Line of business
Full-cycle support for a foreign company: from registering the legal entity to launching the enterprise and raising finance.
34full-cycle projects
over USD 250 millionvalue of projects
A foreign company arrives in Kazakhstan with a finished product and runs up not against the market but against procedures: registration, permits, the site, preferences, dealings with government authorities. We take this path in full — from the first consultation to a working enterprise — and we know it from both sides of the table: the company’s founder spent five years working inside Kazakhstan’s investment promotion system.
01 / How we work
The sequence of work on a typical entry project. The steps follow one another, but some run in parallel: the site is selected while the permits are being prepared. The composition is refined to suit the industry and the form of presence.
Step 1
What we do
We select the legal form to fit the task (partnership, branch, representative office), prepare the constitutive documents, complete the registration, obtain the business identification number, open a bank account and register the company for tax.
What we need from you
The founder’s resolution, the parent company’s constitutive documents with an apostille and translation, and the details of the chief executive.
Step 2
What we do
We determine the list of permits and licences for the specific activity, prepare the set of documents, and support the obtaining of approvals from the relevant government authorities, including, where necessary, the introduction of a new type of activity into the national classifier.
What we need from you
A technical description of the production, a list of equipment, and requirements for raw materials and energy.
Step 3
What we do
We select a site to meet the production requirements — a special economic zone, an industrial zone or a plot outside them; we check the availability of electricity, gas, water and a rail connection; and we support the registration of the land plot and connection to utilities.
What we need from you
Requirements for area, capacity, logistics and proximity to raw materials.
Step 4
What we do
We determine the applicable support measures — an investment contract, special economic zone participant status, in-kind grants, subsidies; we prepare and file the application and support its consideration and signing.
What we need from you
The project parameters — the amount of investment, jobs, timescales, planned output.
Step 5
What we do
We provide the company’s presence on the ground while its own team is still being formed: representation before government authorities and counterparties, attendance at meetings, and correspondence in Kazakh, Russian, English and Chinese.
What we need from you
A power of attorney and agreed limits of authority.
Step 6
What we do
We handle communication with central and local authorities at every stage of the project — from approvals to participation in sectoral programmes; we prepare submissions and provide support at meetings.
What we need from you
The company’s position on the matters to be discussed.
Step 7
What we do
We find and vet local partners — suppliers of raw materials, contractors, distributors; we arrange meetings, take part in negotiations and support the conclusion of contracts.
What we need from you
Requirements for the partner and the selection criteria.
02 / Services
03 / Evidence
Three of the ten projects in the portfolio are foreign companies that entered the Kazakhstani market.
France
Industrial gases: a hydrogen production unit for the Pavlodar petrochemical plant
USD 30 million
Germany and Russia
Production of alloyed aluminium, 36 thousand tonnes a year
USD 15 million
Korea
Briquetted coal
USD 7 million
SABR’s role on all these projects was business development support.
The projects were delivered by the SABR team, including during its work in national development institutions and before the company was founded.
04 / Credentials
Official partner of the Union of Project Managers of Kazakhstan — the only PMI partner in the CIS
Partner of the International Centre for Business Cooperation 中国合作中心
Preparation of documentation and engagement with development institutions: Asian Development Bank (ADB), Eurasian Development Bank, Development Bank of Kazakhstan, Industrial Development Fund, DAMU, QazInnovations.
05 / Legal rules
The answers are given under the law of Kazakhstan in force as at the date the page was updated. They provide a guide but do not replace advice: in a specific project the requirements depend on the industry, the form of presence and the site.
One working day from the moment the electronic application is filed — the same as for local founders. The application is filed electronically only, through the “digital government” web portal. A foreign founder additionally has to provide legalised documents confirming its legal status, with a notarised translation into Kazakh and Russian: an extract from the commercial register for a legal entity, or a passport for an individual. There is no need to obtain an identification number in advance: a separate procedure within the same timeframe exists for founders who do not have one.
Rule: Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On state registration of legal entities and record registration of branches and representative offices”, articles 6, 7, 9
For an ordinary limited liability partnership it is one hundred times the monthly calculation index as at the date the documents are filed; in 2026 that is KZT 432,500. For small business entities the minimum charter capital is set at zero — there is no formal minimum. The contribution must be made within the period set by the resolution of the general meeting, but no later than one year from the date the partnership is registered.
Rule: Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On limited and additional liability partnerships”, articles 23 and 24
Yes. The law places no restriction on the executive body of a partnership by citizenship or residency — the only requirement is that it be an individual. For the chief executive of a company with one hundred per cent foreign participation, no permit from the local executive authorities to engage foreign labour is required; since August 2025 this exemption has applied to one staff position. Separately exempt are the chief executives of organisations operating under an investment contract worth more than USD 50 million.
Rule: Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On limited and additional liability partnerships”, article 51; Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 1041 as amended by Resolution No. 635 of 18.08.2025
Corporate income tax — 20%. Value added tax from 1 January 2026 — 16% (previously 12%); the threshold for mandatory VAT registration has been lowered to turnover above 10,000 times the MCI — in 2026 that is about KZT 43.25 million. Social tax — 6%. In addition, mandatory pension contributions, social contributions and contributions to compulsory social health insurance are payable on the payroll — their rates are set by separate laws rather than by the Tax Code.
Rule: Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in force from 01.01.2026
Currency legislation expressly permits non-residents to receive and transfer dividends abroad freely — there are no restrictions on repatriation. Withholding tax on dividends paid to a non-resident legal entity is 15%. Where a non-resident directly or indirectly holds at least 25% of the capital of the paying company, a reduced scale applies: 5% on income up to 230,000 times the MCI and 15% on the amount above that threshold.
An important change: the exemption based on “holding a stake for more than three years”, which applied until 2026, no longer applies to dividends. Under the current code a three-year holding period exempts only the gain on the sale of shares and participatory interests.
Rule: Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, article 682; Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On currency regulation and currency control”, article 6
From 2026 an investor concludes one of three types of contract with the authorised investment body. The “investment agreement” provides a one hundred per cent reduction of assessed corporate income tax, a zero rate of land tax and property tax, state in-kind grants and the right to engage foreign labour — for up to ten years depending on the scale of the project. The “investment obligations agreement” is for large projects and provides a guarantee of the stability of tax legislation for ten years. The “simplified investment contract” is a lighter format: in-kind grants and exemption from customs duties on imported process equipment, without corporate income tax benefits.
The status of a special economic zone participant is an alternative and more automatic route: the benefits are set out directly in the Tax Code and apply for the whole time the company is on the register of participants, without individual negotiation. But they apply only to activity carried on physically within the zone and within the priority activities defined for that particular zone.
Rule: Entrepreneurial Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, articles 283-1 – 283-5; Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, article 735
The information is current as at . This block is reviewed at least once a year.
06 / Contact
Describe the project in a couple of sentences — the industry, the planned investment, what is already in place. We reply during working hours; if needed we will hold a meeting in English or Chinese.
WhatsApp: +7 701 817 6109
Telephone: +7 701 817 6109
Astana · UTC+5 · Monday to Friday, 09:00–19:00
Languages of correspondence: Kazakh, Russian, English, Chinese
