Who can file here from 31 August 2026
Citizens of Kazakhstan and holders of a Kazakh residence permit. Astana’s consular district also covers Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — their citizens file here with their own national documents, and Kazakh papers are not required of them.
The main change of late August concerns the residence permit. The temporary residence permit — RVP — has not been accepted since 31 August: the embassy said so verbally, and the rule covers dependants too. Only the full residence permit remains. Consulates are still reading the phrase “permanent resident” in the new rule differently from one another, and Astana has read it strictly.
How filing works
The format is fully electronic: the application goes through the e-visa system, the $400 fee is paid online, and there is no interview. Being physically in Astana is not required. For Kazakh citizens this is the fastest channel in the system — a decision usually takes 6 to 8 days.
What the package needs:
- proof of address — an extract from e.gov;
- a police clearance certificate — from the country of citizenship or the country of filing;
- three months of bank statements with a minimum balance of 500,000 ฿ per applicant, children included; for the main applicant a sponsorship letter is the formal alternative;
- an employer’s letter stating income and taxes paid, with a stamp — the tax follow-up now reaches Kazakh citizens as well, so it is simpler to include it with the application from the start.
Passport details
The general rule applies: six months of passport validity is enough — the “passport older than five years” requirement that ran here in 2025 was dropped in the summer of that year. The practical margin is a different matter: the visa is issued for five years and is not transferred into a new passport, so it makes sense to file on a passport with a year and a half to two years left.
With a passport running out, applicants travel with two: the old one carrying the visa is cancelled mechanically and stays in their hands.
What we track here
How the embassy draws the line between permanent and temporary permits in practice, what goes into the tax follow-up, and how payments clear on different cards. On Tajikistan we have no completed cases yet: the district is the same, but we have no experience to speak from.
A package you have assembled yourself we check before filing — the Preflight Check: $300, a written report within two working days. Full support all the way to the visa is the Solo Route and Family Route.
The state of every consulate is on the live board, and the consulate assigned to your country is on the map.