Kazakhstan · Tax regime
AIFC Investment Tax Residency Programme (ITRP)
Open; launched September 2023 with steady growth. The qualifying investment is USD 60,000 — not the USD 300,000 often quoted, which belongs to the separate investor visa. The only instrument currently available is securities listed on the Astana International Exchange (AIX), bought via AIX CSD participant brokers and held throughout the certificate's validity.
USD 60,000 buys a five-year family visa, tax residency at ninety days rather than 183, exemption on foreign income, and no Kazakh tax on capital gains, interest or dividends from AIX-listed securities — inside a financial centre with a 0% corporate rate committed until 2066. As a pure tax structure, nothing else in the region matches it on price. The condition is that you treat Kazakhstan strictly as a tax jurisdiction and never touch the passport.
Qualifying routes
must be held for the whole period the certificate is valid; purchased via AIX CSD participant brokers
The facts
- Qualifying figure
- $60k
- Total landed cost
- USD 60,000 investment plus an application fee of roughly USD 7,750 for the principal or USD 11,375 for principal plus spouse, and an optional annual tax residency certificate fee of 7,000 MCI. These fee figures derive from an AIFC FAQ referencing 2023 MCI values and are likely stale — verify before quoting.
- Timeline
- 2–4 months — AIFC adjudication.
- Physical presence
- 90 days a year instead of the standard 183 to establish tax residency — this is the core benefit.
- Family
- spouse (18+)children under 18 — on a single application
- Permanent residency
- not a route to permanent residence; the visa is 5 years, unlimited entry
- Citizenship
- n/a — and see watchOuts; Kazakh citizenship is an anti-goal
- Language test
- n/a
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted — you would have to renounce
- Requirements
- USD 60,000 in AIX-listed securities, held throughoutno Kazakh tax residency or citizenship within the preceding 20 yearspurchase via an AIX CSD participant brokerclean criminal recordAIFC application and fees
- THE DUAL-CITIZENSHIP BAN IS NOW CONSTITUTIONAL. A referendum on 15 March 2026 approved a new Constitution with roughly 90% support on 73% turnout; Tokayev signed it 17 March and it took effect 1 JULY 2026 — two weeks ago. Article 13 bans dual and multiple citizenship, and acquiring another citizenship causes loss of Kazakhstani citizenship. Citizens acquiring a foreign nationality must report within 30 calendar days and surrender their Kazakh passport. A Mazhilis deputy has proposed criminal liability for holding dual citizenship — not yet law, but monitor it. For a UHNW family with a passport portfolio, naturalising in Kazakhstan is a value-destroying event.
- THE 20-YEAR LOOKBACK DISQUALIFIES MANY NATURAL CANDIDATES. You must not have been a Kazakh tax resident or citizen within the preceding 20 years — which rules out a large share of the Russian-speaking families who would otherwise fit.
- THE INVESTMENT MUST BE MAINTAINED, not made once. The certificate depends on continuing to hold the AIX position.
- AIX LIQUIDITY IS THIN. USD 60,000 must sit in a small frontier exchange for five years, and exit pricing is not assured.
- PIT IS NO LONGER 10% FLAT. The new Tax Code effective 1 January 2026 introduced 10%/15% progressive rates and raised VAT to 16%, with the registration threshold halved from 20,000 to 10,000 MCI — catching far more small structures. Any model built on 'Kazakhstan is 10% flat' is stale.
- VISA HOLDERS CANNOT WORK for other AIFC or Kazakhstan entities except in management roles.
- KAZAKH BANKS ARE ALSO BLOCKING RUSSIAN NATIONALS' ACCOUNTS under the same post-December-2025 EU AML pressure affecting Armenia.
- Kazakhstan has CFC rules: 25%+ ownership plus an effective rate below 10% or a blacklisted jurisdiction triggers attribution, though a recent amendment excludes companies in treaty countries with nominal corporate tax above 15%.
- The USD 7,750 / 11,375 / 7,000 MCI fee figures are probably out of date, and the itrp.aifc.kz subdomain failed to resolve when we checked — verify the current schedule directly with the AIFC.
- Wealth tax, inheritance tax and exit tax are reported as absent but we found no affirmative statement either way in official sources. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.