Kazakhstan visa

Ankara embassy

Address: Open 9-12 Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri (not weds if I remember correctly) and can be found here: N39.85149 E032.82650> 100m from Tajik embassy.

Payment is made at the Ziraat Bank down the road here: N39.84756 E032.82870

July 2013: Kazakhstan consulate in Ankara a pleasure to deal with. Form, passports,
brief covering letter, and money deposited at bank about 300m away. Visas issued in four days.

May 2013: Friendly guy, spoke English. Applied Monday, filling out form at embassy (which has a Tennis court!), gave 2 photos and a copy of my passport, picked up Friday. $160 (American passport), no visa support, 30 days single entry (double etc. not possible, he said).

April 2013: for British nationals: $30 USD – 1 month single entry processed in 5 working days/no LOI required. Very straight forward, spoke excellent English, took copies of our Passport and supplied application forms.

Baku embassy

Opening hours: application: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9.30-11.30 Collecting visa: same days: 16-17.00.

New address: On NcƏfqulu Rəfiyev Street. In front of the Catholic Church, and near the Amay shopping center. Bank to pay is in the Amay shopping center. Close to Xatai metro station. No need to leave passport, copy is fine. Updates posted here.

March 2017: Only possible to apply with residence permit.

October 2016: 2-day turnaround, 20$ for transit visa.

2016: 20$ for 1 month, 40$ for 2 months.

2012-2015: Stays the same: 30$, 3-4 days turnaround (occasionally 5), no need to leave passport.

Bangkok embassy

January 2012: The Kazakh embassy in Bangkok has changed location. The new address is GPF Witthayu Towers, Suite 804, 93/1, Wireless (Wittayu) Rd, Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Bangkok, 10330.

Consular section opening hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 10 to 12am. You can avoid having to rush to the Bangkok bank on Silom Road by paying for the visa before you go to the embassy. The bank charges 500 baht processing fee, which makes applying in Bangkok pricey. If you’re going overland, Urumqi is cheaper. Processing time 5 business days, 3 if you show up every day to ask if it’s ready.

Beijing embassy

February 2013: American passport holder was charged 200$ instead of 160$ like it said on the website.

Visa application form, passport, picture and done, right? According to a report from August 2011, Beijing likes to make it a bit harder for you than most other embassies. This is confirmed by other similar reports. At your own risk.

Bishkek embassy

Adress: Mira 95. On the main avenue going south from Bishkek, it is Manas that changes into Mira. From the centre, different marshrutkas ply this route.

Opening hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 to 12. Pick-up of visas is at 18.00 in the evening. Updates posted here.

2016: Due to the visa-free regime, the embassy has become very quiet, even in summer. Otherwise, as before.

2012-2015: Summertime is very busy, and you should get there early, more than 100 people a day is not unusual. Outside of the season, it’s generally quiet. Tourist visas are 30$ for 30 days, 60$ for 60 days. Processing time 3-5 working days. Same-day express service is not possible. Transit visa available next day for the usual 20$ (Americans 160$).

The bank used to pay for the visa is KazKommerzBank, located at the corner of Sovetskaya and Bokonbaeva. The ATM outside of the bank issues dollars.

Brussels embassy

Opening hours: 9.30 – 12.30 Mon, Tue, Thu, Friday.

January 2015: Standard procedure, 1 week turnaround. Bring proof of payment when you pick up the visa. You cannot keep your passport.

Dushanbe embassy

Address: Husseinzonda Street, the first wide street on the Southern branch of Rudaki Avenue, not far from the Archaeological Museum. Closed on Weekends and Wednesdays. Embassy is located at: 38.568404N, 68.788823E (Huseinzoda street 31). Kazkommertz bank is located at: 38.5637945N, 68.7939942E (Ayni street 24a). Updates can be posted and read here.

June 2015: 3 day turnaround.

January 2015: 30 days visa, applied on Friday, collected on Monday, 30 USD, pay at the Kazkoz Bank in Ayni Street, you keep your passport, no English spoken.

June 2013: 3 day turnaround for French passport holder.

Hanoi embassy, Vietnam

Updates posted in the Hanoi embassy reports forum topic.

U.S. citizen obtained a one year C3 visa in May 2017. Special consideration (calling/emailing the embassy) was required to be issued a visa outside home country, and a Vietnam temporary resident card was required. Cost was $200 plus $70 for an agent if done in Ho Chi Minh City (application must be made in person, an agent can do it with a power of attorney document).

Vietnamese citizen was denied a tourist visa in September 2017. This was prior to application, but with a valid LOI, was told the embassy is no longer issuing visas at all. LOI-issuing agency said they are unable to issue an LOI for Vietnamese citizens for anywhere but Hanoi. This seems to be a catch-22 as the existence of the embassy makes agencies (and likely airlines) wary of working on a visa on arrival for a Vietnamese. It appears Vietnamese are for all practical purposes barred from Kazakhstan at this time.

Hong Kong consulate

Opening hours: Monday-Friday from 10am-1pm (come before 12!)

April 2013: 6-day turnaround for Canadian. Payment has to be made as a bank transfer or cash deposit at any local branch of HSBC.

Istanbul consulate

New address: http://goo.gl/maps/0c1zi
Basak Sokak 35, Yesilyurt, Bakirkoy
Tel: +90-212 6625347
Opening Times: Mon-Fri 09.30 -12.00 submit docs, Mon-Fri 15.00 – 16.30 collect docs.
Transport: It can be reached by 72T bus from Taksim or by suburban train from Sirkeci to Yesilyurt station. Taxi from airport is about 15 lira.

December 2016: No problem getting a double entry tourist visa over 90 days, without visa support/hotel booking, etc.

October 2013: More negative news from Istanbul. American inquired about transit visa, was told it was ‘problematic.’ Best to avoid this embassy if possible: Ankara, Tbilisi, Baku are much better.

October 2012: British passport holder applied for a press visa but they were most unhelpful. Charging $200 for the visa and making him wait a week to issue it. Colleagues got their visas free of charge (one at Istanbul). Anzor, a visa officer, is a nightmare.

Kiev embassy

December 2016: To avoid. Refused to give a double entry tourist visa to a British without LOI or hotel bookings, which is not according to the law. Also denied visa-free for British would be coming in 2017, another lie/mistake.

Kuala Lumpur embassy

Address: 115, Jalan Ampang Hilir, 55000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Office hours are 0900-1300 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
Phone: 0342510728. Updates collected here.

January 2017: Only with residence permit possible to apply.

April 2013: 50 US$ for double entry tourist visa for Australian passport holder. Paid at the counter, no bank transactions involved. Took one week. Obtained without LOI only because I was able to provide my flight itinerary that showed I needed two entries (before and after my visit to Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan). Without these documents, I would have needed a LOI. Despite the printed itinerary, I still had to convince the person accepting the documents that I didn’t need a LOI, so there were a few interesting moments.

New Delhi embassy, India

Updates posted in this forum post.

May 2017: Only single-entry ($20) and multi-entry ($200) tourist visas. I would also, they insisted, need to come down personally for an interview. The travel agent I went with told me a slightly different story: that I had to be there either during the application or the collection of the passport, but that I could not avoid both. When I eventually turned up at the chosen date, I was ushered in through a narrow back alley to where a solitary guard sat, collecting and disbursing passports.

It turned out that the visas had been issued two weeks earlier so they had trouble locating them but the man who sat there, lambasting everyone in the typical bureaucratic style of the empowered powerless, got a lot more helpful when I put my agent on the phone. My guess is that there are bribes paid out by the regular agents and it would make your life much easier to go through one of them.

Anyway, I had two learnings: one, nobody verified who I was when I went to collect the passport, which means you might be able to pull off getting someone else to collect on your behalf, especially useful if you live in a different city. Two, the transit visa requires no LOI and is only for $10. I believe it is valid only for 4 or 5 days and I have heard from other reports of transit visas being rejected if the planned route was too itinerant, but it’s worth a shot – it would have cost me $10 rather than $77 that it did (including the LOI.)

Omsk consulate

Opening hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9:30-13:30 and 16:00-17:00

August 2015: 2 day turnaround, quick and easy.

Osh consulate

Address: Michurin Str. 7, Osh.

2014: This consulate has ceased to exist. According to some, it is a myth and never existed in the first place!

June 2013: This consulate has recently opened. Visas processed in the usual 3 business days.

Seoul embassy

Adress: #53, Jangmun-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 140-809, Republic of Korea
Tel: 02-394-9716, 02-379-9714,
Consular section: 02-391-8906, 02-379-7876
email: seoul at mfa dot kz
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9-12

April 2013: French passports, 3 months double entry with LOI, no problems. 5 days waiting. English is spoken, need to leave the passports. Might be able to get it in 3 days. Price: 90$ per person.

Shanghai consulate

Address: Room 1003, Orient International Plaza, 85 Loushanguan Rd, Shanghai.
Opening hours: 9.30 – 12.30 for visa applications. Open on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Get there by at least 9 as the process is extremely slow and you will want to be at the front of the line.

Directions: Catch the Metro, Line 2 to Loushanguan station. Come out of Exit 2 and turn left immediately and walk for about 10 minutes. Take no notice of the numbers as the building appears on the other side of the road just after about 411. The name of the building is quite visible so look for that rather than numbers.

As you go in the front doors you will see 4 lift entries. Take the third one from the left and go to level 10. Go through the glass doors and line up outside of room 1003. The security guard will probably tell you to do this anyway.

Visa requirements: 1 passport photo, 1 copy of your passport and your passport, 1 copy of your Chinese visa. There is a copy centre to the left as you come in the main entrance of the building on the ground floor if you need to make copies.

May 2012: single entry tourist visa is 140 Y that must be paid at the Bank of China around the corner and the receipt brought back before they will process. The bank is difficult to find with no visible signs. Go down to the ground floor, exit the building to the road and turn left. Turn left at the next corner and walk for about 100m. You should see twin buildings across the road. The nearest one has a Starbucks sign on the outside. Go to the other building on the far side. The Bank of China is directly ahead on the ground floor. There are a set of stairs to the left. Go up these to the next floor and you will find the office where you need to pay.

You can pick your visa up the following week at 3pm. Express service for twice the price but not sure on the timing of this. You can ask to keep your passport.

Tashkent embassy

Opening hours 9-12 Monday to Friday, closed on Wednesdays.

June 2013: New embassy has opened, so old address probably useless. Let us know if you find out where the new one is!

July 2012: Kazakh embassy in Tashkent won’t keep your passport if you just ask for it. But you’ll have to go 3 times at the the embassy to get your visa: 1st for application, 5 working days later in the morning to hand in your passport, then in the evening to pick it up with your visa. The official delay is 5 working days, negotiable to 4 days (3 days if you’re lucky). English is spoken.

March 2012: 30$ for 1 month single entry visa. Issued in 4 working days. They keep your passport, so make sure they stamp your copy.

Tbilisi embassy

Located at 23 Shatberashvili. Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 10:30 – 12:30 and passports could be collected Tuesday, Friday 15:00 – 16:00. Updates collected here.

March 2017: 200$ for a multiple entry tourist visa for Indian citizen.

June 2016: 2-month tourist visas not available.

April 2014: Tourist visas now 60$ for 1 month, 90$ for 2 months. Americans 160$.

September 2013: 4 working days processing time.

April 2013: Superprofessional woman dealing with the visas. Procedure as in theory, got private visa in 4 days for 60$. Payment can be made in the bank or in cash if you bring the exact amount, in US dollars only.

November 2012: 40 US$ for 1 month. Handed in on Wednesday, picked up on Tuesday. Bus 66 ( costs one 50T coin on the bus or you can use a metro card )from the central train station stops right outside the embassy ( 2nd last stop on the bus … the last stop is only 2 minutes up the hill on the same street ), bus takes 20 to 30 mins to get there.

Tehran embassy

Embassy address: 82, North Hedayat Str., Corner of Masjed Alley, Tehran [GPS: 35.7779, 51.4515] – (+98) 21 256-59-33. You can reach it walking 10-15 minutes from metro stration Golhak.

Opening hours: (hours in brackets are meant for receiving the documents)
Sun 14:00-16:00 (16-18:00),
Tue 10:00-12:00 (14-16:00),
Wed 14:00-16:00 (16-18:00).

You will need: to fill the form, given in the embassy; a copy of passport; 2 passport-sized pictures; 40$ cash to be paid in a bank, or pay at the embassy when receiving the visa (bring the exact amount). By default they want to keep your passport, but if you say you will need it then they let you keep it. Updates collected here.

September 2015: Still 4 days and 40 USD.

May 2014: It takes 4 days and 40 USD to get the visa for Kazakhstan in Tehran.

Tokyo embassy

July 2012: The consulate will keep the original passport for entire length of time (drop off Monday and pick up the following Monday afternoon at 15:00).

Cost for Americans: $30 USD for 1 month single entry, $60 for 2 month double entry (30 days per entry max). Payable at time of pickup via wire transfer (ATM) receipt in JPY (get them to write down what they expect the cost to be at drop off time, their conversion rate might be lower than the day’s rate).

Ulan Bator embassy

Address: Zaisan Road, in fact down a side street off Zaisan. At the intersection of Zaisan and Chinggis Ave, heading south, take the 4th side street to the right. You will see the blue Kazakh flag immediately on the right.

Opening hours: Mon Tue, Thu and Fri. Submit paperwork from 10-12, collection between 16-18.

July 2014: Very nice guys, 2 day turnaround.

July 2013: Two NZ travellers plus motorcycle dropped off forms on Tuesday, collected the following Tuesday. You may be able to get it faster – we think the embassy was closed for a couple of days around the Mongolian election.

There’s two forms to complete and you need some sort of itinerary. You pay at the Golomt Bank around the corner. There’s a bit of back and forth, so it would pay to get to the embassy early so you don’t have to run to the bank and back (as we did). Staff are helpful enough.

March 2012: A British passport holder tells us: very nice service. 1 photo, passport, 10-1200 for visa application, 16-1700 for pick up, not wed, sat, sun. Got application form at embassy, handed in paperwork and passport (no loi, just listed a few places for itinerary. No bookings needed) picked up next day. $70 deposited into their account – just showed deposit slip next day when returned to pick up visa – pretty sure they issued visa after this (5-10 min wait) then bye bye. Simple pleasant nice. 30 days.

Urumqi consulate

Located at 216 Kunming Lu – you can take the #2 or #52 bus from the train station. Open from 9am to 1pm. Same address but there’s a new building to apply for visas. It’s just behind the main building in an alley. There’s always a massive line of Kazakhs screaming and pushing. Just get the chubby security guy to notice you and he’ll get you in without waiting. He will also get you to the interview without waiting.

April 2016: Dutch passport. 30 days single entry tourist visa. A bit chaotic, but no stress. The lady who did the interview didn’t speak a word of English,  and not even Chinese I think. We did the whole thing in Kazakh  (I don’t speak Kazakh) and Google translate. She filled in my form very very badly, but people at the embassy didn’t seem to care. She was doing 4 things at once and was very stressed. Be nice to her. They make copies of your passport and Chinese visa. One passport photo is needed, no additional costs for the copies or interview. Watch out,  they got my entry date wrong 3 times.

Once your done in that building,  you have to bring all the papers to the main building. Same story, many people but just say hello to the security guard. There’s a special window for foreigners, and the guy was very friendly and spoke fluent English. Told him to change my entry date and it wasn’t a problem for him.

140 CNY for 1 week turn around, you can keep your passport. 280 CNY for express (3 days), they keep your passport. You have to pay at China construction bank just around the corner and come back with your receipt. Hand in all the documents again and you’ll get a receipt with a date on it when you can pick up your visa. Once again, he got the date wrong so it’s better to check when you leave.

Specific dates validity of visa! They asked us what date we want to arrive to Kazakhstan, we said 28th October, but official wrote 29th on our applications and we get visas valid for 30 days since 29th October until 27th November. So it seems that we can’t arrive earlier than 29th October and if we arrive later than 29th we probably can’t stay longer than 27th November.

People in consulate in Urumqi are friendly and helpful. They speak Chinese, Uyghur, Russian and a little bit of English (basic sentences, but understandable). Even it’s a big mess outside foreigners can just skip the line. The most important person is bodyguard who decide who is going inside. Good advise is to be friendly to him, smile to him, talk to him, let him to screen all your stamps in passport and then he will take good care of you :)

October 2011: 30 days costs 30$, 60 days 60$. Processing time 5 working days. Could be quicker if you ask for it. Traveler experiences of this embassy range from absolute madness to piece of cake…Use your foreigner status to skip the line.

Washington embassy

July 2015: Brit was given a 90-day double entry tourist visa with no 30 day exit rule.