A company in its second year on a startup visa applied for the innovative company certificate. Preparation took longer than the review: about two and a half months went on reworking the business plan and three mandatory certificates, almost two on the agency's decision. Approved on 16 July 2026.
- 2.5 months
- preparing the application
- from mid-March to the end of May 2026
- almost 2 months
- review
- application ready at the end of May, decision on 16 July
- 3 certificates
- mandatory minimum
- the tax ID card and two certificates of no outstanding debts
- 15%
- tax rate after the status
- in the first profitable year and the three following, instead of 25%
What they came with
By the time of the application the company was already operating: the visa had been granted, the business was running and there were first results. But the business plan used for the visa procedure answered a different question.
Certification assesses the company, not the idea: growth, market, team, dependence on suppliers. So the plan was rewritten against these criteria rather than submitted as it was.
How the timeline ran
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01
Analysis: what exactly is assessed
The law names the criteria one by one, and each needs its own material. First we separated what the company already had from what would have to be shown afresh.
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02
Company details and registration in the agency's system
Tax ID, company name, activity code, address, website, contacts. This registration is separate from the visa procedure, even if the company has been through it before.
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03
Three mandatory certificates
The tax ID card, a certificate of no debts to the tax authority and the same for Social Security. One of them did not come through at the first attempt, so it is better to order the certificates at the start of preparation, not at the end.
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04
Reworking the business plan
The main part of the work. The section on multiplied growth was developed separately: the agency looks at scalability, and general statements do not work here. You need figures and evidence behind them.
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05
Application ready, end of May
The review period runs from a complete application, so the package was checked before it was sent.
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06
Decision, 16 July
Approved. The notification arrives in the company's email, and it is easy to miss among everything else.
What did not go to plan
What actually delayed or complicated the process, and what we did about it.
Preparation took longer than the review
About two and a half months on documents and almost two on waiting. Allow at least four months for the whole process.
Certificates of no outstanding debts
They are issued online, but not always at the first attempt. This is not a formality: without them the application is incomplete, and an incomplete application stops the clock.
The old business plan does not fit
A plan written for a visa or for investors answers different questions. It has to be rewritten, from how the innovation is described to the section on growth.
What the costs were made of
| Item | Amount | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| Certificates | free | issued online by the tax authority and Social Security |
The main cost of this procedure is not fees but preparation time: reworking the plan and gathering evidence for each criterion. Current fees are confirmed on the date of application.
What we did
- Analysed the assessment criteria and matched them against the company's position
- Gathered the company details and registered it in the agency's system
- Obtained the three mandatory certificates
- Reworked the business plan against the criteria, with a separate section on growth
- Filed the complete application and saw it through to the decision
What the service did not cover
Applying the tax relief after the status was granted was not part of the work: that is a yearly task in the company's tax return.
The certificate is not granted for a nice-looking plan. The agency assesses the company, not the idea, and we do not promise a result. We are responsible for filing a complete application with every criterion backed by a document. We do not control review times: here it took about two months.
Sources
The laws and official documents we relied on. Links go to the primary sources, so you can check them yourself.