Uzbekistan is set to offer Golden visa, a 10-year visa for large foreign investors. The scheme is set to launch in March 2019 to promote investment and tourism in the country. This was announced along with the launch of e-visa system which is set to launched on July 15 for citizens of 101 countries.
According to Tashkent Times, the decree instructed to prepare proposals by October to launch additional visa regimes for various categories of foreign citizens visiting Uzbekistan:
- Silkroad – for tourists traveling the Silk Road countries with the possible recognizing entry visa of other countries;
- Vatandosh – a 5-year visa for natives of Uzbekistan and members of their families;
- Golden visa – 10-year visa for large foreign investors.
By March 2019, the relevant authorities are to prepare proposals to expand the list of countries for which the visa-free transit policy is applied. A five day visa free transit system also announced for nationals of 101 countries.
The decree is aimed at increasing tourists’ inflow, including transit and stopover tourists, and the multiplier effect of tourism will create jobs, boost production and exports figures, as well as investments, the tourism development committee said.
The State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Tourism Development said in a resolution
It should be noted that the country pursues a consistent policy for the development of tourism as one of the strategic branches of the national economy that is able to contribute to the solution of such important social and economic tasks as the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs, diversification of the economy and accelerated development of regions, , increase of incomes and quality of life of the population, improvement of the image and investment attractiveness of the country
Uzbekistan is a landlocked country with the population of 32 million with GDP $71 billion. The country has the fourth-largest gold deposits in the world. Uzbekistan has a 99.3% literacy rate among adults attributed to free education.
Foreign investments in Uzbekistan year-to-date reached $ 4.2 billion. $3.7 billion from the total are foreign direct investments from companies in USA, Turkey, South Korea, Germany, Russia and Japan.
Tashkent Times reported now it is a great time to invest in Uzbekistan
- With its 19 million people strong labour force, Uzbekistan is the largest country in the region, and it is a stable country, both politically and economically
- Attractive macroeconomic situation: external debt not exceeding 18% of GDP, and with no domestic debt.
- More than 5,000 companies with foreign capital operate in Uzbekistan. About 50 of the world’s leading brands have invested in the country.
- Portfolio of investment projects includes US$ 9 billion worth of over 300 projects in various industries.
- The volume of investments from the Korea Republic surpassed US$ 5 billion, with more than 440 companies operating
The foreign investment law in Uzbekistan is available here
