A meeting on visa and migration issues was held at the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Atameken" with the participation of representatives of the National Security Committee, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Culture and Sport of the Republic of Kazakhstan, MID RK, JSC NC "Astana-EXPO-2017", as well as representatives of the tourist market.

The meeting was held in the format of a round table, the main problematic issues discussed within the framework of the meeting are visa invitations, the functions for issuing of which were transferred from January of this year to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and registration of foreign tourists through the e-gov portal. The moderators of the meetings were Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of NCE RK "Atameken" Yuliya Yakupbaeva and Vice Minister of Culture and Sports Askar Batalov.

Opening the meeting, Y. Yakupbaeva noted the increased number of appeals from tourist companies regarding the issue of visa support in terms of delaying the processing deadlines, large queues as a result of non-working windows in the Interior Ministry departments, making mistakes in tourist data, differing requirements on necessary documents at the regional departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as inability to register foreign tourists in an electronic format.

"Currently, it is problematic for many foreigners to obtain a visa to the Republic of Kazakhstan, respectively, there are problems with travel agencies, associations apply to us. If we can’t solve these problems at our level, then we will take it to the level of the Prime Minister. During the recent KITF exhibition in Almaty many foreigners could not get to RK, and we have an EXPO ahead of us", - said Y. Yakupbaeva.

Vice Minister of Culture and Sports Askar Batalov supported Yuliya Yakupbaeva. Currently, he oversees the tourism industry:

"At all levels, where the problems of tourism are discussed, the first issue is the problems with obtaining RK visas. Those countries that are within 4-hours of flight from us beyond the, that is, our potential market – we have put visa barriers for them. Many of the PRC could not get to the Almaty exhibition. At the influx of visitors during the EXPO, we will get big problems. For the duration of the exhibition, we need to simplify as much as possible all procedures".

At the same time, the Vice-Minister noted that it is necessary to solve two differently polar tasks simultaneously - to provide an unimpeded pass to a large number of foreigners to the country and at the same time to ensure the safety of all guests and residents during the Expo.

The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan V. Sarsembekov said that thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan since January of this year. Citizens of 57 countries can enter Kazakhstan without visas, as well as under the ADS Memorandum, Chinese tourists are exempted from the need to come personally to the Embassy for an interview for a visa.

The representative of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, S. Syzdykov, in turn, provided information that it is not unusual for foreigners who have entered the Republic of Kazakhstan for a tourist visa to violate the migration legislation of our country, in addition, they try to leave illegally. All such cases are suppressed by the officers of the National Security Committee, and meanwhile it is also the responsibility of travel agencies that invite tourists to the country. "Today, citizens of 48 countries are released from registration in the migration service bodies, and the NSC faces the problem of controlling the movement of all foreigners inside Kazakhstan, since our main task is to ensure security", - concluded S. Syzdykov.

Regarding the impossibility of electronic registration, representatives of CNS A. Meshcheryakov and V. Arsenyev noted that during the year 2016 problems with electronic registration arose due to the change of the format of electronic signature introduced by the NSC. Since early 2017, the NSC has introduced new requirements, at present the NSC's technical services are adapting the Berkut EIS to new requirements and promise to resolve this issue by the end of May. At the same time, funds from the budget for the modernization of the system are not allocated for the third year, the funds that are available go only to support the system.

Representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Isaev, who answered the questions of tour agencies on drawing up invitations for issuing visas, noted that all current problems are temporary and the Ministry of Internal Affairs makes every effort to eliminate them:

"We have trained personnel in Almaty and Astana. We have the biggest workload now. These problems have already been resolved in the regions. In Almaty, 3.5 windows are working on registration of invitations, in Astana - 2.5. 4 additional windows for servicing foreigners will be opened on the territory of the Expo".

After the representatives of the tourist market once again voiced the main problematic issues, Y. Isaev suggested contacting the Committee of the Migration Service directly.

"We need concrete facts, with documentary evidence, and then we will act point-by-point and understand the situation. Of course, we will punish guilty ones", - said Isaev.

In conclusion, the meeting agreed that specific cases of problematic situations with the issuance of visas by travel companies will be forwarded to NCE, and NCE, in turn, will promptly forward this data to the Migration Service Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. NCE will also present to the authorized bodies a list of hotels that have difficulties with the registration of foreign tourists in IS "Berkut".

As a whole, an interdepartmental working group will act to resolve the issues that arise with travel agencies in the visa and migration sphere.