Before you start

Passport valid well beyond the intended stay
For Neo Nomad: six months of statements showing USD 3,000+/month from foreign sources
For AIFC: an employment relationship with an AIFC participant or body
An IIN, obtained in person after arrival

Step-by-step

1
Check whether you need a visa at all for the first 30 days
Around 56 countries — the US, UK, Canada, Australia, the EU, and since July 2025 also Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Qatar and the UAE — enter visa-free for up to 30 days per visit, subject to a 90-days-in-180 cap. Verify your nationality on the eGov visa classification page; the list has been revised repeatedly since 2024 and secondary sources lag.
In personWho: Visa-free nationalsImmediate at the borderFree
2
If you are joining an AIFC participant, let the AIFC regime do the work
The AIFC operates a simplified visa and labour regime: participants may engage foreign labour WITHOUT the special work permits the rest of the country requires, and work visas for foreign experts and their family members run up to five years. That means no national quota, no 15-day labour-market advertising test, and a materially faster process than an ordinary Kazakh hire. Your employer drives it. This is the single biggest practical advantage Astana has over Almaty for a foreign professional.
Via employerWho: Employees of AIFC participants and bodiesSubstantially faster than the national processEmployer-borne
3
Get your IIN at a Public Service Centre in the first week
The Individual Identification Number has been issued only in person since February 2024. Take your passport and a notarised Kazakh or Russian translation to a Public Service Centre (ЦОН). Everything downstream — bank account, SIM, registered lease, payroll — assumes you have it. The government-quarter centres get busy; the ones further out are usually quicker.
In personWho: Everyone staying more than a few weeksSame day to a few daysNominal state fee
4
Otherwise: Neo Nomad, B9/B9-1, or an ordinary work permit
The Neo Nomad visa (B12-1) is lodged at a consular post with six months of bank statements showing USD 3,000+/month from abroad, a home tax return, a police certificate and insurance; it runs up to a year, is extendable in-country by the territorial police for up to a further year, and does not permit Kazakh-source income. The B9/B9-1 digital nomad visa for in-demand professions is applied for through Astana Hub — based here — and is the one designed with a permanent-residence pathway. An ordinary work permit requires the employer to advertise on the Electronic Labour Exchange for 15 calendar days and to hold a slot within the 2026 quota of 0.25% of the labour force, with local-staffing ratios of 70% for managerial categories and 90% for specialists and skilled workers.
Via employerWho: Remote workers, in-demand professionals, ordinary employeesNeo Nomad about 5-7 business days; work permit weeksNeo Nomad around EUR 45; work permit fees employer-borne

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Notarised translation of the passport (for the IIN)
Bank statements and home tax return (Neo Nomad visa)
AIFC employment documentation (AIFC route)
Employer permit documents and qualification evidence (ordinary work route)

Things most newcomers don’t know

AIFC participants hire foreign staff without the work permits and quota the rest of Kazakhstan requires — this is the reason a foreign professional would choose Astana over Almaty.

The national system caps foreign labour at a fraction of a percent of the workforce, forces a 15-day advertising test before an application can even be filed, and imposes 70%/90% local-staffing ratios. The AIFC's own regime lifts all of that for its participants and issues expert visas of up to five years. A financial-services professional weighing the two Kazakh cities is really weighing two immigration systems.

Source: AIFC

The AIFC tax exemption to 1 January 2066 is real, but it is scoped to qualifying activity and has been amended more than once.

It covers corporate income tax on defined financial-services income for participants, and individual income tax for foreign employees on their AIFC earnings. It does not make Astana a tax-free city, and it does not cover income from activities outside the listed set or Kazakh-source income earned outside the Centre. Because the schedule has changed since 2018, read the current joint acts rather than a summary written a few years ago.

Source: AIFC

Astana Hub administers the B9/B9-1 visa, so the in-demand-profession route is physically and institutionally based in this city.

Of Kazakhstan's two remote-work visas, only the B9/B9-1 was designed with a permanent-residence pathway, and it runs through Astana Hub's portal. That is a meaningful reason to be here if a route to permanence matters to you — the Neo Nomad visa sits in the visitor series and builds nothing.

Source: Astana Hub

The IIN cannot be obtained remotely and cannot be obtained before you arrive — the sequence is fixed.

Since February 2024 the consular and remote routes closed. So the order is: arrive, IIN, SIM, bank account, lease. People who plan to land and sign a lease within 48 hours have the sequence backwards, and landlords who want a registered contract will not proceed without it.

Source: egov.kz

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming the AIFC regime applies because your office is in Astana — it applies to registered AIFC participants and bodies
Treating the AIFC tax exemption as a blanket exemption rather than one scoped to defined activities
Applying for the Neo Nomad visa when the B9/B9-1 route, administered here, is the one with a permanent-residence pathway
Reading the 30-day visa-free stay as renewable indefinitely — the 90-days-in-180 cap catches frequent returners
Planning around Kazakhstan's old flat 10% income tax, replaced on 1 January 2026

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.