman islands. You can apply for citizenship

You can get citizenship by naturalization if you've lived in Cayman for at least 5 years without spending more than 90 days at a time away from the Islands. After five years, you gain the status of a British Citizen Overseas.

I believe you should read the initial post again to understand what it is he is looking for.

If you come with your 500€ investment I doubt they will welcome you in the Cayman's!

 

[uranium]

I believe you should read the initial post again to understand what it is he is looking for.

If you come with your 500€ investment I doubt they will welcome you in the Cayman's!

It is Cayman enterprise city sort of freezone company
Company Setup Costs:
$5,000 Company setup
$275 Employee setup fees
$2,000 Co-working Space security deposit

Company Annual Costs:
$14,750 Annual Co-working Space
$2,000 Annual Company cost
$5,000 Annual Health insurance

Benefits Include:
Well regulated and globally recognised free zone
No local corporate, income, sales capital gains or payroll tax
Fast, efficient and cost-effective set up within 4-6 weeks
5 Year renewable work permits/residency visas granted within 5 days
A safe, stable British Overseas Territory with robust laws
An appropriately regulated business environment
Excellent service providers to support your business
Easy access to North and Latin America markets

 

[SmartestSmarty]

Go for this

Offshore Cayman Special Economic Zone

Setup in CEC and enjoy no taxes, no visa restrictions, offshore intellectual property, and an unparalleled Caribbean lifestyle.

www.caymanenterprisecity.com

Setup tax free company there and get visa for 5 years
After living 5 years on cayman islands. You can apply for citizenship

You can get citizenship by naturalization if you've lived in Cayman for at least 5 years without spending more than 90 days at a time away from the Islands. After five years, you gain the status of a British Citizen Overseas.

Thanks, I have also seen that Dubai (UAE) have economic free zones as well, do you know if that could also lead to permanent residency / citizenship?

 

[uranium]

Thanks, I have also seen that Dubai (UAE) have economic free zones as well, do you know if that could also lead to permanent residency / citizenship?

Most of forum members have fz company in Dubai and visa tied to their companies
UAE has no permanent residency and no citizenship
Only person who got citizenship in UAE was Pavel durov founder of telegram with net worth of 11 billion and being a friend of the royal family.
If you want permenant residency/citizenship you go to Europe not middle east.

 

[SmartestSmarty]

Most of forum members have fz company in Dubai and visa tied to their companies
UAE has no permanent residency and no citizenship
Only person who got citizenship in UAE was Pavel durov founder of telegram with net worth of 11 billion and being a friend of the royal family.
If you want permenant residency/citizenship you go to Europe not middle east.

This would also be the case for Bahrain?

 

[mud]

Hello all,

Hopefully this thread will be informative to all that read it.

I want to create a list here of all the countries that one can open a business, with no (or very low) minimum capital requirements, and also, no (or low) minimum income requirements.

Then from there, the option to self-employ, or manage the business from that country for a number of days per year (with no 183 day stay requirement), in order to obtain a renewable residence permit which leads to citizenship.

My intention is to utilise this to obtain multiple residences leading to citizenship.

If there are such countries, please help me to compile a list.

Thanks.

I've got something like that in France.

The Visa is called the 'French Tech Visa' and so has some specific requirements as to type of business you can start to gain that visa. The visa is for 4 years, its renewable, and you can apply for citizenship after 5 years but you do have language tests to pass.

 

[uranium]

This would also be the case for Bahrain?

Of course for all middle east

I've got something like that in France.

The Visa is called the 'French Tech Visa' and so has some specific requirements as to type of business you can start to gain that visa. The visa is for 4 years, its renewable, and you can apply for citizenship after 5 years but you do have language tests to pass.

I understand that you do need o

You have to run IT business in France and hire locals and pay taxes
Yes in 5 years you can apply for citizenship but language is not easy

 

[vehzag]

• Portugal: Portugal offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €500,000 in real estate or €350,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Portugal without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Portuguese citizenship.
• Spain: Spain offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €500,000 in real estate or €200,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Spain without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Spanish citizenship.
• Greece: Greece offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €250,000 in real estate or €300,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Greece without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Greek citizenship.
• Malta: Malta offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €100,000 in real estate or €500,000 in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Malta without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Maltese citizenship.
• Cyprus: Cyprus offers a Golden Visa program that allows you to obtain a residence permit if you invest €300,000 in real estate or €2 million in a qualifying business. There is no minimum income requirement, and you can self-employ or manage your business from Cyprus without having to stay for 183 days per year. After five years of holding a residence permit, you can apply for Cypriot citizenship.

I think it’s 10 years in Spain
I have golden residence here

 

[Marshal]

I think it’s 10 years in Spain
I have golden residence here

Correct. In Spain it's at least 10 years.