TEHRAN – The Vice Presidency for Science and Technology is currently providing all services to support the knowledge-based companies set up by foreign nationals in Iran, the head of the international science and technology interaction center, has announced.

All support services provided to domestic knowledge-based companies will also apply to foreign nationals residing in Iran, so Afghan immigrants working in the entrepreneurial field in Iran will benefit from these services, ISNA quoted Mehdi Ghaleh-Noei as saying on Sunday.

Emphasizing that a number of technology companies have been set up by immigrants residing in the country so far, he said that the members of the board of directors of about 45 knowledge-based companies are among afghan entrepreneurs; In addition, the owners of some knowledge-based companies are also citizens of Afghanistan.

Afghan immigrants will be granted 3 and 10 years of residence if set up knowledge-based companies. Empowerment services to knowledge-based companies include seven main topics including training and consulting, financial and administrative services, product development, intellectual property, certification and standardization, attracting capital, and developing the export market, he highlighted.

Referring to the “Special Residence” card as one of the support programs for Afghans, he explained that foreign nationals living in Iran, including Afghan immigrants, will be granted 3 and 10 years of residence and will enjoy all the rights of Iranian citizens except the right to vote.

He further expressed readiness to attract Afghan entrepreneurs and elites to enter the country's innovation and technology ecosystem.

According to Iran Immigration Observatory’s census in 2016, a total of 1,654,388 foreign nationals are residing in Iran, 1,583,979 are Afghan nationals that constitute 96 percent of the whole population.

Iranian universities grant scholarships to Afghans

Allameh Tabatabai University of Tehran is the first Iranian university to offer scholarships to faculty members, talented students, and Afghan journalists since 2016 with the aim of expanding scientific and cultural ties between the two countries.

The number of recipients of this scholarship in previous years was 20, which has increased to 35 this year.

Supports for foreign nationals in Iran

Iran is hosting the world's fourth-largest refugee community. The country has generously hosted approximately 1 million refugees for the past 30 years.

Based on the latest statistics, over 3 million Afghans are living in Iran - some 780,000 Afghan refugees, over 2 million undocumented Afghans, and another 600,000 Afghan passport-holders with Iranian visas.

Iran spends about 20 trillion rials (nearly $477 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) every year on the education of foreign national students residing in the country, head of the international affairs department of the Ministry of Education Gholamreza Karimi said in March.

Over 474,000 Afghan national children are receiving education in Iran completely free of charge, he added.

Out of 970,000 foreigners (men and women) in working-age of 15 to 60 years, some 36,000 are under social insurance coverage in the country, head of Social Security Organization’s department for foreign nationals Ahmad Reza Khazaei said in July 2018.

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