Astanaculture & etiquette

The Astana International Financial Centre is not a branding exercise. It operates its own legal framework based on English common law, its own AIFC Court and International Arbitration Centre sitting outside Kazakhstan's judicial system, English as the working language, a simplified visa and labour regime that lets participants hire foreign staff without work permits and issues expert visas of up to five years, and an exemption from a defined set of taxes running until 1 January 2066 — covering corporate income tax on qualifying financial-services income and individual income tax for foreign employees on their AIFC earnings. Nothing comparable exists in Almaty.

The exemption attaches to AIFC participants and bodies and to defined financial-services activities set out in joint acts. Income from activities outside that list, and Kazakh-source income earned outside the Centre, is taxed normally. The schedule of covered taxes and activities has been amended more than once since 2018, so read the current instrument rather than a summary. Renting an office near the EXPO site does not put you inside the regime — registration as an AIFC participant does.

Kazakhstan's Individual Identification Number is issued only in person at a Public Service Centre and has been unavailable remotely since February 2024. Without it you cannot open a Kaspi or Halyk account, sign a registered lease, take a post-paid SIM or go on payroll. Bring your passport and a notarised Kazakh or Russian translation. In Astana the centres away from the government quarter tend to move faster than the central ones.

January averages around -14°C and cold snaps reach -40°C, with wind on the open steppe making it worse; only Ulaanbaatar is colder among capitals. Summers are the opposite extreme, hitting 35°C. Practical consequences: buy proper Arctic-grade outerwear locally rather than bringing a European winter coat, choose a building with reliable central heating and sealed windows, and understand that the city's life moves indoors from November to March — which is why so much of it is connected malls, atriums and covered walkways.

Astana's light rail entered service on 16-17 May 2026: 22.4 km, 18 stations, fully automated driverless trains, linking the international airport with the administrative and business districts. The fare is KZT 200, paid by LRT card, bank card, NFC, QR or the FacePay system in the Halyk Bank app. Buses run on the Tulpar card at around KZT 180 in the first zone. Any guide written before mid-2026 describes Astana as having no rail transit at all.

The capital moved north in 1997 and the split is sharp. Astana has the ministries, the embassies, the AIFC, Astana Hub, Nazarbayev University and a strongly official professional culture. Almaty has the banks' operational headquarters, the startups, the universities, the mountains and the actual cultural life. Neither is a substitute for the other, and the domestic flight between them takes about ninety minutes and runs constantly.