Before you start

Passport valid for the stay
For the IT Visa: an IT qualification plus either an IT Park resident employer or US$30,000 of documented IT income over twelve months
For employment: an employer with a corporate licence to engage foreign labour
PINFL, for anything financial

Step-by-step

1
Check your entry route — visa-free, or e-visa
More than 90 countries have visa-free entry, generally 30 days and in some cases longer under bilateral agreements. US citizens gained 30-day visa-free entry from 1 January 2026; the UK, EU states, Japan, Australia, South Korea and the GCC are all covered. Everyone else applies through the official e-visa portal, typically three to five business days. Use e-visa.gov.uz directly — there is a large ecosystem of paid intermediaries charging multiples of the state fee.
OnlineWho: All arrivalsImmediate at the border, or 3-5 business days for an e-visaFree, or the state e-visa fee
2
Register your place of stay within three working days
Registration goes through the Unified Electronic Registration and Identification System on my.gov.uz. Hotels do it automatically and invisibly. If you are in a rented flat, an Airbnb or with friends, it is on you and your host — and the three-working-day clock runs from entry, and restarts each time you move. Missing it is not usually noticed immediately; it is noticed at exit or when you next need a government service, which is a much worse moment to discover it.
OnlineWho: Every foreign nationalWithin three working days of arrivalFree
3
If you work in IT, apply for the IT Visa rather than a work permit
The IT Visa is issued for up to three years to founders, investors and employees connected to IT Park resident companies, and to individual IT specialists who can evidence at least US$30,000 of income from IT activity over the preceding twelve months. It permits work in Uzbekistan WITHOUT a work permit, allows the holder to live anywhere in the country without re-registering place of stay, extends access to public education and health services to dependants, and opens a simplified residence permit on buying residential property of any value. The statutory decision target is three business days.
OnlineWho: IT specialists, founders and investorsUp to three business daysModest state fee
4
Otherwise, the employer runs the work-permit process
An employer must first obtain a corporate licence to engage foreign labour, valid for a fixed period and headcount, then demonstrate through a local labour-market search that the role cannot be filled domestically, then obtain an individual work permit naming you. You must enter on the appropriate employment-category visa: visa-free entry cannot be converted into work authorisation from inside the country. Get your PINFL early — it is needed for payroll, banking and most state services.
Via employerWho: Employees outside the IT trackWeeks, driven by the corporate licence and labour-market searchEmployer-borne licence and permit fees

Documents you’ll need

Passport
IT qualification and income evidence (IT Visa) or employment documentation (work permit)
Registration confirmation for your place of stay
PINFL
Property title, where using the residence-permit property route

Things most newcomers don’t know

The IT Visa's best feature is not its length — it is that holders can live anywhere in Uzbekistan without re-registering their place of stay.

The three-working-day registration rule is the most consistently breached obligation in the country, because it restarts every time you move and the duty is shared with a host who may not know it exists. The IT Visa lifts that requirement entirely, alongside removing the work permit. For anyone who intends to travel around the country or move flat more than once, that is worth more than the three-year term.

Source: Government of Uzbekistan — IT Visa

Uzbekistan has no digital nomad visa. What it has instead is better, and gated.

Aggregator sites list nomad visas for countries that do not have them, and this region is a repeat offender. Uzbekistan's IT Visa is a real, published instrument with a three-day decision target — but it requires an IT qualification plus either an IT Park employer or US$30,000 of documented IT income. A generalist remote worker without those does not qualify and should plan around visa-free entry plus, if staying, the work-permit or property routes.

Source: outsource.gov.uz

Visa-free entry cannot be converted into work authorisation from inside the country.

People arrive on the 30-day visa-free stay, find a job, and assume they can regularise in place. They cannot: the employer must run the corporate licence and labour-market process, and you must enter on the right visa category. That means leaving and re-entering, which is fine if you plan it and disruptive if you do not.

Source: my.gov.uz

Three separate schemes are routinely merged into one imaginary programme: the UP-180 tax regime, the property residence thresholds, and the USD 250,000 five-year permit.

Decree UP-180 buys a personal income tax exemption on foreign income for USD 50,000 — it is not a residence permit. The property route buys a residence permit at region-tiered thresholds (published figures around USD 300,000 in Tashkent, USD 200,000 in several regional centres, USD 100,000 elsewhere) on NEW-BUILD residential stock. A separate scheme from 1 June 2025 offers a five-year residence permit for a USD 250,000 payment. Relocation coverage blends all three. Verify which one you are actually being sold.

Common mistakes to avoid

Missing the three-working-day registration because the hotel did the first one silently
Assuming a digital nomad visa exists — it does not; the IT Visa is the nearest instrument and it is qualification-gated
Trying to convert a visa-free entry into work authorisation without leaving the country
Confusing the UP-180 tax regime with a residence permit — it is a tax election that costs US$50,000
Buying secondary-market property expecting it to qualify for the residence permit; the route is new-build

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