VisaForeign founders in Kazakhstan need business-immigrant permission before joining a company
A current-rule guide separates company registration, the two-month business obligation and regional support for extending a C5 visa.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
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Establish business-immigrant status before becoming a founder
Foreign individuals planning to create or join a company in Kazakhstan should establish the appropriate business-immigrant permission before completing the founder transaction. East Kazakhstan’s police department reiterated the requirement in May 2026: a C5 visa or temporary residence permission as a business immigrant is required.
The police notice describes initial temporary residence permission of up to three months, followed by a one-year permit after company registration and submission of the complete required package, renewable annually. It also warns that non-compliance can lead to a shorter authorised stay. The notice does not establish that every visa-exempt visitor qualifies for that temporary-residence branch; check the applicable entry and residence basis before choosing it.
Measure the business-registration duty from entry
Article 40 of the migration law requires a business immigrant, within two months of entry, to register a commercial organisation or join the participants or shareholders of one already operating in Kazakhstan. It also addresses the capital contribution needed when establishing the legal entity. That is a business-immigration obligation, rather than a two-month processing promise by the company registry.
The published English legal text exempts holders of a foreigner’s permanent-residence document or a stateless-person certificate from the specified prohibition on founding or joining without business-immigrant permission. Do not extend that exemption to an ordinary short-stay admission. The English version is labelled an unofficial translation; the official legal text and the migration authority govern an individual case. Keep the date of entry and evidence of registration or participation together when preparing the subsequent immigration file.
Prepare founder documents for the company registry
The government’s state-registration service distinguishes a foreign individual founder from a foreign company founder. It requests the individual’s passport or other identity-document copy with a notarised translation into Kazakh and Russian. A foreign legal-entity founder instead also needs a legalised trade-register extract or another document establishing its legal existence under its home-country law, with the specified notarised translations. Selecting the correct founder category avoids confusing a personal passport with the foreign company’s corporate evidence.
The online instructions ask applicants to check that the applicant, head and founder’s identification numbers exist in the tax database before filing, provide the company address and founder information, and sign through the stated electronic-signature or eligible SMS-password method. Scanned foreign documents are attached in PDF form, with a copy for each foreign founder where several participate. The service warns against resubmitting the same registration while it is still being processed, to avoid duplication.
Obtain the regional support letter for a C5 extension
The government migration-portal guide provides a separate service for obtaining a support letter for extension of a C5 business-immigrant visa. The application is reviewed by the entrepreneurship and industry division for the selected region or city. Its listed evidence includes the business project, funds in the company account, relevant purchase or lease agreements, identity documentation, and proof of company registration and contribution of authorised capital.
The guide describes a visa extension of up to two years. This is a different description from the police notice’s one-year temporary-residence permit: the documents concern different immigration instruments, so the figures should not be combined into one entitlement. The portal guide explains account registration, email confirmation, completion of personal data and selection of the relevant service before submitting. Use this support-letter route for its stated purpose; receiving a regional letter does not itself issue the visa or extend an expiring permission.
Separate government visa charges from an intermediary’s service price
The Astana International Financial Centre’s 2026 Expat Centre guide for non-AIFC participants describes moving from a single-entry C5 to a multiple-entry visa after company registration. It lists a state charge of 30 monthly calculation indices, shown as KZT129,750, alongside the centre’s KZT40,000 service price and a KZT270,000 personal-manager option. These are the centre’s published service alternatives and government-charge category, not a universal combined invoice.
The guide lists five business days but expressly excludes unforeseen delays from the state body and allows a longer timeframe. Its checklist includes the company registration, corporate appointment records, inviting-party request, regional Akimat request, passport, visa form, arrival notification and current-year fingerprint verification where applicable. Confirm the actual receiving route and charges before paying a service provider; neither the registry certificate nor the support-letter application establishes that a pending C5 extension has been approved.
