Visa requirements for Kazakh citizens

Kazakh citizens need a Schengen visa, which covers all member states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, Kazakhstan and 38 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

47 countries ask holders of the Kazakh passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Kazakhstan without one: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and 42 others.

The reverse holds for 40 countries: holders of the Kazakh passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Kazakhstan (Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Barbados, Burundi, Cambodia and 35 others).

84 countries ask holders of the Kazakh passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 27 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Kazakhstan.

57 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Kazakhstan, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Kazakhstan, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Pakistan (3) and Uzbekistan (2).

The United States refused 52% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Kazakhstan in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 143 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 53 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Kazakhstan refused 9.1% of short-stay visa applications in 2025 (all Schengen consulates worldwide: 15%). Among the 74 countries where they received at least 10,000 applications, that is the 56th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Kazakh passport

By continent, the Kazakh passport is visa-free in 19 countries in Asia, 11 countries in the Americas, 6 countries in Europe, 3 countries in Africa and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Kazakh citizens are allowed in Georgia (360 days), Antigua and Barbuda (180 days), Armenia (180 days), Albania (90 days), Argentina (90 days) and Azerbaijan (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Kazakh citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti and 27 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Kazakh citizens enter Australia, the Bahamas, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso and 29 others. Ivory Coast, Kenya, Saint Kitts and Nevis, South Korea and Suriname ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Kazakhstan’s neighbours

China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Russia admit Kazakh citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: Turkmenistan (visa required).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Russian passport ranks 79th (115 destinations), the Chinese passport ranks 113th (78 destinations), the Kyrgyz passport ranks 139th (62 destinations), the Uzbek passport ranks 140th (61 destinations) and the Turkmen passport ranks 173rd (47 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 85 can enter visa-free and 113 need an e-Visa for Kazakhstan.