Beachhead · Kazakhstan

A base for CIS studios: Astana Hub + AIFC

A non-sanctioned jurisdiction with 0 % CIT and VAT for IT companies through 2029, English common law at the AIFC, work visas for the whole team and a Russian-speaking environment. Below: what it really gives, who qualifies and how to apply.

Discuss relocation ↓Apply to Astana Hub ↗

Taxes: Astana Hub participant vs. the general regime

Tax	Astana Hub	General regime 2026
Corporate income tax (CIT)	0 %	20 %
VAT on core turnover	exempt	16 %
Personal income tax on salaries	0 %	10 % / 15 %
Social tax for non-resident employees	0 %	6 %
Technopark membership fee	1 % of revenue, quarterly	—

Preferences are fixed through 1 January 2029. The “1 %” is the technopark's quarterly membership fee on revenue, not a tax — the honest phrase is “effective burden of about 1 %”. VAT exemption is not a 0 % rate: input VAT on exempt turnover is not creditable.

Team: no quotas, no work permits

The foreign-labour quota does not apply to participants; no work permit is required; headcount is unlimited
A work visa for up to 5 years, renewable in-country, for employees and family; no state fee for the work permit
EAEU citizens — Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan — work under an employment contract with no permit at all; Russians and Belarusians get 90 visa-free days
Digital Nomad Residency: a 10-year residence permit for an IT specialist on Astana Hub's petition — no income requirement, no language exam; the official list of in-demand IT professions includes “video game developer”
Digital Nomad Visa (B9-1) is the entry step, up to 1 year; Neo Nomad Visa (B12-1) is for non-IT remote workers earning $3,000+/month, with no right to work for Kazakhstan companies

AIFC: English common law and a single window

The Astana International Financial Centre runs on English common law with its own court and arbitration — contracts and disputes read clearly to international partners. The AIFC Expat Centre is a single window: tax ID, e-signature, registration, residence permit, bank account. The working setup for a studio: holding, IP and investment contour at the AIFC, operating company as an Astana Hub participant LLP.

AIFC preferences are limited to a list of financial services: IT revenue (SaaS, games) does not qualify — which is why operations go through Astana Hub, not the AIFC.

Who qualifies

The applicant is a legal entity registered in Kazakhstan: a foreign company cannot apply directly — an LLP comes first (registration from 5–7 business days).

At least 90 % of annual income from priority ICT activities (the 90/10 rule, separate accounting since 2026)
No branches at the time of application; registration is extraterritorial — the office can be in any city of Kazakhstan
50 % or more of shares are not held by the state or national holdings; not a subsoil user, not an SEZ participant, not an excise payer, not running a priority investment project
A startup without revenue can apply — the activity profile and product description are what is assessed

How to apply

1Account on astanahub.com → “Tax preferences” → “Become a participant”; the application is built online, ~1.5–2 hours
2Completeness check — 5 business days (an incomplete set is returned for revision)
3Decision of the selection commission — 10 business days
4Participation agreement (accession to the standard agreement, e-signature)
5Participant certificate — the status runs from the date on the certificate

What to attach

01Proof of the premises where the company will operate — a lease or the owner's consent
02Certificate of no tax arrears above 6 MCI — no older than 10 calendar days at filing (egov.kz / knp.kgd.gov.kz); order it last
03Project description: essence, key tasks, target-market analysis, technical description — stack, implementation scheme, functional architecture and modules (a template is in the form)
04Team details — headcount, qualifications, experience, planned residents and non-residents (template in the form)
05A document transferring exclusive property rights to the product to the company — may be executed after the status is granted

The commission most often declines vague product descriptions and mixed revenue: spell out the product, who pays for what, the stack, markets and stage. Business-plan KPIs have consequences — if missed, the Fund may terminate the agreement.

What the ecosystem gives

Hub Space — an office in the technopark ↗

1,200+ workstations, 22,000 m², 24/7 access, meeting rooms, furniture and service. A package is 90,000 ₸/month for participants (80,000 ₸ at 50+ packages, 110,000 ₸ for others), minimum 3 seats, contracts up to 6 months, application via a project presentation.

Hub Perks — partner services ↗

GitHub Enterprise: 20 seats free for a year; Yandex Cloud Boost: a 2.4M ₸ grant for 6 months (6M ₸ at 200M ₸+ revenue); JetBrains: 6 months free for up to 10 licences; PrimeCloud 1M ₸, 24SaaS $1,000, AWS Activate, Microsoft for Startups and more.

Programmes and grants ↗

Silkway Accelerator (Google partner, $100K Google Cloud credits), Techpreneurs, Scalerator, Hero Training; funding — Seed Money, Tech Orda, the KPS grant programme.

Infrastructure and GPU ↗

200,000 m² on the EXPO site; alem.ai — a 20,000 m² AI centre; alem.cloud — 512 NVIDIA H200 on an IaaS model for startups; 20 regional hubs; direct flights to 60+ countries.

What to know before you move

!Participant preferences run through 1 Jan 2029; extension is a political decision with no guarantee. The model should survive the general regime — the preference is a booster, not a foundation
!VAT exemption with a high share of non-resident purchases can cost more than the general regime with credits — run your own numbers
!After the status: a 1 % fee quarterly by the 25th, quarterly reports by the 20th, a compliance audit above 100M ₸/year revenue, reciprocal obligations to the ecosystem
!Residence-permit refusals: a hotel as the address, a form error, an expired criminal-record certificate (180 days), missing the 30-day window to submit originals

Sources

Rates and conditions were checked against Astana Hub's official pages on 4 September 2026; general-regime rates come from the 2026 Tax Code of Kazakhstan. Astana Hub may change the rules and the fee unilaterally — check the current version on the portal before applying.

How we help

We map your revenue model against the 90/10 rule — before it becomes a reason for refusal
We help write the product and technical description the way the commission reads it
We introduce you to the Astana Hub team, the GameDev community and venues — jams, Digital Bridge, Hub Space

Taxes: Astana Hub participant vs. the general regime

Tax	Astana Hub	General regime 2026
Corporate income tax (CIT)	0 %	20 %
VAT on core turnover	exempt	16 %
Personal income tax on salaries	0 %	10 % / 15 %
Social tax for non-resident employees	0 %	6 %
Technopark membership fee	1 % of revenue, quarterly	—

Team: no quotas, no work permits

The foreign-labour quota does not apply to participants; no work permit is required; headcount is unlimited

A work visa for up to 5 years, renewable in-country, for employees and family; no state fee for the work permit

EAEU citizens — Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan — work under an employment contract with no permit at all; Russians and Belarusians get 90 visa-free days

Digital Nomad Residency: a 10-year residence permit for an IT specialist on Astana Hub's petition — no income requirement, no language exam; the official list of in-demand IT professions includes “video game developer”

Digital Nomad Visa (B9-1) is the entry step, up to 1 year; Neo Nomad Visa (B12-1) is for non-IT remote workers earning $3,000+/month, with no right to work for Kazakhstan companies

AIFC: English common law and a single window

AIFC preferences are limited to a list of financial services: IT revenue (SaaS, games) does not qualify — which is why operations go through Astana Hub, not the AIFC.

Who qualifies

The applicant is a legal entity registered in Kazakhstan: a foreign company cannot apply directly — an LLP comes first (registration from 5–7 business days).

At least 90 % of annual income from priority ICT activities (the 90/10 rule, separate accounting since 2026)

No branches at the time of application; registration is extraterritorial — the office can be in any city of Kazakhstan

50 % or more of shares are not held by the state or national holdings; not a subsoil user, not an SEZ participant, not an excise payer, not running a priority investment project

A startup without revenue can apply — the activity profile and product description are what is assessed

How to apply

1Account on astanahub.com → “Tax preferences” → “Become a participant”; the application is built online, ~1.5–2 hours

2Completeness check — 5 business days (an incomplete set is returned for revision)

3Decision of the selection commission — 10 business days

4Participation agreement (accession to the standard agreement, e-signature)

5Participant certificate — the status runs from the date on the certificate

What to attach

01Proof of the premises where the company will operate — a lease or the owner's consent

02Certificate of no tax arrears above 6 MCI — no older than 10 calendar days at filing (egov.kz / knp.kgd.gov.kz); order it last

03Project description: essence, key tasks, target-market analysis, technical description — stack, implementation scheme, functional architecture and modules (a template is in the form)

04Team details — headcount, qualifications, experience, planned residents and non-residents (template in the form)

05A document transferring exclusive property rights to the product to the company — may be executed after the status is granted

What to know before you move

!Participant preferences run through 1 Jan 2029; extension is a political decision with no guarantee. The model should survive the general regime — the preference is a booster, not a foundation

!VAT exemption with a high share of non-resident purchases can cost more than the general regime with credits — run your own numbers

!After the status: a 1 % fee quarterly by the 25th, quarterly reports by the 20th, a compliance audit above 100M ₸/year revenue, reciprocal obligations to the ecosystem

!Residence-permit refusals: a hotel as the address, a form error, an expired criminal-record certificate (180 days), missing the 30-day window to submit originals