Latest / IMI Podcasts / Hire Yourself, Get Residency in These 12 Countries

Transcript

Hire Yourself, Get Residency in These 12 Countries · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need investor capital to get a second residency.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: This is a myth.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: In the 12 countries we'll discuss in this video, you don't even need a foreign employer.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can hire yourself, open a business, or register as a freelancer and qualify for residency that leads to permanent stay and in some cases citizenship.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: IMI has mapped them all for you, including the cost, the timelines, and yes, the trade-offs.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: But let's start with what exactly these programs are.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: While investor visas get the headlines, self-employment residency is a quiet category in this market.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Golden visas have the marketing dollars behind them.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Standard work visas come tied to an employer who has to sponsor you.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: The self-employment visa, however, needs only one thing: a business that you yourself run locally.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: In most cases, that business can be a simple one-person operation.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: You register as a sole proprietor, prove some minimum income or funds, and that's it.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Some programs require you to trade with local clients.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Others demand a profession on a government-approved list, and a handful are only open to specific nationalities.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Regardless, we'll cover 12 of the strongest options.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, if you want to map your own sovereignty across more than just these 12 programs, IMI Sovereigns is where investors and entrepreneurs discuss programs like these every day.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the Powerful Citizenship Catalogue tracks every path to a passport across 196 countries, including the naturalization routes we'll talk about today that the industry typically ignores.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Link and a nice discount are in the description.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: At number 12, Hungary.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: The guest self-employment permit launched in January 2024 with no capital required and an annual income threshold of€19,500.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: The permit caps at three years and it explicitly excludes holders from Hungary's standard permanent residence route.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So your only path to permanent residency is the EU residence card after five years of legal residence in the country, which usually means switching permit types along the way.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Plus mandatory quarterly filings on Hungary's e-paper platform.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you miss these filings, you also miss the opportunity to renew your visa.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hungary takes the bottom slot because the permit doesn't actually lead anywhere on its own.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Number 11, the United Arab Emirates Green Visa.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The trade here is the lack of citizenship route for tax-free income while you're there.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: The UAE introduced this visa under its 2021 residency reforms.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Self-employed professionals get a five-year self-sponsored residency with no need for a local employer or sponsor.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: You just need a freelance permit from the Ministry of Human Resources and emoritization or a recognized free zone, a bachelor's degree, and documented self-employment income of at least$100,000 over the previous two years.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: The renewal is unlimited and you get to take advantage of the UAE's zero personal income tax.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Again, the trade-off here is that the UAE almost never naturalizes foreign residents.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Across the Atlantic, the trade-off looks different.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Number 10.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Mexico.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: The temporal lucrativa permit works on the same trade license template as several European programs we'll cover later in this video.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Mexico's tax registration, the Constancia de Situation Fiscal, is the primer.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Once you register and prove your local activity, the residence permit follows.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Light bureaucracy, low cost, a workable option for North American lifestyle migration, and it offers the starting point to the underrated Mexican citizenship in just five years.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now to the Balkans.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Number nine, Serbia.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: The residence by business route without a capital floor is among the most accessible for non-EU founders.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you register a domestic company, you've already qualified.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: For non-EU founders who want a low-friction base in southeastern Europe, it's one of the easiest paths on the continent.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: The trade-off is geography and bloc membership.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe that's an advantage.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Serbia isn't in the European Union, so the downstream value is different from a Schengen permit.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most attractive tax burdens in this category is further east.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Number eight, Georgia.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Of every program in this category globally, Georgia is the purest example of the trade license model.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Individual entrepreneur registration is open to foreign passport holders with no prior residence requirement.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Under small business status, your flat tax on turnover is just 1% if that turnover is under 500,000 Georgian Lari or about€160,000.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: A residence permit becomes available once your annual turnover passes about 16,000 euros, a rule in force since August 2019.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Georgia isn't in the EU, and the citizenship path isn't a planning tool.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: If your priority is a low tax base with minimal friction at entry, this is the cleanest deal in the Caucasus.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Which brings us back to Europe and an oft-overlooked jurisdiction.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Number seven, Slovenia, the Sama Stoney Podetnik, or SP, is the cheapest legitimate sole proprietor registration in the European Union by some margin.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Register, trade, renew.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Slovenia is in the EU and the Schengen zone, so the downstream value, unlike Serbia in this case, is substantial.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the entry cost is meaningfully lower than anywhere else in the block.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: What you give up is market size.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Slovenia's domestic economy is small, which matters if local clients and an actual scaling business are part of your renewal proof.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, West.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Number six, Spain.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: The autonomo route requires no formal capital and has a low proof of funds threshold at€7,200 a year.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Approval is two-stage.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: First, a work permit from the provincial foreigners' office, then the visa.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: The first residence permit runs one year, then four blocks under the post-2025 immigration reform that entered force in 2025.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, most foreign nationals naturalize after 10 years, but for applicants naturally born in Ibero-American countries, the Philippines, Andorra, or Equatorial Guinea, that drops to just two years.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: The price you pay up front is Social Security and taxes.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Contributions start the moment your business activity begins, with a minimum around€250 a month for the lowest income band.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the viability assessment is discretionary.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: So Spanish authorities can deny applications in saturated categories like consulting or content creation.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Portugal and the biggest recent rule change on this list.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, Portugal.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: The overlooked D2 visa has two practical subroutes, an entrepreneur route for those setting up a Portuguese company, and a self-employed professional route for freelancers with a service contract from a Portuguese-based entity.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's no statutory minimum investment, but a proof of fund step requires about 11,000 euros for a single applicant in 2026.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: The initial residence permit runs two years and renews for three.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: The change everyone in the Portugal community is talking about is, of course, the new nationality law, which came into force in May 2026 and doubled the naturalization clock to 10 years for most applicants, seven for EU and CPLP nationals.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: The clock now starts from the day your first residence card is issued, not from when you applied.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd rather prove less at the door and not need a functional service contract, the next country could fit your situation.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: The Zivno, short for Zhivnostensky list, is a trade license that doubles as a long-term business visa.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: You register the trade license, prove self-sufficiency of 150,000 Czech crowns or 6,000 euros, plus accommodation proof, and a criminal records check.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: The license itself costs about 1,000 crowns.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: The first visa runs up to a year, then converts to a long-term residence permit renewable in two-year blocks.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Naturalization comes after 10 years of continuous residence with a B-1 check exam and an integration assessment.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: But this is a do business in Chechia visit.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: The Ministry of the Interior expects local Czech citizens and visa extensions request your previous year's tax filing to prove domestic economic activity.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: If your client base is purely foreign, the Czech Digital Nomad visa is probably the right route instead.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, France.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: The VLSTS visa covers commercial, artisanal, agricultural, and independent professional activity.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: The proof of resources threshold tracks the French minimum wage, putting the 2026 bar near 1,800 euros a month, or€22,000 a year.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what makes France appealing for some investors is the naturalization timeline of five years, which makes France one of the fastest paths to citizenship in all of Europe.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: But France's 2024 immigration law raised the language requirement from B1 to B2 for naturalization, plus uh a mandatory civic exam.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And family reunification is not automatic.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Your spouse either qualifies independently or waits 18 months before applying as a space of a citizen.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: 2.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: The Netherlands.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, the DAFT route.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Dutch American Friendship Treaty signed in 1956 gives American citizens Dutch residency as self-employed entrepreneurs on far more accessible terms than the standard Dutch self-employment programme.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: The treaty requires what it calls a substantial amount invested in your Dutch business.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: The Immigration and Naturalisation Service interprets that as€4,500 held in a Dutch business bank account through your permit period, which upon approval is two years, and renewal for five.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: The Immigration and Naturalisation Service now audits DAFT applications about six months after approval to confirm the business is registered and the deposit is still in place.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: After five years of continuous residence and passing the Inberging interrogation exam at A2 Dutch, you can apply for permanent residence and even naturalise as a Dutch citizen.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now for the principal trade-off.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Dutch naturalization generally requires renunciation of your prior citizenship, with narrow exceptions.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So American holders give up their US passport to get the Dutch one.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, number one, Germany.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Section 215 of the Residence Act is the country's residence permit for self-employment in liberal profession.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's no minimum capital outlay.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: You just need a profession on Germany's catalog ballist.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So doctors, lawyers, tax advisors, engineers, architects, journalists, artists, and certain IT and consulting professionals qualify.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: You also need client letters of intent from German-based clients, a business plan, financial means, and proof of health insurance.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: The initial permit runs up to three years, and you can qualify for the settlement permit after five years and naturalise under the June 2024 nationality reform that cut the timeline from eight to five years.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: That five-year clock with no capital required is what put Germany at the top of this list.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: The trade-off is the Catalog Buffer list itself.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: UX designers, data scientists, AI consultants, and digital marking specialists frequently fall outside the recognized categories and have to argue analogy in their business plan.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: If your local Auslanderbehörde disagrees, you land under section 21.1, which means submitting a business plan for an economic interest review.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: So every one of these programs still requires you to actually do the work.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd rather skip that entirely and get permanent residency on day one for free with no investment at all, we made a video covering exactly five countries where that's possible.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Check it out on your screen now and subscribe to the channel for everything else IMI is tracking across the global residency and citizenship markets.