Company Formation in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is the one country of the six where the visa comes first. A foreign founder is expected to enter on a C5 business immigrant visa and then register the company — not the other way round. Get that order wrong and the rest of the process stalls.

What IS Group handles

We prepare the C5 visa application, obtain your identification number, register the LLP and take you through to a bank account and an extended visa.

Almost every step here requires you to be physically present at least once — fingerprints, the identification number, a registered local phone. We plan the trip around that so it is one visit, not three.

We do not register companies for clients who intend never to visit Kazakhstan. The system does not currently allow it to be done properly.

Planning a company in Kazakhstan?

Tell us what the business will do and when you can travel. We will map the visit and the paperwork around it.

Apply for business formation Ask us a question

The order matters

The C5 business immigrant visa is issued only by Kazakhstani missions abroad — you cannot obtain it inside the country. It is single entry and valid up to 90 days. Once you arrive you are expected to register the legal entity within two months, contribute your share of the capital, and then apply to extend.

Citizens of Eurasian Economic Union states follow a different route and obtain a temporary residence permit instead.

Setting up the company, step by step

  1. Obtain the C5 visa at a Kazakhstani mission in your country. Consular fee around USD 80.
  2. Get your IIN — the individual identification number. Three working days, state fee about 5,500 tenge, and personal presence is required. Both founders and directors need one.
  3. Give fingerprints, done alongside the IIN.
  4. Register a local mobile number and your device IMEI. An unregistered handset stops working on Kazakh networks, which matters more than it sounds when every bank confirmation is an SMS.
  5. Fix the business details: activity codes, licensing check, and name availability.
  6. Prepare documents — one to two days. Passport notarised and apostilled; charter, memorandum and founding minutes, in Kazakh and Russian.
  7. State registration — three working days. The company receives its BIN and can then operate on the same footing as a local company.
  8. Company seal — about a day, and optional; a company may operate without one.
  9. Open the bank account — one to three working days.

Realistic end to end: two to three weeks from arrival, assuming documents are in order before you fly.

The facts

EntityLLP (TOO)
Foreign ownershipPermitted in full
Minimum capital100 tenge in law
Practical capitalAround 432,500 tenge (100 MCI), roughly USD 870
Entry visaC5, single entry, up to 90 days, USD 80
Register within2 months of entry
Registration time3 working days
Presence requiredYes, for IIN and fingerprints

Staying on after formation

Kazakhstan has no investment threshold that buys residence. What it has instead is an extendable business visa tied to actually running the company.

C5 extensionUp to 2 years once the company is registered
Needed for itSupport letter from the entrepreneurship department, business plan, lease, bank proof
Multiple-entry feeAround 129,750 tenge (30 MCI), roughly USD 260
Processing25–30 working days
If you take a salaryC3 work visa instead, up to 3 years, usually 1 year first
ObligationBusiness activity must remain your genuine purpose

Director or investor — pick deliberately

If you simply own the company, the C5 route fits. If you intend to be employed by it and draw a salary, that is a C3 work visa, which is a different application on different evidence. Deciding this before you file avoids applying twice.

Rules change. Ask us before you assume.

Visa categories, fees and MCI-linked amounts are set by government and revised regularly. The only answer that counts is the one for your nationality, your capital and your travel dates.

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