If you thinking about Business immigration to Europe then this article will be very useful to you. Starting a business in Europe does not guarantee a visa at all, which means that simply by registering a company in Europe, you are still very far from obtaining a residence permit.
In some cases, opening a business does not even give the right to a visa: an example of this is Austria, Germany, Greece, and Holland, where without investment they did not provide for the procedure for issuing a residence permit for doing business, even if the business has been operating for many years.
In some countries, there is a more complex scheme, when starting a business involves obtaining a residence permit, but after a few years, like in Italy or Spain, or when obtaining a residence permit is an impossible task due to the nagging of migration services, for example, in the Czech Republic and Finland. Moreover, some countries are famous for refusing to extend a residence permit for business, for example, Lithuania, where every year hundreds of business migrants receive refusals to extend their business.
Besides, European countries are very different in terms of the cost of starting a business: for example, in Bulgaria, you can open a company for 1000 euros and open an account for 500 euros – that is all the initial expenses, you do not need to rent an office or hire a director.
In addition, there is an opportunity to conduct business without paying VAT if you have counterparties outside the country, and the rest of the taxes are very low compared to other European countries (10% business tax and 5% on dividend payments). However, Bulgaria is not Schengen, on the other, it will be difficult to obtain a visa for doing business there, because the director/owner of the company is not required to have a residence permit, but can manage the company remotely.
So, what are the most profitable business immigration programs within Schengen?
Business immigrate solution: Italy
In this country, to obtain a residence permit for entrepreneurial activity, it is enough just to open an individual entrepreneur. This unique opportunity is also good in that the immigrant does not need to contribute the authorized capital, does not need to rent an office, you can simply register at the place of residence, and the registration of an individual entrepreneur itself is inexpensive. It is important that if you immigrate through the opening or purchase of an LLC, the company must pass 3 years of positive reporting before you are given a residence permit.
If we talk about the minimum costs, then about 5,000-6,000 euros will go to the move itself, and when applying for an immigration visa, you must have at least 20,000 euros on your account.
Business in Slovenia
This country makes it possible to obtain a visa for doing business at very low costs – for example, you can buy an existing company (then you do not have to invest in the authorized capital) and register yourself as a director of the company.
Alternatively, you can invest in a business for about 50,000 euros – this is the lowest investment rate through which you can move to Europe.
A more expensive option, but again with clear criteria – Greece, where you need to invest in a company more than 300,000 euros to obtain a visa for doing business, while the visa gives you the right to immediately be the director of the company.
Business immigration to Europe: Spain
Spain makes it possible to apply for a visa for doing business immediately upon opening with a minimum of 5 employees or investment of about 500,000 euros. And also after a year of the company’s activity, if it has a positive balance sheet and at least one employee.
An alternative to business immigration is this option: you apply for a residence permit for a financially independent person and open a company using it. The huge advantage of this option is that the whole family travels right away, in contrast to the business immigration program, where relatives arrive later than the applicant through the family reunification procedure.
Also, this option is good because there is no need to immediately register a company: you can safely come, get comfortable, look around, and only then, having studied the local infrastructure and mentality, register an LLC. And this is important because an immigrant moving to do business is forced to register a company immediately, while he/she physically moves only a few months after registration. And each month of the company’s work in this case brings tangible losses.
