What is Special Residence Permit? Who are eligible for special Residence Permit?
Iran is one of the friendliest immigrant Countries in the world, with a huge presence of immigrants in this country applying for legal residence and obtaining education citizenship is one of the most popular types of services requested by foreign nationals, especially Afghan nationals in Iran. By surveying and comparing phenomenon of immigration by origins and destination the immigrants who chose Iran as their destination country, among the various nationalities, the largest number of migrants are Afghan citizens. Choosing Iran as their destination country has different factors such as historical similarities, past civilizations, religious tendencies and cultures of the two nations. Meeting family, relatives and friends are far less expensive and laborious comparing to European, American, Asian countries and Australian continent for Afghan immigrants.
On the other hand the exact and correct attributes of being a worker in an Afghan immigrants and refugees community is Hard work, striving and making a living by enduring the hardships of work and earning a halal sustenance and the prevalence of working for all family members. Due to these characteristics today they are entrepreneurs, businessmen and having economic activities during these four decades in Iran.
All the aforementioned cases are important and worthy for government officials and decision makers to consider and review in order to make a suited mechanism for this segment of the society. The host country should make a practical and effective decisions in the upcoming goals for the uninvited guests.
Therefore, and based on the proposal of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Islamic Republic of Iran and other institutions, bodies and organizations which are in charge of international affairs welcomed the economic activities and in order to use the potential and capacity of foreign nationals in Iran and to increase the investment and attraction of foreign financial resources decided to grand 5 years of special residence permit to foreigners. In fact, it can be said that the government's main goal for approving such a regulation was to reduce the pressure of sanctions against Iran on the one hand and the country's need for foreign exchange and to attract foreign investors on the other hand. The types of foreign investments in Iran are investment in bonds, bank deposits and investment in real estate, which, in addition to the dollar equivalent, other currencies are also accepted by the Central Bank. Immigrants and Afghan Refugees who are present more than four decades in Iran are the most neglected community who are the creators of many giant capitals, productions, industrial, services and enterprises in Iran. While this group of economic activists are engaged in an activity and exploitation in a dormant, underground, unofficial and illegal manner without statistics, proof and evaluation. Their presence and existence in the field of business activities, job creation and production of Iranian goods are undeniable. Fortunately, granting a special residence permit of 5 years or more to these people will lead to a positive and effective change in Iran's economy and increase the social security factor for the time being it will attract and prevent foreign and domestic capitals from fleeing Iran. It will become the basis for the creation of positive conditions, peace, and job security for the economic activists of the immigrant and refugee community and in this way many job opportunities will be given to Iranian citizens.
Now it is necessary to know how to get a residence permit for foreigners.
In fact, nationality makes a person to be involved directly in the structure of a government and residency in the population of a country such as citizenship/nationality is a political, international, and legal relationship and etc., where both parties should fulfill their legal duties towards each other. The residence permit, or presence of a person in another country, does not have all the rights of citizenship in the destination country, such as the right to vote.
How to obtain Iran Residency Permit?
In this topic we will try to show how to obtain Iran residency permit from every possible aspects. By reading this topic you will come to know about different residency permits and their processes from Zero to 100 percent.
According to year 2020 the 40 percent of international refugees all around the world were born in Asia and roughly 20 percent were from 6 Asian Countries like India (the highest number of Refugees), China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippine and Afghanistan.
Due to lack of security, Economic problems and specially change of government Afghanistan has become one of the populated refugee countries.
IOM estimation shows that Afghan refugees has chosen either Iran or Pakistan as their destination country. Nearly 2,710,601 people in Iran and 1,598,223 people in Pakistan have immigrated and these estimations are not official and definitely the number of migrants are much higher than these in Iran.
Why Afghan refugees choose Iran?
Cultural, religious and historical similarities, unbreakable ties, geographical location and same language has change Iran as a first destination country for Afghan Immigrants.
For more information kindly refer to Dr. Hussain Paazman article written regarding unbreakable ties between Iran and Afghanistan.
Types of residence in Iran:
Obtaining Iran residency permit is possible in the following ways.
1: Work Residency Permit
2: Study Residency permit
3: Marriage Residency Permit
4: Foreign Investment Residency Permit
5: Family Residency Permit
6: Status Change Residency Permit
1: work Residency Permit (residency with the right to work)
One of the important features and characteristics of the Afghan refugees and immigrants community is to work hard and to make a living and earn halal sustenance. As mentioned above one of the ways are to obtain legal residency with the right to work in Iran which has its own rules and solutions. In this type of residency permit, foreign nationals must receive a visa with the right to work from their employer upon arrival so that they can be benefited from the legal conditions of this residency permit during their stay in Iran and at their work place. Point to be noted that the entry and exit of people in the country with this residency permit is subject to the approval of the employer and the national tax administration, which has its own rules and regulation.
For Consultation reach our consultants 055922916 – 09412194293 at Ariana law institute.
2: Study residency permit (study visa)
Considering the increase in the intellectual population of Afghanistan in Iran and the restrictions on education in Afghanistan, the supreme leader recommended to facilitate education for Afghan nationals in Iran, another way to obtain study residency permit (study visa). According to Ministry of Science nearly fifty thousand Students studying at Iranian Universities are foreign students. Due to the high rankings of Iranian universities and the common language, Iran has become the first destination for Afghan students. Also, due to the Islamic Republic policies of accepting young and talented students from neighboring and Muslim countries, the number of applicants to study in Iranian universities are growing.
Process of Iran student Visa
Foreign students having passport, High School and under or post graduate degree can apply for student visa. The documents shall be translated in English or be in Farsi and attested by Iranian embassy or consulate at home country. Afghan Students having academic documents attested by ministry of education, foreign affairs and Embassy of Islamic republic of Iran at Kabul city can apply.
In addition, foreign students must provide proof of financial ability to pay university and living expenses in Iran and as well as to participate and pass the Persian language test at Dehkhoda Language Institute and International Centre for Persian Studies.
What documents are needed to apply for Iran Study Visa?
A: Registration procedures
1: Student Application Form 2: Family information 3: questionnaire form 4: sending documents picture 5: confirmation and tracking code
B: Procedure of issuing or extending of Visa
1: documents picture 2: Visa Application form
The request for issuing or extension of visa is after issuing confirmation and tracking number.
3: Marriage Residency Permit
In this type of residence according to the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, foreign men who marry Iranian women can use the benefits of their Iranian spouse's marriage residence if they complete the legal formalities and register their marriage in the Ministry of Interior by obtaining a marriage certificate. Extension of residence permit, entry and exit for foreign men are subject to the permission and request of the spouse under certain conditions.
4: Foreign Investment Residency Permit
There are different ways to obtain Foreign Investment Residency Permit in Iran.
1: For this type of residency permit the investor must get a license from Organization for investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran. The investment currency must be foreign currency and the company shall be Investment Company. The minimum investment amount is 300 thousand US dollars. As it was mentioned, this type of residence requires an investment company that after registering the company and presenting an Explanatory plan and obtaining a license from the foreign investment organization, the person must take the initiative to enter the currency approved by the Ministry of Economy from the main points of entry into the country. Or either the investor can import foreign non-cash capital items such as machinery, equipment, tools, spare parts and raw materials etc. there is difference between cash and machinery investments which we will explain. If the investor brings foreign currency it must be converted according to official exchange rate not open market rate in which there will be a little loss. If the investor imports machinery and equipment, the exact value that is placed on it by the experts will be registered as the capital of the company and according to Iran’s current condition the value of the machineries may also increase and as well as capital.
2: Investments at Industrial areas
The investors shall provide an Explanatory plan and obtain necessary permits for investments at Industrial areas.
Following documents are needed for this type of investment:
1: Operational license 2: Establishment license
Investors who want to do this type of investments should obtain operational and establishment licenses in order to start their operations. It must have 130 KM distance from Tehran city for industrial production and compliance with environmental laws.
3: Investments in development and construction for foreign nationals
There is no need to be in industrial areas to invest in development and construction. But for investing in residential projects, there should not be less than 20 units in the building.
Investors who are involve in production work and domestic capital sources for last 4 decades:
This type of investment is an opportunity especially for economic activists who are having production activities in Iran. So those who are having 300 thousand dollars including their equipment, machineries, raw materials and properties ETC can obtain 3 or 5 years special residence permit and be a second class citizens. These types of residence permits has its own benefits like right to transfer and register the ownership documents of movable and immovable property, receive bank checks and solve banking, administrative and legal issues etc.
The procedure and verification of this type of investments will be done by ministry of Interior.
As we all aware that those who cannot register their properties under their ownership due to any reason have to register in a form of power of attorney to trusted person, if the person doesn’t have any trust issue during his/her lifetime but after his/her death the power of attorney is invalid and has to face his/her inheritors, currently most of the people have this issue in Iran.
One of the solutions for this problem is obtaining special residence permit if they are eligible.
5: Residence permit by company Registration
If you are doing manufacturing business in Iran, have you ever thought about the following questions?
“Rules and Regulations for foreigners to register a company? How is it to register a company? How to obtain a work permit? How to obtain a work residence permit by registering a company? How is it to obtain a work residence permit in Iran with a deposit?”
We will answer the questions accordingly. It is not like to pay heavy taxes by registering a company. You should keep in mind that with production activity according to the law, you will enjoy all the benefits of investment and production and no longer have to do underground and illegal work. You can promote your business openly. Iran taxations are not as strict as comparing to other countries and the tax is basically based on self-declaration, only 25% of the amount of net profit which is declared by the taxpayer is collected by Government while in other countries such as Germany, Italy and France, roughly as high as 50% income will be spent on taxes. It should be noted that the taxation laws in any country will increase and grow the production cycle and economy of that country. However, a very important and significant point regarding the company registration in Iran is that, immovable property such as land, garden, apartment and etc. Cannot be registered under the name of foreign nationals (except for special residence permit and special cases). By registering the company, you can register movable and immovable property under the name of the company and will be the legal owner.
Work Residency permit by registering company has 3 forms:
1: Company Registration and deposit
In this type of Residency you can obtain one year work residency permit for one foreign national against every 50 thousand USD deposit so there is no concerns that the company shall be active in 1st year or need to pay taxes.
In fact this is an encouragement for economic activists to study, survey and choose their related fields to work in.
2: Work Residency Permit by registering a company and hire Iranian employees:
In this case, you can apply a residency permit for one foreign national against every three insured Iranian employees by registering a company without a deposit.
3: Work Residency permit through Employer
In this type of Residency permit the Employer who has 3 insured Iranian employees in the company has to apply for your work residency permit.
6: Family Residency permit
Family members are placed under the sponsorship of the head of family.
7: Status Change Residency Permit
In this type of Residency permit Amayesh cards will be cancelled and have to get a passport.