Kazakhstanis can enter Vietnam visa-free for up to 30 days — no forms, no fees, straight through passport control. But if you’re relocating rather than visiting, 30 days runs out fast. If you’d rather not spend the week before your flight chasing the government portal, there’s a way to have the visa handled in a day. This guide covers how the visa system works, what to do in your first 24 hours on the ground, and what your options are when 90 days isn’t enough.
Do Kazakhstanis need a visa for Vietnam?
Vietnam and Kazakhstan established visa-free travel on May 25, 2024. Kazakhstani citizens can stay up to 30 calendar days per entry without any visa or prior registration. The hard cap is 90 days in any rolling 180-day period.
Multiple entries are fine — but you can’t effectively live in Vietnam on visa-free stamps alone. Each re-entry resets your 30-day stay, not the 90-day ceiling. For a move, you’ll want an e-visa before you land.
Air Astana now flies direct from Almaty and Astana to Nha Trang, with an Almaty–Da Nang route added in June 2025, making the logistics considerably simpler.
Visa-free 30 days vs e-visa 90 days: which one do you need?
If you’re doing a trial run or visiting for a month, the visa-free entry requires nothing extra. You land, show your passport, you’re in.
If you’re relocating — working remotely, apartment-hunting, planning to stay two to three months — apply for an e-visa before you leave Kazakhstan. The Vietnam e-visa covers up to 90 days and is issued through the official immigration portal evisa.gov.vn. The fee is $25 for single-entry or $50 for multiple-entry. Processing takes 3 business days.
Da Nang, Nha Trang (Cam Ranh), and Phu Quoc airports all accept e-visa holders — the three main entry points for direct flights from Kazakhstan.
For a fuller breakdown of visa options — including border runs and long stays — see our guide to Vietnam visa for Kazakhstani citizens.
How to apply for a Vietnam e-visa: step by step
- Go to evisa.gov.vn and start a new application.
- Upload a JPG scan of your passport’s bio-data page.
- Upload a 4×6 cm passport photo on a white background (JPG).
- Enter your personal details: passport data, contacts, occupation, and religion.
- Add your travel information: purpose of visit, dates, planned Vietnam address, travel budget, and insurance.
- Pay the visa fee by card.
- After 3 business days, check your application status on the portal using your registration code, email, and date of birth.
- Print the approved e-visa — you’ll need a hard copy at passport control.
Apply at least 7 business days before your planned entry. Through an agency, allow 10.
A common problem at step 6: the evisa.gov.vn portal doesn’t accept cards from Kazakhstan or Russia. If your card is declined at the payment stage, there’s no obvious workaround on the portal itself. I usually sort this step out — pay the government fee with a card the portal accepts, fill in the correct entry point, and catch the form errors that most often cause rejections. All I need is the passport scan and your travel dates — the full range of what gets handled this way is on our services page.
What happens when you arrive: registration within 24 hours
Every foreigner must register their place of residence within 24 hours of entry. The process is usually invisible to you.
If you’re staying at a hotel, guesthouse, or managed apartment, the property transmits your data to the local police automatically. Nothing needed from you.
If you rent directly from a private landlord, registration is the landlord’s responsibility. The fine for non-registration exceeds $100 — it falls on the property owner, not on you — but clarify upfront that they know how to do it.
At passport control, bring: your passport (valid at least 6 months from entry), a completed arrival card (given on the plane or at the airport), hotel confirmation, and onward or transit tickets. They may not check the last two, but have them ready.
Overstay fine: approximately $25 per day past your allowed period, plus a deportation stamp in your passport.
What if you want to stay longer than 90 days?
After your 90-day e-visa, the main options are: leave and re-enter (a border run to Laos or Cambodia is the most common route), extend your visa inside Vietnam, or apply for a Temporary Resident Card (TRC) through a work permit or business registration.
Which path makes sense depends on your situation — your work setup, intended length of stay, and whether you want to formalise your residency. The time to figure this out is around day 30, not day 89.
The short version
Visa-free 30 days works for a trial. For a real relocation, get the e-visa before you fly: 90 days, $25–50 at evisa.gov.vn, processed in 3 business days. Register within 24 hours of arrival — your hotel handles it automatically. Overstay costs $25 per day.
If dealing with the portal from Kazakhstan — especially the payment step — feels like more than you want to manage right now, that’s exactly what I help with. danangvisarun.com has the details on how it works.
