Kazakhstan · Central Asia
Moving to Almaty
Almaty quick facts
Kazakhstan at a glance
Europe & Central Asia
Economy
World BankReligion
% of populationKazakhstan National Census 2021
Cost of living in Almaty
Can you move to Kazakhstan?
Pick your passport to see whether you can enter Kazakhstan — and what it takes to stay.
Entry rules come from github.com/imorte/passport-index-data, updated 17 February 2026. They change without notice — confirm with the official immigration service before booking.
Getting set up in Kazakhstan
Visas & Residency
Around 56 nationalities enter Kazakhstan visa-free for 30 days per visit, capped at 90 days in any 180 — enough for a look, not enough to live. Beyond that the real options are the Neo Nomad visa (B12-1) for foreign-income remote workers, the B9/B9-1 digital nomad visa for in-demand professions with a permanent-residence pathway, or an employer-sponsored work permit inside a national quota. The IIN comes before all of it.
Read the full step-by-step guideGetting Around & Driving
Kazakhstan drives on the RIGHT. Almaty has an eleven-station single metro line, a dense bus and tram network, and an Onay card that makes a ride cost KZT 120. Yandex Go and inDrive dominate ride-hailing and are cheap. Once you hold a residence permit you must exchange your foreign licence within about 60 days — and since 2023 that means sitting the Kazakh theory exam, not a paper swap.
Read the full step-by-step guideOpening a Bank Account
Kazakhstan's banking is unusually good and unusually gated. Kaspi.kz is a genuine super-app — bank, marketplace and QR payment network in one — and will open Kaspi Gold for a non-resident, in branch, provided you have an IIN, a Kazakh mobile number and evidence of lawful stay. Halyk generally wants a residence permit. Remote onboarding for non-residents was closed across the major banks.
Read the full step-by-step guideHealthcare & Insurance
Kazakhstan runs a compulsory social health insurance system (OSMS) that covers employees and certain categories; foreigners without an employer generally rely on private insurance and pay-as-you-go private clinics, which are inexpensive. Almaty has the country's strongest private hospitals. The real local health issue is not access — it is the winter air.
Read the full step-by-step guideMobile & Internet (SIM)
Three main operators — Kcell/activ, Beeline and Tele2/Altel — sell SIMs cheaply, but registration is mandatory and tied to your IIN and to the IMEI of your handset. Kazakhstan operates a device-registration regime that will cut off an unregistered phone after a grace period, which is the trap nobody warns arrivals about. Data itself is inexpensive and 5G is live in Almaty.
Read the full step-by-step guideTaxes
Kazakhstan's new Tax Code commenced on 1 January 2026 and ended the flat 10% individual income tax: 10% on annual income up to KZT 35,258,000 and 15% above it, with VAT raised to 16%. Tax residency turns on 183 days in a rolling twelve-month period. The AIFC's exemption to 1 January 2066 is real but attaches to AIFC participants in Astana, not to the country — an Almaty salary is taxed normally.
Read the full step-by-step guideEach guide has verified costs, timelines, required documents, and the non-obvious gotchas — sourced from official government pages. Last verified August 2026.
Essential Kazakh phrases
Reading a list isn’t learning it. Globe Quest turns these into a trainer — hear each phrase spoken, drill them with spaced repetition, and get scored as you say them out loud.
What to know before you go
Get your IIN in the first week — everything else is blocked without it
CriticalThe Individual Identification Number is Kazakhstan's tax and identity number, and since February 2024 it is issued only in person at a Public Service Centre (ЦОН / Halyk Qyzmet). Without it you cannot open a Kaspi or Halyk account, sign a registered lease, get a post-paid SIM, or be put on payroll. Bring your passport and a notarised Kazakh translation of it. Do this before you do anything else, because the queue for every other errand starts here.
Winter air in Almaty is a real health decision, not a grumble
CriticalAlmaty sits in a bowl at the foot of the Trans-Ili Alatau, and from roughly October to April cold air sinks and traps vehicle exhaust and coal-heating smoke against the mountains. The city has repeatedly appeared in global top-ten most-polluted rankings during winter mornings, with PM2.5 several times WHO guideline levels. It matters where you live: the higher southern districts near the mountains sit above the worst of the inversion layer, the lower northern ones sit inside it. Budget for an air purifier and check AQI before running outdoors.
Almaty is the money, Astana is the government — and the AIFC tax exemption is not here
ImportantKazakhstan moved its capital north in 1997. Ministries, embassies and the Astana International Financial Centre are all in Astana; banks, startups, universities and the actual cultural life stayed in Almaty. That split has a hard consequence: the AIFC's exemption from individual income tax for foreign employees, running to 1 January 2066, attaches to AIFC participants and bodies, not to Kazakhstan generally. An Almaty job pays ordinary Kazakh tax.
The flat 10% income tax is gone — the new Tax Code arrived on 1 January 2026
ImportantKazakhstan's long-running flat 10% individual income tax was replaced when the Tax Code adopted in July 2025 commenced on 1 January 2026: 10% on annual income up to KZT 35,258,000 and 15% above it, with a 9% rate for certain private practice. VAT rose to 16% at the same time, with reduced rates for medicines and periodicals. Any comparison of Kazakhstan that still quotes a flat 10% is working from a dead number — including a lot of relocation content written in 2024.
Pay by QR, not by card — Kaspi is the payment layer
ImportantKaspi.kz is a bank, a marketplace and a payments network, and in practice it is how Kazakhstan pays for things. Market traders, taxi drivers and neighbourhood cafés take a Kaspi QR before they take a card. You need an IIN and a Kazakh mobile number to open Kaspi Gold, and non-residents must do it in a branch — remote onboarding was closed across the major banks. Without a residence permit the card is typically issued for twelve months, though the account itself does not expire.
Skiing is 25 minutes away, and so is the earthquake risk
Good to knowShymbulak's base is about a 25-minute drive up the Medeu gorge from the city centre, with a season that usually runs December to March and a gondola from the Medeu ice rink. The same tectonics that built that view flattened the city in 1887 and again in 1911. Modern buildings are designed for it; some Soviet-era stock is less reassuring. Ask about the construction year and the seismic rating when you view a flat — locals do.
Top industries & employers
Banking & Fintech
Kaspi.kz, Halyk Bank, Freedom Finance, Forte, Jusan
Almaty is Kazakhstan's financial capital in everything but the regulator's address. Kaspi.kz, headquartered here and Nasdaq-listed, is the country's dominant consumer bank and payments network.
Tech & Startups
inDrive (largest operational hub), Kolesa Group, Chocofamily, Arbuz
The serious product-engineering scene is in Almaty even though the state innovation hub sits in Astana. Salaries are regionally competitive and a lot of the talent arrived in the 2022 relocation wave.
Oil, Gas & Mining services
Tengizchevroil and KMG contractors, ERG, Kazakhmys, Kazzinc
The fields are in the west and the north, but the head offices, engineering consultancies and expatriate services cluster in Almaty and Astana.
Logistics & the Middle Corridor
KTZ Express, DP World-linked terminals, freight forwarders on the Khorgos route
Kazakhstan is the land bridge between China and Europe. The China border crossing at Khorgos is a four-hour drive; trade, customs and freight roles are plentiful and growing.
Higher Education & Research
KIMEP, Satbayev University, al-Farabi KazNU, SDU
KIMEP teaches in English and is a common landing pad for foreign academics; the university belt gives Almaty a student population Astana does not match.
Tourism & Mountain Sports
Shymbulak, Medeu, Ile-Alatau park operators, tour agencies
Ski, trekking and Kolsai/Charyn tourism has grown quickly since visa-free access widened. Guiding, hospitality and outdoor-brand retail are real employers.
Where to go in Almaty
Medeu & Shymbulak
Nature · Medeu gorge, ~20 km south
The world's highest-altitude Olympic-size speed-skating rink at 1,691 m, with a gondola continuing up to the Shymbulak ski area above it.
Local tip: Take bus 12 from Dostyk Avenue rather than a taxi at weekends — the gorge road jams solid. Skating at Medeu is cheap and open to the public; the gondola runs year-round for the summer hiking.
Green Bazaar (Zelyony Bazar)
Hidden gemFood · Zhibek Zholy
The city's central market — horse sausage, Korean salads from the deported Koryo-saram community, dried fruit walls and the best cheap lunch in Almaty.
Local tip: The Korean salad row on the ground floor is the genuinely distinctive bit and exists nowhere in Western Europe. Bring cash or Kaspi QR; haggle politely on dried fruit and nuts.
Kok-Tobe
Landmark · South-east ridge
The hill above the city with the TV tower, reached by cable car from Dostyk Avenue — the standard first-evening orientation view.
Local tip: Go up at dusk on a clear winter day AFTER a snowfall: that is when the inversion clears and you can actually see the Alatau range behind the city.
Panfilov Park & Zenkov Cathedral
Culture · Central
A wooden Russian Orthodox cathedral from 1907 built without nails, standing in the city's central park alongside the Soviet war memorial.
Local tip: It survived the 1911 earthquake that levelled much of the city — which is why local architects still cite it in seismic-design arguments.
Arbat (Zhibek Zholy pedestrian street)
Neighborhood · Central
The pedestrianised spine of the old centre — buskers, book stalls, cafés and the informal meeting point of downtown Almaty.
Local tip: The side streets between Panfilov and Furmanov hold the specialty coffee scene where remote workers actually sit. Most have fast Wi-Fi and no time limit.
Big Almaty Lake & Charyn Canyon
Hidden gemNature · 28 km and 200 km out
A turquoise glacial reservoir an hour above the city, and the red sandstone canyon of the Charyn river three hours east.
Local tip: Big Almaty Lake sits in a border-zone water-protection area — permits and access rules change, so check before driving up rather than being turned back at the checkpoint.
Emergency numbers in Almaty
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