Relocating and starting a business in Andorra

This page is for someone starting from a project, a self-employed activity, or a business still being run in their home country, who's considering developing their business from Andorra. The route usually taken combines setting up a company, an active residency application, and organising a professional base — an office or coworking space. The main difficulty isn't administrative but sequential: the order in which the company, the bank, the residency quota, and accommodation come together determines whether the project takes three months or drags on for a year. A personalised review lets you check, before any commitment, that your activity genuinely fits the Andorran framework and that the timeline is realistic.

The first thing to check isn't the tax rate but the nature of your activity: a local Andorran client base, an international one, or a mix of both don't call for the same organisation, or the same level of on-the-ground presence. A consultant mainly invoicing foreign clients can structure their project differently from a retailer targeting the local market — both usually go through a company, but questions of registered office, office space, and justifying the activity to the authorities don't arise in the same way.

Most entrepreneurs start with a sole-shareholder SLU: €3,000 capital, simple governance, suited to a business run by one person. Bringing in a shareholder, investor, or co-founder turns the project into an ordinary SL — a distinction worth planning for when drafting the articles of association, rather than fixing later. The file also needs to present a business plan consistent with the origin of the funds contributed: turnover forecasts with no identified clients, no demonstrated experience, and no market study risk being judged insufficient by both the authorities and the bank.

Setting up the company and applying for active self-employed residency generally move forward together: the founder needs to hold more than 34% of the capital, take an effective management role, and check quota availability before starting the process. Opening a bank account remains the most decisive step — each bank applies its own KYC checks, and a file with inconsistencies between the business plan, articles of association, and explanations leads to further requests. The choice of registered office — a dedicated office, a registered agent, or a coworking space — needs to match the activity actually carried out.

Once the company is registered, you need to decide between salary, director's remuneration, and dividends — a choice that depends on the actual level of work done, CASS coverage, and available cash, not just the lowest tax bill. Bringing a spouse and children over, where planned, needs to be built into the same timeline as setting up the business: accommodation, schooling, and family reunification can't be sorted out afterwards without losing time.

A French consultant earning 80% of their turnover from European companies wants to set up an SLU, relocate with their family, and hire one employee. The route usually combines: setting up an SLU with a corporate purpose covering international consulting, submitting an active self-employed residency application, opening a business account documenting the origin of funds and existing contracts, choosing a coworking space for the registered office, then organising family accommodation alongside the immigration process — both strands moving forward together rather than one after the other.