GlobeQuest

Kazakhstan visas and residency

Who can visit Kazakhstan without a visa, and the 6 long-stay routes that let you actually live there.

Short stay

Visiting Kazakhstan, by passport

How the 198 passports we track get in. A visitor entry is never permission to work, study or settle — that is what the routes further down are for.

United StatesVisa-free · 30 daysUnited KingdomVisa-free · 30 daysIndiaVisa-free · 14 daysCanadaVisa-free · 30 daysAustraliaVisa-free · 30 daysGermanyVisa-free · 30 daysFranceVisa-free · 30 daysNetherlandsVisa-free · 30 daysIrelandVisa-free · 30 daysSpainVisa-free · 30 daysItalyVisa-free · 30 daysPortugalVisa-free · 30 daysPolandVisa-free · 30 daysSwedenVisa-free · 30 daysSwitzerlandVisa-free · 30 daysSouth Africae-Visa
Long stay

How you actually move to Kazakhstan

Digital nomadMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

Neo Nomad visa (category B12-1)

Remote workers with steady income from outside Kazakhstan. Open to citizens of any country — this is not a shortlist scheme.

What you need
  • Verified income from foreign sources of at least USD 3,000 per month
  • Six months of bank statements evidencing that income
  • A tax return from your home jurisdiction
  • Criminal-record certificate
  • Medical insurance valid in Kazakhstan
  • An invitation, UNLESS you hold the nationality of one of the ~48 countries Kazakhstan treats as economically developed and migration-stable, which are exempt from the invitation requirement
How long it lasts
Multiple-entry, issued by Kazakh missions abroad for up to one year. Territorial police departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs may extend it inside Kazakhstan, on application, for a further period of up to one year.
Path to permanent residence
None directly. It sits in the B (visitor) series, not the residence series. If permanence is the goal, the B9/B9-1 digital nomad visa below is the one built for it, or an ordinary work permit leading to a residence permit — permanent residence generally follows five years of lawful residence, or three if married to a Kazakh citizen.
Cost
A consular fee in the region of EUR 45, plus document and translation costs.
Processing time
Around five to seven business days once the file is lodged at a consular post.
Worth knowing
  • This visa is real, in force and being issued — unlike several 'nomad visas' announced in this region. But it explicitly does NOT permit working for Kazakh companies or earning Kazakh-source income. It is built entirely around foreign income.
  • Family members and dependants get visas of the same length but with no right to work or carry out religious activity.
  • Sources differ on renewals: the eGov classification describes a single in-country extension of up to one year, while some immigration-firm write-ups describe up to three renewals and a four-year maximum. Take the shorter reading as your plan and confirm with the mission.
  • For short stays you may not need it at all — around 56 nationalities, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and the EU, enter visa-free for up to 30 days per visit, capped at 90 days in any 180. The Neo Nomad visa is what you use when that cap becomes the binding constraint.
  • Kazakhstan requires an Individual Identification Number (IIN) before you can do almost anything financial. Since February 2024 it has been issued only in person at a Public Service Centre. Budget for it in your first week.
Sources:eGov Kazakhstan — visa classification for foreignersMigration Service Committee, Ministry of Internal Affairs
Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

Digital nomad visa for in-demand professions (categories B9 / B9-1)

IT specialists and others whose profession appears on the government's in-demand list, applying through Astana Hub. This is the one with a permanent-residence pathway attached.

What you need
  • A qualification matching one of the approved in-demand professions
  • Application through the Astana Hub portal or endorsement by the responsible IT-sector state body
  • Educational and experience documentation supporting the qualification
How long it lasts
B9 single-entry up to 90 days, multiple-entry up to one year. B9-1 is issued electronically through the portal for up to one year, single-entry, with multiple-entry variants also up to a year.
Path to permanent residence
Yes — this stream was designed as a route into permanent residence for skilled remote professionals, which is what distinguishes it from the Neo Nomad visa. The mechanics of the transition sit with the Migration Service Committee; confirm the current procedure before relying on it.
Cost
State fee plus document costs; the online single-entry route avoids a consular visit entirely.
Processing time
Days rather than weeks through the portal.
Worth knowing
  • You still may not take local employment on it — the restriction is the same as the Neo Nomad visa's.
  • Dependants cannot be sponsored on the electronic single-entry variant. If you are moving a family, check which sub-category you are actually being issued.
  • The in-demand professions list is a published instrument that changes. Verify your specific qualification is currently on it rather than relying on 'IT' as a category.
Sources:eGov Kazakhstan — visa classification for foreignersAstana Hub — digital nomad visa for in-demand IT professions
Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

AIFC employment (Astana International Financial Centre)

People employed by an AIFC participant or AIFC body — banks, funds, fintechs, law and audit firms registered inside the Centre. Overwhelmingly an Astana proposition, though AIFC firms do employ people who live elsewhere.

What you need
  • Employment with a company registered as an AIFC participant, or with an AIFC body
  • The employer handles the AIFC route; you are not applying against the national quota
How long it lasts
Work visas for foreign experts and their family members of up to five years, under the AIFC's own simplified visa and labour regime.
Path to permanent residence
The AIFC regime is about work authorisation and tax, not naturalisation. Long lawful residence still routes through the ordinary permanent-residence rules.
Cost
Borne largely by the employer.
Processing time
Materially faster than the national work-permit process, because the labour-market test and quota do not apply.
Worth knowing
  • The AIFC is not a marketing zone. It has its own legal framework based on English common law, its own AIFC Court and International Arbitration Centre outside Kazakhstan's judicial system, English as the working language, and — the headline — an exemption from a defined set of taxes running until 1 January 2066. For AIFC participants that covers corporate income tax on qualifying financial-services income; for foreign employees of participants and bodies it covers individual income tax on their AIFC earnings.
  • The exemption is scoped to qualifying activity, not to the postcode. Income from activities outside the defined financial-services list, and Kazakh-source income earned outside the AIFC, is taxed normally. Read the joint acts defining the covered activities before assuming a salary is exempt.
  • The 2066 date is real and unusually long, which is precisely why you should confirm the current scope rather than a summary of it — the schedule of covered taxes and activities has been amended more than once since 2018.
  • Kazakhstan's ordinary tax position changed on 1 January 2026: the new Tax Code replaced the long-standing flat 10% individual income tax with 10% up to an annual threshold (KZT 35,258,000) and 15% above it, and raised VAT to 16%. Anyone comparing Kazakhstan on the old flat-10% figure is working from a dead number.
Sources:Astana International Financial Centre — regime and incentiveseGov Kazakhstan — visa classification for foreigners
Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

Employer-sponsored work permit (the ordinary route)

Foreign nationals hired by an ordinary Kazakh company outside the AIFC — energy, mining, manufacturing, services.

What you need
  • A sponsoring employer holding, or able to obtain, a permit slot within the national quota
  • The employer must advertise the vacancy on the Electronic Labour Exchange for 15 calendar days in the region where the permit is sought
  • Qualification documents matching the permit category
  • Employer compliance with local-staffing ratios
How long it lasts
Permits are issued by category and renewed; the associated temporary residence permit tracks the work permit's validity.
Path to permanent residence
Yes. Permanent residence generally follows five years of lawful temporary residence with stable income — three years where married to a Kazakh citizen.
Cost
Employer pays the permit fee, which varies by category and sector.
Processing time
Weeks. The 15-day labour-market test runs before the application can even be filed, so build it into the start date.
Worth knowing
  • The quota is set annually by government order and is small in absolute terms. The headline 2026 figure is 0.25% of the labour force, revised to 0.3% for specialists engaged on permits issued by local executive bodies, with a separate and much larger 2.85% band for labour immigrants working for private individuals. What actually binds is the category sub-allocation, and those are national totals in the thousands: roughly 726 permits for senior managers and deputies, 3,402 for heads of structural divisions, 5,893 for specialists and 3,131 for skilled workers, plus about 4,994 for seasonal labour.
  • Local-staffing ratios bite hard: for the two managerial categories at least 70% of staff must be Kazakh citizens, and for specialists and skilled workers at least 90%. Employers with fewer than 20 employees have been exempt from these ratios — confirm the exemption still stands for your employer's headcount.
  • The permit belongs to the employer and names the position. It is not portable between jobs.
  • Ethnic Kazakh returnees (kandas) and EAEU citizens — Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan — sit outside this system entirely and do not need a work permit.
  • Foreign licences: once you hold a residence permit you must exchange your driving licence within roughly 60 days, and since 2023 that has meant sitting the Kazakh theory exam. It is not a paper swap.
Sources:Migration Service Committee, Ministry of Internal AffairseGov Kazakhstan — visa classification for foreigners
InvestmentMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

Business immigrant / independent employment visa (category C5)

Founders setting up or buying into a Kazakh company, and skilled people taking up independent employment in priority sectors.

What you need
  • A Kazakh legal entity you own or control, or a qualifying independent-employment case in a priority sector
  • Documentation of the business and its activity
How long it lasts
Multiple-entry for up to two years — up to three years for ethnic Kazakhs — with single-entry variants up to 90 days.
Path to permanent residence
It is a lawful basis for residence and counts toward the five-year permanent-residence clock.
Cost
Consular and registration fees; company formation in Kazakhstan is inexpensive.
Processing time
Weeks, depending on the mission.
Worth knowing
  • Company founders and directors sit outside the foreign-labour quota, which is the practical reason many people incorporate rather than seek employment.
  • Registering a company gets you an IIN and a BIN and opens the banking system — Kaspi.kz, the country's dominant super-app bank, will open an account for a non-resident in branch with an IIN, a local SIM and evidence of lawful stay, while Halyk generally wants a residence permit. Remote onboarding for non-residents has been closed across the major banks.
  • Do not confuse this with the AIFC. A C5 business immigrant in an ordinary Kazakh company pays ordinary Kazakh tax, including the 2026 progressive individual income tax and 16% VAT.
Sources:eGov Kazakhstan — visa classification for foreignersMigration Service Committee, Ministry of Internal Affairs
StudentMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

Study visa and student residence

Students at Kazakh institutions — Nazarbayev University in Astana and KIMEP, Satbayev and al-Farabi in Almaty are the main draws for international intakes.

What you need
  • Admission to an accredited institution
  • Institutional invitation, proof of funds and medical insurance
  • Registration through the university once in-country
How long it lasts
Aligned to the programme, renewed annually.
Path to permanent residence
Lawful residence that counts toward the five-year clock, though converting to work afterwards still needs an employer or one of the nomad/business routes.
Cost
Consular fee plus tuition, which is low by OECD standards.
Processing time
Weeks, after the institution issues its invitation.
Worth knowing
  • Nazarbayev University teaches in English and recruits internationally; most other institutions run in Kazakh or Russian, and language of instruction is the first thing to confirm.
  • Universities normally handle migration registration for their students, but the obligation still ultimately rests with you.
Sources:eGov Kazakhstan — visa classification for foreigners
On the ground

Where you'd land in Kazakhstan

Almaty

Kazakhstan's money and mountains city — skiing 25 minutes away, and winter smog you have to plan around.

Full Almaty guide
Astana

A capital built on empty steppe since 1997, with an English-common-law financial centre and winters that reach -40°C.

Full Astana guide

Kazakhstan at a glance

Capital
Astana
Population
20.8M
Languages
Kazakh, Russian
Currency
KZT