Astana, 1 November. From 1 November Kazakhstan begins to introduce, in stages, the QazETA electronic entry permit for foreigners from visa-free countries: first at Aktau airport and four road border crossings, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The system is designed for citizens of 85 states that can travel to Kazakhstan without a visa. The crossings of the first stage are Urlyutobe in the Pavlodar region, Aukhatty in Zhambyl, Atameken in Turkestan and Nurly Zhol in the Zhetisu region. At the airports of Astana and Almaty the permit will start to apply from 1 January 2027, and at the remaining border crossings from 1 March 2027. Until 30 June 2027 applying remains voluntary, and the lack of a permit is not in itself grounds for refusing entry; it becomes mandatory on 1 July 2027. From 1 November the permit exists, while the obligation to have one does not exist for another eight months.
Applications are submitted on the digital platform qazeta.kz no later than 72 hours before entry; the procedure is free, the permit is valid for 180 calendar days, and the same passport as in the application is needed at the border. Twenty-nine categories are exempt if they have supporting documents: heads of state and government and their family members, members of official delegations, holders of diplomatic and service passports, foreigners with a valid Kazakh visa, a temporary residence permit or a residence permit, children under 16 and people over 65, transit passengers who do not leave the airport zone, and crews and drivers of international transport. Border guards keep the right to refuse entry on the grounds of Article 48 of the Law “On Population Migration”.
On the same day an agreement between Kazakhstan and Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on visa-free travel for holders of service passports takes effect: Belgian minister Jean-Luc Crucke spoke about it during talks at the Akorda, and a Belgian Foreign Ministry representative confirmed it at a briefing in Brussels. It concerns service passports only; the reports do not mention abolishing visas for ordinary passports.
At 18:00 on 1 November the deadline for registering party lists and candidates in the extraordinary elections of maslikhat deputies expires, after which campaigning runs until 00:00 on 28 November; 28 November is the day of silence and voting is set for 29 November, the Central Election Commission decided. 3,447 deputies are being elected in 228 maslikhats: 20 regional, 38 city and 170 district ones, Tengrinews specified.
There is also a local change: from 1 November tariffs fall in the Zerendi district of the Akmola region. Heating in the settlement of Granitny becomes cheaper, from 4,014.60 to 1,121.22 tenge per gigacalorie (by 72.07%), in the village of Zerenda from 7,915.48 to 6,326.64 tenge (by 20.07%), and water from 254.97 to 234 tenge per cubic metre (by 8.22%). This affects 2,903 consumers, 70 of them entrepreneurs. The prosecutor’s office found that the municipal enterprise Zerenda Servis had included unjustifiably inflated costs in its tariff estimate and fined it 1.8 million tenge, the Akmola region prosecutor’s office said.
What it means: The first of November separates several deadlines: nothing becomes mandatory for foreign visitors until 1 July 2027, officials with service passports get visa-free entry to the Benelux countries, and the election campaign moves from registering candidates to campaigning. All three changes take effect on the same day, but they concern different people.
What to do: The Foreign Ministry asks foreigners and organisers of international trips to take the new requirements into account when planning. Anyone entering through Aktau or the named crossings should submit an application at qazeta.kz no later than 72 hours before the trip and carry the passport named in the application. For the other crossings the requirement comes later, on the schedule above.
Background: The QazETA procedure was approved by the Government, which amended Resolution No. 148 of 21 January 2012. The official spokesperson of Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, expected clarifications from Astana, NewTimes reported, and on 21 October Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry said it had sent detailed information about QazETA through diplomatic channels to 85 states, including Russia, Sputnik Kazakhstan reported. The state visit of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium to Kazakhstan took place on 12–14 October: trade between the two countries in 2025 was about 765 million euros, more than 100 Belgian companies work in Kazakhstan, and the countries signed a cooperation roadmap for 2027–2029, Kazakhstan’s ambassador Roman Vassilenko said.
We have also reported that 105 people ran for the Almaty maslikhat, among them a businessman from Forbes.
