Kyrgyzstan has always been famously known as the most liberal and open of the Central Asia Stans and in no area was this more true than their visa regime. Since 2012, Kyrgyzstan has allowed visa free travel for up to 90 days for a large percentage of the world’s passports. The liberalisation of visa rules followed a concerted effort from the tourism industry who saw the potential in Kyrgyz tourism. Kyrgyzstan was also the first country in Central Asia to issue visas without LOIs (Letter of Invitation). Since the rules were dramatically changed a decade ago, Kyrgyzstan has seen a boom in tourism and visitors from only 1.2 million visitors in total in 2010 (this includes all visitors, such as the hundreds of thousands of Kazakhs who holiday at Lake Issyk-Kol every summer) to 7 million just before COVID hit.
The Kyrgyzstan rules, while extremely relaxed, are also extremely convoluted. In short everyone in the world can easily enter Kyrgyzstan whether it is with no visa, visa on arrival or an automatically approved e-visa.
Nationalities whose passport holders can stay in Kyrgyzstan without a visa indefinitely
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cuba, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, North Korea, Russia and Tajikistan.
Holders of these passports can stay 90 days without a visa
Mongolia, Serbia and Ukraine.
60 Days without a visa
All European Union countries, Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Qatar, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, United Araba Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Vatican City and Vietnam.
The Following citizens can get a visa on arrival at Manas International Airport (Bishkek)
Indonesia, Philippines, South Africa and Venezuela.
All other nationalities
All other nationalities can apply for an e-visa online using the e-visa website . A single entry one month tourism visa is roughly US$51 at time of writing (Jan 2022).
Strangely enough passport holders of Western Sahara (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) and Kosovo are refused entry into Kyrgyzstan.
