American Consulate to issue first-ever 5-year visa in Kazakhstan

American Embassy will issue its first 5-year visas to Kazakhstan citizens on August 1, 2013, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the U.S. Consulate General in Almaty. The U.S. diplomatic mission will hold a dedicated ceremony in front of its offices (Samal Towers, #97 Zholdasbekov Street, Almaty at 11 a.m.) to mark the first ever official issue of the visas valid for five years for citizens of Kazakhstan. Consul General Michael Snowden will attend the event. The five-year validity applies to diplomatic, official, tourist, business, student/exchange and media visas. The cost of a five-year maximum validity visa for business, tourism, representatives of media organizations, and study/exchange program participation is $160. Kazakhstan and the United States unified the consular fees for issue of visas not long ago. The order was issued on July 3. “The private visa used to cost $240 and the business visa used to cost $190. The consular fee has been unified and the mutually agreed fee for visas of all categories has been set to $160,” official representative of Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry Zhanbolat Ussenov said. Shortly after that Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrissov met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in Washington in July, the visa agreement was on their agenda. On July 9 Kazakhstan and the U.S. exchanged notes agreeing to extend 5-year visas. The agreement is reciprocal so both Kazakhstan citizens and Americans will be able to obtain 5-year visas starting from August 1, 2013. “The agreement is aimed at development of Kazakhstan-American strategic partnership, enhancement of the trade and economic, scientific-technical, cultural-humanitarian, tourist and other relations between the two countries, as well as at simplification of traveling conditions for citizens of both countries,” the press-service of Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry said.