Embassy report
Kazakh embassy in Azerbaijan (Baku)
Opening hours: application: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9.30-11.30 Collecting visa: same days: 16-17.00.
Address: Embassy not easy to find: 40.39478°N / 49.82441°E. There’s confusion about the adress, the embassy itself writes it this way: ул. гасана алиева, проезд 15, дом 8
June 2013: 4 working days for double entry visa for Swedish passport holders.
September 2012: 3 days and 30$ for French passport holder.
Kazakh embassy in China (Urumchi, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong)
Urumchi Located at 216 Kunming Lu – you can take the #2 or #52 bus from the train station. Open from 9am to 1pm. Prices in 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.
Beijing 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.
Shanghai 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.
Hong Kong 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.
Kazakh embassy in Georgia (Tblisi)
Located at 23 Shatberashvili. Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 11:00 – 13:00 and passports could be collected Tuesday, Friday 15:00 – 16:00. +995 32 299 76 84
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.
September 2012: A good place to get the Kazakhstan visa. We collected ours today (Friday) after handing in the application on Monday. Number 66 bus from the city drops you at the front door.
The lady told us she didn’t need the hotel booking confirmation or a letter saying why we wanted to visit but she seemed happy that we took the time to do it anyway.
Embassy of Kazakhstan in Japan (Tokyo)
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, $60 for 2 month double entry (30 days per entry max). Payable at time of pickup via wire transfer (ATM) receipt in JPY (get them to write down what they expect the cost to be at drop off time, their conversion rate might be lower than the day’s rate).
Kazakh embassy in Kyrgystan (Bishkek, Osh)
Embassy in Bishkek Adress: Mira 95. On the main avenue going south from Bishkek, it is Manas that changes into Mira. From the centre, different marshrutkas ply this route. Opening hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 to 12. Pick-up of visas is at 18.30 in the evening.
Summertime is very busy, and you should get there early if you want to be first. Outside of the season, it’s generally quiet. Tourist visas are 30$ for 30 days, 60$ for 60 days. Processing time 2-4 working days. Same-day express service is available for a hefty fee (100$ + cost of visas) via the agent/taxi driver hanging around the embassy. Transit visa available next day for the usual 20$.
The bank used to pay for the visa is KazKommerzBank, located at the corner of Sovetskaya and Bokonbaeva. The ATM outside of the bank issues dollars. You can save yourself a hurried trip to the bank and back by paying for your visa in advance. The bank account number is P/C 1051010048300114 .
Consulate in Osh Consulate has recently opened in 2013. Visas processed in the usual 3 business days.
Kazakh embassy in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)
Office hours for submission and collection are 0900-1300 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
April 2013: 50 US$ 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.
Kazakh embassy in Mongolia (Ulan Bator)
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. $70 deposited into their account – just showed deposit slip next day when returned to pick up visa – pretty sure they issued visa after this (5-10 min wait) then bye bye. Simple pleasant nice. 30 days.
Kazakh consulate in Russia (Omsk)
Single entry visa was the only possibility in April 2011 without invitation. 5 business days processing time, 40$.
Kazakhstan embassy in South Korea (Seoul)
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.
Kazakh embassy in Tajikistan (Dushanbe)
December 2010: US passport holder paid 60$ for 2-month visa, processing time 3 days. However, we have heard unconfirmed rumours that it is recently much more hassle to apply for a Kazakh visa in Dushanbe. Unconfirmed.
Kazakh embassy in Thailand (Bangkok)
January 2012: The Kazakh embassy in Bangkok has changed location. They have not yet updated their new location on their website. 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. Location of the bank and visa fees listed on the embassy's website are still correct. 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.
Kazakh embassy in Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara)
Istanbul 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.
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.
Ankara 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
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: $30 USD – 1 month single entry processed in 5 working days/no LOI required. Very straight forward, spoke excellent English, took copies of our Passport and supplied application forms.
Kazakh embassy in Uzbekistan (Tashkent)
Opening hours 9-12 Monday to Friday, closed on Wednesdays.
July 2012: Kazakh embassy in Tashkent won’t keep your passport if you just ask for it. But you’ll have to go 3 times at the the embassy to get your visa: 1st for application, 5 working days later in the morning to hand in your passport, then in the evening to pick it up with your visa. The official delay is 5 working days, negotiable to 4 days (3 days if you’re lucky). English is spoken.
March 2012: 30$ for 1 month single entry visa. Issued in 4 working days. They keep your passport, so make sure they stamp your copy.
