Guidelines on Granting a Five-year Residence Permit to Foreign Depositors and Investors in the I.R. Iran

As per the most recent updates on the cabinet act, there are some guidelines on granting a five-year residence permit to foreign depositors and investors to be considered:

 1)    In order to obtain a five-year residence permit, the applicant should proceed to download the relevant forms through the official websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Central Bank, the Organization for Economic Investment and Technical Assistance, and the Ministry Interior, and submit them to one of the aforementioned agencies along with the required documents and attestations.

2)    Non-Iranian applicants living abroad can send the completed forms to the representative offices of the Islamic Republic of Iran abroad (i.e. Embassies or Consulates). After receiving the applicant's documents and verifying their authenticity, the aforementioned agencies are required to send the above documents to the secretariat within a maximum period of 3 working days through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

3)    The secretariat shall send the names of the people who have been approved within 3 working days after approval to the Organization for Economic Investment and Technical Assistance for review and introducing the applicant to the bank for deposition.

4)    The deadline for deposition of funds is at most 2 months after the notification date sent by the Residency Commission's approval.

5)    The minimum amount required for foreign nationals to deposit or invest in order to receive a five-year residency for themselves and their dependents (spouse, male children under 18 years old, unmarried daughter and parents up to five people is one hundred thousand US dollars ($100,000/-) or its equivalent to other currencies accepted by the central bank.

a)    If the number of dependents is more than 5, the applicant must deposit or invest an amount of 20,000/- US dollars or its equivalent in other currencies accepted by the Central Bank for each extra person.

6)    Issuance of deposit confirmation by the operating bank is a guarantee of the principal amount. The interests thereof and its transfer out of country is according to the deposit rules of the bank.

7)    Non Iranian nationals who manage to deposit or invest as per the requirement of this guideline and then apply for employment in the country, are introduced by the secretariat to the Ministry of Labor Cooperatives and Social Welfare of the Islamic Republic of Iran to affirm the assignment of employment in the country, and if necessary, to obtain a work permit within the framework of the relevant rules and regulations.

8)    Non Iranian nationals who manage to fulfill the requirement of this guideline will have no limit for travelling abroad or returning to their own homeland.

9)    The length of the deposit period will be at least equal to the length of the residence permit, and can be extended according to the rules of this guideline.

10)          After the end of the five-year period, the following measures will be applicable:

a)    If the applicant wishes to extend the residence permit period, he/she must send his/her request to the secretariat 3 months prior to the end of the period.

b)   The regulations and deadlines for the issuance of residence permits for the extension of the permit period will also be in place.

c)     If the applicant renews the residence permit, he/she can withdraw the interests from his/her deposit.

11)          The depositor can submit the original amount of the deposit along with the request to cancel the residence permit to the secretariat six months before the end of the deposit period, and after the approval of the commission, withdraw the amount of the deposit and transfer it abroad.

12)          Government and public sector bodies and institutions are obliged to provide five-year residence permit holders with public services such as health, medical, educational and educational services, obtaining driver's license and domestic travel services for a period equal to the duration of the applicant's legal stay and should coordinate and provide relevant facilities.

13)          If the applicant does not invest in the approved plan within 6 months from the date of issuance of the foreign investment permit, the residence granted under this procedure will be revoked.