Simplified Arrival Process for Visa Holders Starts July 1, 2018

The situation

Work and business visa holders in Kazakhstan will benefit from a simplified arrival process as of July 1, 2018.

A closer look

• Simplified arrival process. Immigration authorities have abolished the following two on-arrival steps for work and business visa holders effective July 1, 2018: 
  • Migration card. Work and business visa holders will no longer need to complete a migration card to provide details about their purpose of stay. It is expected that this data will instead be automatically registered in the electronic national security database (Berkut), though it is not yet known how this registration will be implemented in practice.
  • Passport registration. Work and business visa holders will also be exempt from the obligation to register their passport with the local migration police, which was required within five days of arrival. This registration involved the migration police stamping the migration card.
  • Impact. Foreign nationals should benefit from a faster arrival process.

• Registrations not affected by the change.
  • Employer arrival notification process. Employers will still be required to notify the local migration police of the arrival of foreign visitors and employees within three business days of their arrival date. This notification is required for all foreign nationals staying more than five calendar days.
  • CIS nationals, visa exempt nationals and ‘high risk’ nationals. The changes are not yet applicable to Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nationals (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan), visa exempt nationals and nationals of ‘high-risk’ countries, as stipulated by the Kazakh authorities, including e.g. China, India and Pakistan.   

Looking ahead

Kazakh government authorities are expected to confirm in August 2018 whether the new rules will also apply to CIS nationals and visa exempt nationals.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced that it is developing an online notification system for employers, which is expected to become available by October 2018.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].