How to start a business in Kazakhstan as a foreigner (2026)

Risk-based amendments to Kazakhstan's state-registration service rules came into force, requiring the physical presence of founders at registration in cases flagged by anti-money-laundering internal-control rules, and automating legal-address verification via the national Address Register. The changes are designed to curb shell-company creation and strengthen financial-monitoring controls at the point of incorporation.

The Ministry of Justice formally approved amendments to the Rules for the Provision of Public Services in State Registration of Legal Entities (base order V2000020771), introducing risk-tiered mandatory personal-presence requirements and automatic address verification effective 1 April 2026. The revision marks a shift from purely paperless e-registration toward a hybrid model for high-risk applicants.

Law No. 207-VIII (signed 15 July 2025) amended the Entrepreneurial Code to replace the minimum-wage benchmark with the Monthly Calculation Index (MCI) when calculating the annual income threshold above which sole traders must formally register as individual entrepreneurs. The change broadens the formal-economy base, improves self-employed persons' access to social protections, and facilitates business-loan eligibility.

Order No. 55 established a publicly accessible, centralized register cataloguing over 100 financial, property, and non-financial support instruments available to new and operating businesses, including grants, subsidies, guarantees, and advisory services. The register provides entrepreneurs with a single reference point for navigating state support at startup.

The World Bank's new Business Ready (B-READY) flagship report, replacing the discontinued Doing Business index, covered Kazakhstan in its first edition, benchmarking business entry and nine other firm-lifecycle topics across Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency pillars. Kazakhstan's inclusion restores international quantitative benchmarking of its startup environment for the first time since 2021.

The World Bank announced it was permanently retiring the Doing Business report amid concerns about data integrity across multiple country datasets. Kazakhstan had peaked at 25th globally in the 2020 edition; the absence of the index left a gap in internationally comparable startup-cost benchmarking until B-READY launched in 2024.

President Nazarbayev's Plan of the Nation, 100 Concrete Steps publicly launched five institutional reforms, including specific steps to reduce business-registration red tape, strengthen investor protections, and create a transparent tax system. Implementation drove Kazakhstan's Doing Business ranking from approximately 50th (2014) to 25th by 2020.

Kazakhstan began allowing complete online state registration of limited liability partnerships (LLPs) via eGov.kz using a digital signature or SMS-password, eliminating the need for a physical charter or in-person visits for single-founder companies. Simultaneously, small and medium enterprises were exempted from state registration fees, reducing the monetary cost of formal business creation to zero for most founders.

Kazakhstan launched eGov.kz, providing free digital signatures to citizens and the technical infrastructure for online public services. This portal became the backbone of all subsequent digital business registration, licensing, and tax-registration services, eventually enabling same-day company formation without physical contact with any government office.

Kazakhstan adopted its first Law on State Registration of Legal Entities and Record Registration of Branches and Representatives, establishing a mandatory, government-administered registration framework for all commercial entities operating in the country. Repeatedly amended over three decades, this law remains the legal spine of business registration and defines the rights and obligations triggered at the moment a company is formed.