Startup visas for founders: 10 schemes compared from official sources (2026)

A startup visa lets you move to a country to build a new company there, and nearly every one works in two steps: an outside body backs your business, then immigration decides on you. That outside body might be an endorsing body, a certified incubator, a facilitator or an expert committee. Getting its backing is usually the harder part.

This guide compares 10 schemes founders ask about, using only government and official immigration pages checked on 26 October 2026. Where an official page doesn't say something, the table says "not stated" rather than filling the gap from brokers or old blog posts.

Startup visa or digital nomad visa?

A startup visa is for moving somewhere to build a company in that country. A digital nomad visa is for living somewhere while you work for a business based elsewhere. If you want to keep your company where it is and just live abroad, read our guide to digital nomad visas for founders instead.

The trade-off is simple. Startup visas usually ask more of you up front (a backer, a plan, sometimes a local company and local hiring) but several lead somewhere longer term. Nomad visas are easier to get but don't usually build towards residency.

Neither visa settles tax. Moving your life and your company changes where you and the company are tax resident, which our guide to tax residency for remote founders covers.

The 10 schemes compared

This table shows each scheme as its official page described it on 26 October 2026. Money is in the original currency, exactly as the page states it.

On money alone, Estonia's startup visa and Portugal's StartUP Visa ask the least of these ten. For most founders the harder test is winning the backer and meeting what the business must look like at renewal.

Country notes

United Kingdom: Innovator Founder visa

The Innovator Founder visa is the UK's founder route, and it needs an endorsement from an approved endorsing body. The endorsement costs £1,000, and you must meet your endorsing body at 12 and 24 months to show progress, at £500 a meeting. The visa costs £1,357 per person from outside the UK, or £1,693 to extend or switch inside it, plus the healthcare surcharge.

You can stay 3 years and extend for another 3, with no limit on the number of extensions. GOV.UK says you may be able to apply for settlement once you've been in the UK for 3 years. Your partner and children can apply as dependants.

There's no fixed investment figure. The eligibility page says you'll need to prove to your endorsing body that you have enough funding and where it's from. Separately, you need at least £1,270 in your bank account for 28 consecutive days, and you can't count investment funds towards that. You must also speak, read, write and understand English.

Status note: the old Start-up visa is closed. GOV.UK's Start-up visa page says you can no longer apply for one and points founders to the Innovator Founder visa.

France: French Tech Visa for founders

France's French Tech Visa for founders gives a "Talent (Innovative Economic Project)" residence permit for up to four years, renewable. First you get selected by a French Tech partner incubator or accelerator, or backed by a French Tech Capital, or you collect two letters of support from recognised ecosystem players. Then the Ile-de-France DRIEETS issues a certificate if it recognises the project as innovative.

You need means of support equal to the minimum wage, stated as €22,404.20 as of 1 June 2026. Fees listed are a €300 administrative fee, €50 stamp duty, €99 for the long-stay visa and €250 to renew. Your spouse and minor children can come. After five years of regular, uninterrupted residence you can apply for a 10-year permit.

Netherlands: start-up residence permit

The Dutch start-up permit needs a facilitator: an experienced mentor organisation that's financially sound, doesn't hold a majority stake in your company and isn't a close relative. You need an innovative product or service, a step-by-step plan from idea to company, an active role in the business, and you and the facilitator must be in the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) Trade Register.

The permit lasts a maximum of 1 year and can't be extended. After that you apply for the self-employed permit, with a facilitator declaration that you finished at least 3 months of mentoring. The application costs €423 and the IND must decide within 90 days.

For money, the start-up page says you must meet the income requirements, by a Dutch bank statement or by your facilitator financing your stay. It links to IND's required amounts table at the self-employed heading, which lists €1,766.77 a month from 1 July to 31 December 2026. The start-up page doesn't mention family members.

Portugal: StartUP Visa

Portugal's StartUP Visa is run by IAPMEI, which certifies incubators and then assesses founders' applications on an online platform. IAPMEI's FAQ (May 2022 version) says each founder must show a bank balance of 12 times the IAS, Portugal's social support index. IAPMEI's page lists the 2026 IAS at €537.13, so 12 times is €6,445.56.

The FAQ says IAPMEI decides within 30 working days, you then sign an incubation contract within 40 working days, and the residency visa decision takes 60 days. The Foreign Ministry's visa page asks for IAPMEI's declaration that you've signed an incubation contract with a certified incubator. The visa is valid for 4 months and two entries, and you apply for the residence permit in Portugal. Family reunification is only possible once you hold a residence permit.

The FAQ still names SEF, the former border agency. The Foreign Ministry's visa pages now name AIMA as the agency that issues residence permits.

Ireland: Start-up Entrepreneur Programme (STEP)

Ireland's STEP needs €50,000 in funding for the lead founder and €30,000 for each additional founder, according to the September 2023 guidelines. The funds can come from your own money, a business loan, angel or venture funding, or an Irish state agency grant. The application fee is €350, covering you and your nominated family.

The bar is high. The business must be a "high potential start-up": capable of creating 10 jobs in Ireland and €1 million in sales within 3 years, headquartered and controlled in Ireland, and less than five years old. The guidelines add that no initial job creation targets are set. An Evaluation Committee assesses proposals and informs the Minister for Justice.

Once you've moved the funds to an Irish business bank account, you get two years' permission to live and work in Ireland, renewable for three more. After 5 years you're eligible for long-term residence. Spouses and minor children can come, and you need private medical insurance.

Denmark: Start-up Denmark

Start-up Denmark needs your business idea approved by a panel of experts appointed by the Danish Business Authority before you apply to SIRI. The permit runs up to 2 years and extends up to 3 years at a time.

You must show funds for your first year: DKK 153,240 on your own, DKK 306,480 with a spouse, DKK 356,904 with a spouse and children, or DKK 203,664 with children and no spouse. SIRI labels these "2025 level" on a page last updated 29 June 2026. The fee is DKK 3,060, processing normally takes 2 months (up to 4), and the scheme is capped at 75 people a year.

Estonia: startup visa and startup residence permit

Estonia has two founder routes, and both start with the Startup Committee. Work in Estonia says the first check is free, answered within 10 working days, and the company must be registered in Estonia and no older than 10 years. It expects a working product, paying customers or revenue, and a team.

The long-stay visa allows up to 365 days, extendable by 183, and needs proof of at least €800 a month plus health insurance of at least €30,000. The state fee is €120, and your spouse and children can apply too.

The longer option is a temporary residence permit for up to 5 years from the Police and Border Guard Board. You need a shareholding in an Estonian-registered company, the committee's positive evaluation and income of four times the subsistence level. The board answers within 90 days and the card follows within 30.

Japan: Startup Visa

Japan's Startup Visa lets you prepare a business for up to two years, extended from one year in January 2025, according to METI's leaflet. In many cases the first period of stay is one year. You submit a Startup Activity Plan to a certified organisation, usually a local government, which issues a Certificate of Confirmation. Then you apply to immigration under "Designated Activities".

You attend a monthly progress interview. The catch is the finish line: you must be expected to secure an office in Japan within one year, and the business must reach at least 30 million yen in total assets plus one full-time employee residing in Japan. The leaflet doesn't mention family.

Singapore: EntrePass

Singapore's EntrePass needs a private limited company registered with ACRA in which you hold at least 30%, and the business must be venture-backed or own innovative technology. You also meet one of: at least SGD 100,000 raised in a single round from investors, backing from a government-recognised or internationally renowned incubator or accelerator, or having founded and sold a tech business.

The key facts page says a new pass and first renewal last up to 1 year, then up to 2 years per renewal, with no minimum salary. Family is conditional. Your spouse and children only qualify once you meet one of the family criteria, such as SGD 100,000 annual business spending plus one local worker, or more than SGD 2 million raised.

Canada: Start-up Visa Program (paused)

Canada's Start-up Visa Program is paused and isn't accepting new applications. IRCC says it stopped accepting commitment certificates from designated organisations after 31 December 2025, and the programme paused on 30 June 2026. Applications accepted before then are still processed.

IRCC's 2026 transition binder says the pause addresses backlogs and that the Minister is pursuing a new High Impact Start-up Pilot to replace it. No launch date or rules were published there, so don't plan around it yet.

Indonesia

Indonesia isn't covered here. For building a company in Bali, Bali Startup & Tech covers it.

How endorsement works

Endorsement is a separate decision from the visa, made by a non-immigration body, and passing it doesn't guarantee the visa. Estonia's page says this outright: initial acceptance doesn't guarantee the visa.

The backers fall into four groups:

• Endorsing bodies that assess you directly. The UK's endorsing bodies charge for the endorsement and check in at 12 and 24 months.
• Incubators or facilitators you sign with. Portugal needs a certified incubator contract, the Netherlands a facilitator on the RVO list, and France a French Tech incubator, accelerator or Capital.
• Government panels. Ireland's Evaluation Committee, Denmark's expert panel, Estonia's Startup Committee and Japan's certified organisations review your plan.
• The immigration authority itself. Singapore's Ministry of Manpower assesses EntrePass applications against its own criteria.

Each backer sets its own process and criteria. Approach the backer first, before you book flights or sign a lease.

Timelines the official pages state

Only some official pages give timelines, and these are the ones they do:

• UK: usually 3 weeks from outside the UK, 8 weeks inside.
• Netherlands: IND must decide within 90 days.
• Portugal: IAPMEI decides within 30 working days, then the residency visa decision takes 60 days.
• Estonia: Startup Committee within 10 working days; residence permit within 90 days, card within 30 more.
• Denmark: normally 2 months, up to 4.
• Singapore: the pass card arrives 5 working days after registration or document checks.

Add the time it takes to win over the backer. That part has no official clock.

Common mistakes

The most expensive mistakes come from planning on old information or the wrong visa type.

• Applying to a closed or paused scheme. The UK Start-up visa is gone and Canada's programme is paused, but plenty of pages still describe both as open. Check the government page first.
• Using a nomad visa to build a local company. Nomad visas generally cover work for a business outside the country. If you plan to incorporate and hire locally, you need a founder route.
• Treating the endorsement as the visa. The backer's yes is step one. Immigration still decides on your character, funds, insurance and documents.
• Ignoring the second hurdle. Japan needs 30 million yen in assets and a full-time employee. The Netherlands permit ends after 1 year with no extension. Ireland only takes businesses capable of 10 jobs and €1 million in sales within 3 years.
• Moving money too late. The UK wants £1,270 held for 28 consecutive days, Portugal wants a bank statement at submission, and Ireland wants the funds in an Irish business bank account before granting permission.
• Assuming family can come straight away. Singapore ties dependants to business milestones, and Portugal's family reunification comes after your residence permit.
• Trusting broker figures. Funding amounts in roundups often disagree with the official pages or are years old. Use the government page and note the date you checked it.
• Forgetting tax. Moving yourself and running the company from a new country can change where both are tax resident.

Checklist before you apply

Work through these in order before you commit money or move.

1. Decide whether you need a startup visa or a digital nomad visa: are you building the company in that country, or living there while it stays elsewhere?
2. Shortlist two or three schemes from the table and open each official page yourself. Note the date.
3. Check the scheme's status. Confirm it's open, not paused or replaced.
4. Read the backer's criteria: endorsing body, incubator, facilitator or committee. Check your business genuinely fits "innovative" or "high potential" as they define it.
5. Work out the money: investment funds, personal funds, fees and how long funds must sit in an account.
6. Read the finish-line test: what the business must look like at renewal, such as Japan's assets and employee rule.
7. Check family rules and timing for your partner and children.
8. Check whether the official page states a route to permanent residency. If it doesn't, don't assume one.
9. Get advice on tax residency for you and your company before you move.
10. Prepare documents early: criminal record checks, translations and apostilles, health insurance and bank statements.
11. Approach the backer before you apply to immigration, and keep copies of everything.

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