Kazakhstan relaxes visa requirements for foreigners
Improving the investment and tourist attractiveness of Kazakhstan is one of the strategic objectives set by President Tokayev before the government bodies. In so doing, the Ministry of Internal Affairs continues to simplify procedures and accelerate the timing of the provision of public services in the field of migration, the Ministry’s press service informs.
In the current quarter, the Ministry of Internal Affairs transferred the service “Invitation of a foreigner” to electronic format.
Issuing an invitation to enter is one of the most demanded public services provided by the Ministry of the Interior.
And it was this procedure that foreign citizens wishing to come to Kazakhstan delivered unnecessary trouble and time-consuming: collecting documents, personal appearance at the Embassy of Kazakhstan and waiting for an answer, which could last as long as 30 or more days.
Now this service can be obtained without leaving your home in just 5 days on the visa-migration portal www.vmp.gov.kz.
In the personal account on the visa-migration portal, the person issuing the invitation to a foreigner must:
- To fill out an application and enter the data of a foreigner;
- To pay the state fee through the payment gateway of electronic government (0.5 MCI for each invitee); after 5 working days, the applicant’s personal account will receive a 10-digit registration number of the invitation, which must be reported to a foreign citizen.
- The foreign citizen fills out an application on the visa-migration portal; after 15 minutes, the foreigner will receive an electronic visa.
- To print an electronic visa and present it to employees of border service during passport control at the border of Kazakhstan.
Currently, the electronic invitation service for foreigners is available for issuing single-entry electronic visas of categories B1, B2 and B3 for entry into Kazakhstan for business purposes, and category B10 for private purposes.
Of note is that at present, with the help of an electronic visa, one can go through passport control at the international airports of the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty. It is planned to disseminate such an order at other checkpoints across the state border of the country in 2020.
