Source: Kazakhstan Industrial Daily
On July 7, 2022, the Government of Kazakhstan issued Decree No. 464 amending the Regulations on the Entry and Stay of Immigrants of Kazakhstan and the Regulations on Immigration Control, the registration policy for foreigners and stateless persons who illegally cross the territory of Kazakhstan in Kazakhstan and persons prohibited from entering the territory of Kazakhstan. The purpose of this amendment is to further liberalize and simplify the visa and immigration system in Kazakhstan.
In view of the positive results of the previous introduction of a transit stopover regime (72 hours) for Indian and Chinese citizens, Kazakhstan believes that citizens of China and India can provide them with a 14-day visa-free service when visiting Kazakhstan, and that Iranian citizens can also enjoy the above-mentioned visa services.
It should be noted that the above 14-day visa-free system stipulates that the total number of days of entry in 180 days shall not exceed 42 calendar days. Foreigners who violate this provision will bear the following forms of administrative liability: fines, 10-25 settlement units (31800 tenge -79500 tenge, about 451 yuan - 1129 yuan); Detention for 15 days; Expulsion from Kazakhstan; Prohibition of entry into Kazakhstan for 5 years (by court decision).
In addition, foreign citizens are prohibited from engaging in labor and other paid activities within the framework of the visa-free system. Only foreign citizens who have obtained labor permits and work visas can work and carry out paid activities in Kazakhstan.
Why China, India and Iran? Why now?
As already noted in Kazakhstan, the list of countries whose citizens are visa-free is expanded from time to time. However, the current news about Kazakhstan's unilateral imposition of a visa-free regime for Chinese, Indian and Iranian citizens may raise some questions as to why such a decision would affect these countries. Why are these countries affected at this point?
An employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave a succinct answer to the question: "The cancellation of visa procedures is motivated by political, economic and investment expediency, as well as other interests of Kazakhstan." ”
First, Kazakhstan can find a perfectly logical explanation for breaking down visa barriers with the listed countries. The Decision of a Russian court to suspend the export of the Caspian Oil Pipeline for a month is a heavy blow to Kazakhstan, an important oil producer. A few days later, Kazakhstan unilaterally decided to introduce a visa-free regime. The Russian side explained the blockade of Kazakh oil by disclosing multiple irregularities in the operation of the terminals, but some observers believe that the move is a move that Russia and Kazakhstan hold different positions on the issue of oil delivery to EU countries.
Secondly, Kazakhstan's visa policy is to take into account the generally difficult geopolitical situation, many countries including Kazakhstan face the risk of sanctions, the unpredictability of the global financial system (for example, the operation of the international SWIFT system), Kazakhstan and Iran, India and China have great economic potential and access to the world's oceans, the measures to simplify the visa system are completely non-random and timely.
Third, India and China are members of the BRICS countries, while Iran has applied to join the organization. President Tokayev's participation in the BRICS High-level Dialogue on Global Development in June demonstrated that both Kazakhstan and Iran are interested in the organization. Recall that the BRICS share of world GDP is about 30%, while the total population of the organization's country is 40% of the world's population.
It is worth noting that shortly before participating in the BRICS + High-level Development Dialogue, Tokayev visited Tehran for the first time as president. During a meeting with the Iranian president in Tehran, the President of Kazakhstan announced that Kazakhstan would implement a 14-day visa-free regime for Iranian citizens.
"We are introducing a 14-day visa-free regime for Iranian citizens. This initiative aims to further expand cooperation in various fields, including strengthening contacts between representatives of the business community and attracting a large number of tourists. Tokayev said.
Visa-free can promote the development of business cooperation and enhance mutual understanding
Kazakh Foreign Minister Treubelti said the adoption of the amendments to the visa immigration system would not have negative socio-economic impacts and legal consequences.
According to Government Decree No. 464 of Kazakhstan, the 14-day visa-free policy for citizens of China and other three countries aims to create an excellent business environment, strengthen business exchanges and further promote the development of tourism.
It is worth noting that the first country in Central Asia to implement a visa-free system for Chinese citizens was Uzbekistan. According to Presidential Decree No. 5819 of Uzbekistan, favorable conditions will be created for the development of international relations between Uzbekistan and China, cultural, scientific and educational exchanges between countries will be promoted, the investment environment will be improved, and the development of Uzbekistan and China will be positively affected. Uzbekistan stipulates that Chinese citizens only need to provide passenger information and round-trip tickets to the border troops of uzbekistan's State Security Agency in a timely manner, and enter Uzbekistan through Uzbekistan International Airport without visa for 7 days.
This is not the first time Kazakhstan has simplified its visa regime for foreign citizens. For example, since 1 January 2017, citizens of 45 countries have been granted visa-free entry.
On September 30, 2019, the decree of the Government of Kazakhstan came into force, and citizens of 12 other countries can enter Kazakhstan without visas. At this point, the list of visa-free countries in Kazakhstan has been expanded to 57.
"The cancellation of visa procedures is aimed at increasing the number of foreign investors, businessmen and tourists. Simplifying the visa regime will help to create a favourable investment climate in Kazakhstan. The information department of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said at the time.
"The list has been expanded on the basis of political, economic and investment expedients, as well as other interests of Kazakhstan." A representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan commented at the time. According to him, the list of 45 countries also includes the following 12 countries: Bahrain, Vatican, Vietnam, Indonesia, Qatar, Colombia, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Darnke in charon canyon
Visa-free tourism is boosted, and Kazakhstan is expected to receive 700,000 foreign tourists in 2022
Currently, Kazakhstan's National Tourism Development Plan 2019-2025 (Regulation No. 360 of May 31, 2019) is being implemented.
According to statistics, since 2001, the number of hotels in Kazakhstan has increased from 165 to 3535, an increase of 21.5 times, and the number of beds has increased from 16,000 to 183,000. The number of four-star and five-star hotels has increased from 5 to more than 90.
The number of tourists increased from 2.3 million in 2009 to 6.3 million in 2019. The number of foreign tourists almost doubled during a specific period (2009-2019), from 513,000 to 980,000. The total value added created by tourism increased more than 3 times during this period. Annual investment in the sector increased 3.3 times, from KZT 144 billion (approximately RMB2.042 billion) to KZT614 billion (approximately RMB8.7 billion).
In recent years, Kazakhstan is actively working to attract investment and improve tourism hardware construction, and since 2019, 68 infrastructure projects have been implemented, amounting to 101.6 billion tenge (about 1.441 billion yuan).
High levels of public investment have spurred the growth of private investment. There are 91 private investment projects, with an investment amount of 137.8 billion tenge (about 1.954 billion yuan), and more than 2,600 new jobs. There is also the Aktau Rixos Water World Complex project worth 66.8 billion tenge (about 947 million yuan) and 500 rooms in 2020, the Sheraton Nur-Sultan Hotel with 191 rooms worth 20 billion tenge (about 284 million yuan), the 86-room multi-purpose tourism complex project worth 6 billion tenge (about 97.8 million yuan) in Akmola State, and the launch of the multi-purpose tourism complex hotel in Turkistan in 2021.
At the same time, with the introduction of new facilities, the Mangers Tao Coast will continue to develop. In the next 2-3 years, the construction of a theme park with an investment of 1.2 billion US dollars and 4 to 5 international hotels will be completed.
In order to implement practical measures to effectively market and enhance the image of Kazakhstan in the domestic and foreign markets, in 2017 the state company Kazakhstan Tourism Joint Stock Company was established. Nowadays, tourism, as the national brand of Kazakhstan, holds a large number of activities to promote national tourism products. In addition, in order to improve the quality of services in the field of tourism, the International University of Tourism and Hospitality was established in Turkistan in 2019.
Kazakhstan's Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports, Yarjinbayev, said that the number of domestic tourists in Kazakhstan reached 6.9 million in 2021, a record high compared with 2020 and 2019. As noted by the Ministry, Kazakhstan's tourist attraction to foreigners shows a positive trend. By the end of the year, it is expected to receive about 700,000 foreign tourists.
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