Europe's startup visas: France, Spain, Portugal, Estonia

Four European countries admit a founder with no employer and no property purchase. The question is always the same: who will assess the project, how much money to show and how many years before the status turns into permanent residence. We go through France, Spain, Portugal and Estonia against the same parameters.

First, eligibility. Three of the countries state no restrictions on the applicant's citizenship in their published conditions. The fourth is closed to Russian and Belarusian citizens, and that changes the whole choice.

Estonia: the door is closed to Russian and Belarusian citizens

Estonian government regulation No. 42 of 8 April 2022 introduced a sanction: Russian citizens are not issued visas or a temporary residence permit for work, study and business, and Belarusian citizens are not issued visas or a residence permit on the same grounds, including the visa for startup entrepreneurship.

We opened the current version of the regulation on 4 September 2026: it came into force on 21 May 2023 and remains in force. The sanction does not affect the renewal of a residence permit for work or business already issued, or a change of employer for those who hold one.

Further on we set out the Estonian conditions for completeness — they are of use to holders of other passports.

Who assesses the project

In none of the four countries is the decision taken by the consulate. The project is first reviewed by a specialist body:

• France — the economy ministry; the file for recognition of the project's innovative character is handled by DRIEETS Île-de-France;
• Spain — ENISA, the state agency for innovation funding; its opinion is mandatory;
• Portugal — IAPMEI, the competitiveness agency; entry runs through a certified incubator;
• Estonia — an expert panel of the interior ministry.

How long the opinion and the decision take

• Spain: the ENISA opinion — 10 working days. The decision on the application — 20 days, and silence counts as consent.
• Estonia: the panel's assessment — 10 working days. The answer on the residence permit — 90 days, and the card is issued within 30 days after that.
• Portugal: the IAPMEI decision — 30 working days. The contract with the incubator is concluded within 40 working days.
• France: recognition of the project — from 18 days with a complete file to two months where data is missing.

Money: thresholds for living costs and investment

• France: funds for living costs no lower than the annual SMIC — 22,404.20 € gross as at 1 June 2026. The company-formation route requires project funding from 30,000 €, and the investment route from 300,000 € in assets.
• Portugal: the account needs 12 times the IAS index. With the IAS at 537.13 € a month for 2026 that is 6,445.56 € per founder.
• Estonia: income no lower than four subsistence minimums. The size of the minimum is set by the state budget act for the year, so the amount is recalculated annually.
• Spain: the law requires “sufficient funds” and contains no specific amount. Spain likewise sets no minimum investment amount and no mandatory number of jobs.

The Estonian startup route differs from the ordinary business residence permit precisely on investment. A company shareholder faces a threshold from 65,000 €, a sole trader from 16,000 €, while the list of requirements for a startup entrepreneur has no investment threshold at all.

State fees

• France: the card — 350 € (a 50 € stamp duty plus a 300 € tax).
• Estonia: 350 € when filing inside the country and 380 € through a foreign mission — the rate has applied since 1 January 2025.

The Spanish and Portuguese fees are not published as a separate line on the agencies' pages: they are calculated from the consulate's and the migration service's rates on the day of filing.

Length of status and renewal

• France: a card for up to 4 years, renewable; the application is filed no earlier than 4 months and no later than 2 months before the end of the term.
• Spain: residence for 3 years, renewal for 2 years.
• Portugal: a residence permit for 2 years, renewal for 3 years.
• Estonia: a residence permit for up to 5 years, renewal for up to 10 years at a time — the longest term of the four.

Whether you can file from inside the country

• Spain allows filing by those already in the country on a visa or a permit.
• France accepts the application through ANEF within 2 months of entry on a D visa.
• Portugal builds the route through a D visa at the consulate.
• Estonia: someone who entered without a visa files a D visa application with the police department.

Permanent residence and citizenship

• France: the EU long-term resident card — after 5 years of continuous residence. Naturalisation under the general rule is also 5 years, with French at B2 from 1 January 2026.
• Spain: permanent residence after 5 years. Citizenship by residence — after 10 years.
• Portugal: permanent residence after 5 years of temporary residence and basic Portuguese. From 19 May 2026 citizenship is applied for after 10 years of residence; 7 years applies to citizens of the EU and of Portuguese-speaking countries.
• Estonia: citizenship after 8 years of residence, 5 of them on a permanent basis, with exams in the language and the Constitution.

Portugal's special conditions

The Portuguese programme has two conditions its neighbours do not. First: the applicant must not hold permanent residence in the Schengen area — a permit of five years or more counts as such. Second: up to five founders are admitted per project.

The project must reach turnover or assets of over 325,000 € a year by the fifth year. The conditions come from Despacho Normativo n.º 4/2018, and IAPMEI's clarifications were published in the 7th edition of the FAQ dated May 2022 — before filing they are checked against the current version.

How to choose a route

• You need speed of decision — Spain: an opinion in 10 working days, a decision in 20 days, silence in your favour.
• You have no money to put into the project — Spain or France's innovation route: no investment threshold is set there.
• A long status without frequent renewals matters — Estonia, with a residence permit for up to 5 years, if your passport is neither Russian nor Belarusian.
• You want a quicker path to citizenship — France: 5 years against 8 in Estonia and 10 in Spain and Portugal.
• You are ready to work through an incubator — Portugal: entry only through a certified one.

Which of these we arrange

• France: the talent card, including the startup route with an accelerator. All three routes are covered separately — France's startup visa: thresholds, timelines, state fees.
• United Kingdom: Innovator Founder for a founder with an endorsement and Global Talent for specialists in science, technology and the arts.
• Spain: the digital nomad visa and the residence permit for financially independent people.
• Portugal: D7 for passive income and D8 for remote work.

Finding you an expert and the first consultation are free. If your route is not on the list, we will say so plainly on the consultation — and name what to replace it with.

Sources

• Service-Public: the talent card, conditions for all routes
• BOE: Ley 14/2013, consolidated text
• Spain's Ministry of Inclusion: the section for entrepreneurs
• IAPMEI: the StartUP Visa programme
• AIMA: residence permit for entrepreneurs, article 89.º n.º 4
• Estonian Police Department: residence permit for startup entrepreneurs
• Riigi Teataja: government regulation No. 42, current version
• Estonian Police Department: state fees