(KAZAKHSTAN) — Kazakhstan opened a new push on Thursday to ease visa rules with France and the European Union while U.S. authorities moved in the opposite direction with an indefinite halt to immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries, including Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alibek Bakayev told a Senate meeting that talks on easing the visa regime for Kazakh citizens had already started and that negotiators had a near-term milestone on the calendar.
“Agreements of this kind [readmission], signed on a bilateral basis, help pave the way for both visa-free and readmission agreements, facilitating their faster conclusion. . As for easing the visa regime for citizens of Kazakhstan, the process has already been launched. The second round of negotiations is scheduled for next month [February 2026],” Bakayev said, in comments reported by Qazinform on Jan 22, 2026.
The parallel developments create a split picture for Kazakhstani nationals planning travel and migration: potentially less friction for Schengen travel via France and the EU process, and more uncertainty for those aiming for U.S. permanent immigration through consular processing.
What “visa facilitation” means for Schengen travel
In the EU context, officials and diplomats often use “visa facilitation” as shorthand for measures that simplify paperwork and procedures for short-stay Schengen visas, including reduced documentary demands, easier access to repeat-entry visas for frequent travelers, and possible fee relief.
France matters in that process because Schengen rules operate through EU-wide frameworks and member-state decision-making rather than a single country changing the rules on its own.
Bakayev framed the Kazakhstan-France talks as part of a broader pathway built on existing EU frameworks, including the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA). The discussions, as described by Kazakhstan, sit alongside wider EU processes for Schengen policy rather than a France-only adjustment that would automatically change entry conditions across the Schengen area overnight.
The deputy foreign minister’s remarks pointed to ongoing negotiations rather than an implemented change, with the “second round of negotiations” scheduled for next month [February 2026]. That signals a diplomatic milestone—another formal session to narrow differences—rather than a date when travelers can assume new rules apply.
Practical priorities Kazakhstan has described
Kazakhstan has described its priorities in practical, applicant-facing terms. One goal is to reduce the volume of paperwork required for Schengen submissions, which officials say can run to large document sets—20 to 30 types of documents for some EU countries—creating an administrative burden for travelers.
Another aim is fee relief. Kazakhstan said talks include lowering current Schengen visa fees for Kazakhstani citizens, an issue that can shape travel budgeting for families and frequent visitors, even before air tickets and hotel bookings enter the picture.
A third focus is expanding access to multiple-entry visas with extended validity periods. For business visitors, family travelers, and those who cross borders often, multiple-entry access can reduce repeat application cycles, cut down on repeated appointments, and make planning less dependent on a single-use travel window.
France has “officially expressed readiness to support the EU’s visa facilitation process for Kazakhstan,” Kazakhstan said. Kazakhstan described that support as a step to strengthen people-to-people ties and business relations between Central Asia and the European Union.
Even when governments agree on facilitation in principle, Schengen applicants typically still face core requirements, such as demonstrating the purpose of travel and meeting standard screening steps. Facilitation usually targets repetitive or low-value documentation and aims to make it easier for consulates to recognize trusted travel history, rather than removing scrutiny entirely.
For travelers, the document burden matters because Schengen applications can require extensive supporting material that differs slightly by consulate and travel purpose. When governments talk about document reduction, it often means narrowing what is mandatory for repeat travelers, avoiding duplicated submissions of the same civil status records, or accepting a smaller set of proofs where a traveler’s history already establishes a pattern of compliant trips.
Fee changes also matter because Schengen costs sit alongside other up-front expenses that applicants must often pay regardless of outcome. Kazakhstan said the negotiations include lowering fees, but officials have not announced any final amounts or a formal implementation schedule in the statements cited on Jan 22, 2026.
Multiple-entry visas, when issued for longer validity periods, can shift how travelers plan: they may schedule several short trips across months without reapplying each time, while still complying with Schengen stay rules. Kazakhstan’s stated objective is to widen that access, but the details—such as eligibility and validity length—remain tied to the outcome of talks and EU procedures.
Kazakhstan–France visa facilitation: where negotiations stand
Kazakhstan described the process as launched and pointed to a near-term procedural milestone: the second round of negotiations scheduled for February 2026. The comments emphasize negotiation progress rather than finalized policy changes.
Because this section will have an interactive tool added, the following explains the context and what travelers should watch for before the tool provides structured options and timelines.
Key signals to monitor include official EU statements on visa facilitation outcomes, France’s formal backing in EU processes, and any published implementation schedules that list specific procedural or fee changes.
U.S. immigrant visa processing suspension and related measures
Across the Atlantic, U.S. policy moved toward tighter controls tied to “public charge” concerns. On January 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of State announced “an indefinite suspension of immigrant visa processing” for nationals of 75 countries, including Kazakhstan, effective January 21, 2026.
“The State Department will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people,” the official State Department statement said on Jan 14, 2026.
The announcement addressed immigrant visa processing, which generally covers consular immigrant visas rather than temporary travel visas. That distinction can matter for Kazakhstani nationals weighing near-term travel to the United States versus a permanent move through an immigrant visa process.
Alongside the State Department action, USCIS published a notice in the Federal Register on Jan 22, 2026 that highlighted the reinstatement of the Public Charge Bond and the related form, Form I-945. The notice appeared at 91 FR 2790 and described how the form fits into adjudication steps when a public charge bond gets posted.
The Federal Register notice said the form helps USCIS set and confirm bond conditions as part of a broader admissibility framework. “.ensure that the conditions of the bond are fully articulated and met when USCIS accepts the public charge bond posting. . Without the form, USCIS would not be able to determine the sufficiency of the bond and USCIS or the U.S. Department of State would not be able to finalize the adjudication of the related immigration benefit requests,” the Federal Register notice said on Jan 22, 2026.
Together, the U.S. actions signaled two separate pressure points for intending immigrants: an operational pause on immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries, and renewed attention to public charge tools that can appear in admissibility and benefit adjudications.
The measures operate in different parts of the system—consular processing on one hand and benefit adjudication processes involving USCIS on the other—but both can affect timelines and planning for would-be immigrants and their families.
Immediate practical consequences
For Kazakhstani nationals, the immediate practical consequence of an immigrant visa processing pause is that cases may not move through the usual consular steps, which can include document review and interviews. The State Department called the suspension indefinite and tied it to a policy condition rather than an end date.
At the same time, the impact summary provided alongside the announcements drew a line between immigrant and non-immigrant travel. It said tourist, business (B-1/B-2), and student visas are not affected by the 75-country pause, leaving short-term travel options governed by the standard rules for those categories.
That distinction can shape decision-making for families with mixed goals—such as a student planning to begin a course while a separate family-based immigrant process remains pending—or for business travelers who need to maintain regular trips without pursuing permanent residence.
Impact summary: who is affected and what to plan for
The diverging directions create room for misunderstanding, particularly when people assume a broad “visa suspension” affects all U.S. visas or, conversely, that EU “facilitation” means visa-free travel is already in place.
In the EU track, Kazakhstan described an ongoing process, with the next round scheduled for next month [February 2026], rather than a final change in Schengen access. For U.S. immigrant visas, the State Department described a pause specifically tied to immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries, including Kazakhstan, effective January 21, 2026.
Taken together, the direction of travel looks different depending on the category. For France and the EU, Kazakhstan’s stated aim is to reduce friction—less paperwork, possible fee relief, and improved access to multiple-entry visas—but travelers still need to watch for formal decisions and implementation steps before assuming any practical change.
For U.S. immigrant visas, the impact summary described processing as suspended, and the State Department framed the action in terms of public charge concerns and an indefinite duration. Applicants who planned major life moves around a specific interview expectation may now need to reassess the practical timing of relocation steps.
For U.S. non-immigrant visas, the summary described no change from the 75-country pause, meaning travelers and students still face the ordinary requirements for the category they seek, including the intent and screening rules that apply in standard adjudications.
Because this section will have an interactive tool added, readers will be able to use that tool to explore which categories and timelines apply to their specific circumstances once the interactive content is in place.
Where to verify official updates
Readers seeking to verify updates can use a small set of official channels. The USCIS notice ran through the Federal Register, where the entry can be located using the citation 91 FR 2790 and the document page for the reinstatement notice on FederalRegister.gov.
For consular operations and visa policy announcements, the State Department’s public channel remains its official website at https://www.state.gov, where it published the Jan 14, 2026 statement describing the immigrant visa processing pause for 75 countries, including Kazakhstan, effective January 21, 2026.
Kazakhstan’s official messaging on the France and EU visa facilitation talks, including Bakayev’s Jan 22, 2026 remarks and the scheduling of the second round “next month [February 2026],” appeared through Kazakhstan’s state news agency at Qazinform, which has carried the government’s negotiation milestones as the EPCA-linked track proceeds.
Official channels like the Federal Register, the U.S. Department of State website, and Kazakhstan’s state news agency are the primary sources for confirmed timelines and implementation details.
