I once had a very challenging visa problem getting into Kazakhstan so it is nice to know that, at least for the remainder of 2017, vast numbers of people from many nations can visit the country for business or pleasure for up to 30 days without any visa.

Kazakhstan has pretty much thrown open its doors for the time being, allowing lots of people from abroad to come for business or pleasure without any visa at all.  The country is promoting tourism in general but the government particularly wants tourists to attend Expo-2017.

Expo-2017?  That’s right.  Expositions are held with a certain frequency.  In fact, there is an intergovernmental organization in charge of overseeing and regulating world expositions.  It’s called Bureau International des Expositions.

Kazakhstan bid for and was awarded the project for 2017 and it is being held in Astana this summer, ending on 10 September 2017.  A lot of money has been spent by the national government, the city of Astana and more than 100 countries which operate their individual pavilions, all under the theme of “Future Energy”.

For the time being, therefore, the usual visa requirements for visitors for business or pleasure have been dropped for citizens of many countries.

Here is the official announcement:

Announcement on the extension of visa free travel to Kazakhstan from 1 January to 31 December 2017.

Citizens of following countries may enter Kazakhstan without applying for visas if the period of stay in the Republic of Kazakhstan does not exceed 30 calendar days from the moment of crossing the State border of the Republic of Kazakhstan:

1. Australia	16. Hungary	31. Norway
2. Austria	17. Iceland	32. Poland
3. Belgium	18. Ireland	33. Portugal
4. Bulgaria	19. Israel	34. Republic of Korea
5. Canada	20. Italy	35. Romania
6. Chile	21. Japan	36. Singapore
7. Croatia	22. Latvia	37. Slovakia
8. Cyprus	23. Lithuania	38. Slovenia
9. Czech Republic	24. Luxembourg	39. Spain
10. Denmark	25. Malaysia	40. Sweden
11. Estonia	26. Malta	41. Switzerland
12. Finland	27. Mexico	42. Turkey
13. France	28. Monaco	43. United Arab Emirates
14. Germany	29. Netherlands	44. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
15. Greece	30. New Zealand	45. United States of America

So much for the current situation.   Now let me tell you about the time I entered the country without a visa when visas were rigorously required.

In the 1990s, I travelled frequently between England and Kazakhstan.  I set up my firm’s law office in Almaty in 1993 but continued to be in charge of our office in London.  Both were small offices and didn’t need a lot of administrative oversight – well, maybe the Almaty office did due to local regulatory requirements – but I had clients and their work in both offices.  It often happened that I would arrive at the London office and immediately work on Kazakhstan legal matters.  Equally, I would be in Almaty only to find that I had to pay attention to some matter for a client of our London office.

Our offices were too small to have a staff member dedicated to making sure we had required visas, and the computer industry had not yet invented a reminder system for appointments, expiring visas and the like.  Making sure you had a valid visa was a personal responsibility.

Well, one time I arrived in Almaty on one of those red-eye flights and was stopped at passport control for lack of a visa.  What?  I was disbelieving and joined in the search of my passport pages seeking the one with the valid sticker.   Gulp.  There I was, very early in the morning, with the office driver waiting outside for me, and the passport man had just told me that I was out of luck.  My visas back in those days were for very extended periods, like a year, and I had failed to keep track of the expiry date.

Worse yet, I was aware that two partners from Arthur Andersen & Co. – remember that accounting firm – had very recently suffered the ignominy, embarrassment, frustration of being refused entry for lack of visas, of being held at the airport after a long and tiring flight, and of being placed on the next airplane back to London!

Gasp!  What could I do?  I had no indication that the stern-faced passport control guy would be at all sympathetic but I nevertheless managed to enter without a visa!  I invoked the name of Mobil Oil Company as my inviting company and, to add credibility, I tossed out the name of David Goodner, a top Mobil official who I felt certain would offer some support for my story if the official phoned him for confirmation at that ungodly hour.  Of course there was no invitation and David knew nothing about my arrival. Mobil Oil was well known as a major investor in the key oil industry; if any company could work magic for me, they were it.  My ploy worked.  The official didn’t call for confirmation,  I was allowed in the country and given three days to obtain a visa.  Which I did.

Visa free sounds good to me.

oooOOOooo

 Book Sales:  Find stories about Kazakhstan from the 1990s and later in my book, West Meets East in Kazakhstan.  It’s available online in softcover or e-book format from AuthorHouse (the publisher), or Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

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