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THE CITIZENSHIP DESK

Entrepreneur / Startup

Founder visas gated by business-plan approval, incubator endorsement, or funding milestones.

12 countries have at least one visa in this category.

What this category is

An entrepreneur or startup visa grants residence to found and actively run a new business in the host country, distinguishing it from investor/golden visas by requiring hands-on operational involvement rather than passive capital. Qualification typically requires a business plan endorsed by an approved incubator, government body, or panel, evidence of some minimum capital (often lower than golden visa thresholds, sometimes as little as $10,000-$50,000), and a plan to create local jobs or bring innovation to the market. Initial grants commonly run 1-3 years, renewable on demonstrated business progress (revenue, hiring, funding raised), with several systems offering a path to permanent residence tied to the business's continued survival.

The category is strongest in countries actively courting startup talent: the UK's Innovator Founder visa, France's French Tech Visa, the Netherlands' and Estonia's startup visas, Chile's Startup Chile, and Canada's Start-up Visa (which uniquely grants permanent residence up front, ahead of the business succeeding).

Unlike golden visas, these programs are explicitly merit-tested at entry - an endorsing body or government panel vets the business idea before any visa is issued - so the application itself functions as a pitch process, not just a paperwork exercise.

Editor's top 3

  1. 1
    🇨🇦 Canada

    Canada's Start-up Visa is unusual in granting permanent residence at approval rather than after years of running the business, provided a designated incubator or investor endorses the venture.

  2. 2
    🇪🇪 Estonia

    Estonia's e-Residency and Startup Visa combination offers exceptionally low-friction digital company formation, appealing to early-stage founders who want to test a business before committing to full relocation.

  3. 3
    🇬🇧 United Kingdom

    The UK's Innovator Founder visa removed the old minimum-investment floor, opening the route to founders with strong ideas but limited upfront capital, provided an approved endorsing body signs off.

Before you apply

  • Endorsement bodies can reject viable businesses on fit or sector grounds alone - getting endorsed is often the single hardest step, harder than meeting the capital or job-creation numbers.
  • Renewal is usually tied to measurable business progress (revenue, headcount, funding raised) - a business that survives but stagnates can still fail to meet renewal benchmarks.
  • Some programs require the endorsed business idea to remain substantially the same - pivoting the business model mid-visa can trigger a compliance review or endorsement withdrawal.
  • Founders sometimes need to show they hold a genuine controlling or founding role, not just an investment stake - passive co-founders can be disqualified as de facto investors under the wrong visa category.
  • Failure of the business generally does not carry over any accrued residence time toward a different visa category - a failed venture can mean starting the immigration process over from zero.

All 12 countries in this category

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