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Move & retire

Kazakhstan

A digital-nomad route that leads somewhere, in a country nobody is watching.

4/4
ingredients confirmed
Every ingredient this page asks for has a figure and a source.
Living
37.5% of US prices
A comparison of prices, not a budget: it says what things cost here against the United States, not what a month will cost you. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.
Safety
1.771 · 44th of 163
Third in its region and forty-fourth globally — safer on the index than Italy or the United Kingdom
ResidencyRecently changed
A remote-work route, and it can lead to permanence
Both digital-nomad categories were introduced in 2024–2025. Anything written before that describes a country with no such route at all.
Healthcare
Public once you settle, private until then
Out-of-pocket spending is 27.6% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site.

More is being checked.

Where these figures came from

One row per ingredient. Open any of them for the source, how far we trust it, and when we last checked.

Living37.5% of US prices

World Bank, 2024, CC BY 4.0: the PPP conversion factor for household consumption is 176.0836 local currency units per international dollar, against an official exchange rate of 468.9625 to the US dollar. Their ratio, 0.375, is the price level against the United States, whose own ratio is 1 by construction. Both figures are theirs; the division is ours. See the Pathoff method, section 12.

A comparison of prices, not a budget: it says what things cost here against the United States, not what a month will cost you. Compared at country level, so capital cities and large metros run higher. The price level prices the basket residents buy, and a foreign renter cannot reach the cheap end of local housing — poorer countries may still sit too low here.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Safety1.771 · 44th of 163

Global Peace Index 2026, Institute for Economics and Peace: score 1.771, ranked 44 of 163. Both figures are theirs; we publish them as they are.

Third in its region and forty-fourth globally — safer on the index than Italy or the United Kingdom

Confidence
printed in the source
ResidencyA remote-work route, and it can lead to permanence

Pathoff outcome rubric (the Pathoff method, section 10-4), residency band "A route with conditions you can meet": The Neo Nomad visa publishes its terms — one year, renewable three times, on about USD 3,000 a month with insurance — and a second digital-nomad category offering permanent residence has been introduced. Mid-band: the route is defined and needs no employer, but permanent residence otherwise requires five years of residence plus a solvency test, and the scheme is new enough that little is known about how it is applied.

Both digital-nomad categories were introduced in 2024–2025. Anything written before that describes a country with no such route at all.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
Changed recently — older guidance elsewhere is out of date
Last checked
2026-09
HealthcarePublic once you settle, private until then

Pathoff healthcare rubric (the Pathoff method, section 13-2), band "You buy your own, and it is affordable": Foreigners holding a permanent residence permit have the same rights in the compulsory social health insurance system as citizens; those staying temporarily get emergency care and little else, so a nomad-visa holder buys private cover. Mid-band because complex treatment is still often sought abroad — in Türkiye, Korea or Germany — which is what this band describes.

Out-of-pocket spending is 27.6% of current health expenditure here (World Bank, 2023, CC BY 4.0). Read it with care: the measure counts only what insured people pay — not premiums, and not the uninsured — which is why the United States comes out at 10.9%, ahead of most countries on this site.

Confidence
made by us from the source
Rule
No change known to us
Last checked
2026-09

What it is like here

Kazakhstan introduced a remote-work visa on published terms — a year at a time, renewable three times, on USD 3,000 a month — and a second variant that leads to permanent residence, which is more than most digital-nomad schemes offer. Living costs are around a third of Western Europe’s and the country is safer on the index than Italy. The winters are the price, and the health system is the risk.

How the process works

1

Evidence the income and the insurance

About USD 3,000 a month, valid health cover and a clean record.

⏱ 1–2 months
2

Renew annually, up to four years

The Neo Nomad visa runs a year and renews three times.

⏱ annual
3

Permanent residence needs five years and solvency

The permit itself is then issued for ten years.

⏱ 5 years

Where people settle

Almaty
Mountains at the end of the street, the best hospitals, the mildest winters
Astana
Newer, richer, and brutally cold

Open any ingredient above to see where its figure came from, how far we trust it and when we last checked. Nothing here is a substitute for the official source. Last reviewed 2026-09-04.

Photograph of Kazakhstan by Dauren Nabijan, licensed CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.