Kazakhstan SIM Card for Tourists: Beeline Prices, the 30-Day IMEI Check and eSIM

Last updated on 3 November 2026

A Beeline prepaid SIM in Kazakhstan costs 5,999 tenge (about €11.86) a month for 25 GB and 100 minutes, and a phone brought into the country after 24 March 2025 keeps working on a Kazakh SIM for only 30 days unless you verify its IMEI. The POVNOMAD Kazakhstan eSIM starts at €2.90 for 1 GB over 7 days, runs in roaming and needs no IMEI registration under Kazakhstan’s rules. As of 30 October 2026.

Up to 10 GB the travel eSIM costs less: €10.90 for 10 GB over 30 days. If you need more data, a Kazakh number or calls inside the country, the Beeline SIM is the better deal, as long as you register the SIM with your passport and, on a longer stay, verify your phone.

Local SIM, travel eSIM or roaming: what is the difference in Kazakhstan?

As of 30 October 2026. Beeline prices from beeline.kz, IMEI rules from the Kazakh Rules for the Registration of Mobile Devices (order No. 226), POVNOMAD prices from the Kazakhstan product page. Converted at the National Bank of Kazakhstan rate of 30 October 2026 (€1 = 505.80 tenge).

How much does a SIM card cost in Kazakhstan?

Beeline, Kcell with its prepaid brand activ, and Tele2/Altel sell prepaid SIMs in Kazakhstan. Beeline listed no tariff for tourists on 30 October 2026, so you buy a regular prepaid plan. Kcell and activ load their plans only in the browser, and we could not read them, so we quote Beeline.

Source: beeline.kz, tariffs, retrieved 30 October 2026. Beeline charges the fee on the same day each month and says the plans work only inside Kazakhstan. We did not check the fair-use terms of the unlimited plan. The tariff page shows no price for the SIM card itself. Euro amounts at €1 = 505.80 tenge (National Bank of Kazakhstan, 30 October 2026).

Compare that with travel eSIMs bought before departure, as of 30 October 2026:

Read on 30 October 2026 on povnomad.com and airalo.com/de/kazakhstan-esim (EUR view). “–” = no such plan. POVNOMAD sells data plans only for Kazakhstan; a plan ends when its data is used up.

Do you have to register your phone’s IMEI in Kazakhstan?

With a Kazakh SIM, possibly. Kazakhstan registers phones that run on a local SIM in a national IMEI database. Since 24 March 2025 the check also covers whether a phone entered the country legally. According to a government statement, phones already registered before that date stay on the white list, and the new rules apply to devices imported afterwards. The phone you bring on holiday counts as such a device unless it ran on a Kazakh SIM before that date.

The Rules for the Registration of Mobile Devices (order No. 226, last amended on 31 October 2025) set out what happens to a phone the database cannot verify. It goes on a grey list and keeps service for 30 calendar days from its first connection to a Kazakh network. After that the operator of the database checks again; without proof of legal import the phone loses service. People who bring a phone for personal use provide their border-crossing data or customs papers as proof. Registration itself is free under the rules.

The same rules exempt phones that are in Kazakhstan in roaming. A travel eSIM like ours connects in roaming, so your phone needs no verification. On a trip of two or three weeks with a local SIM you stay inside the 30 days; plan the verification only if you stay longer. Whether the private verification provider charges a fee for travellers, we could not confirm on 30 October 2026.

Sources: Rules for the Registration of Mobile Devices, order No. 226 (points 4, 10 and 12-1), and the government statement of 13 February 2025, both read on 30 October 2026.

How do you register a Kazakh SIM as a foreigner?

Every Kazakh number is registered to a person. Kcell explains the steps for foreigners: you insert the SIM, answer a text from 607 with your passport number and your name, open the link in the reply, check your data and finish with a biometric identification by camera. Kazakh citizens send their personal ID number instead.

• Bring your passport to the shop and keep the passport number at hand for the registration text.
• Note the date you entered Kazakhstan. You need it if your phone lands on the grey list and you stay longer than 30 days.
• Check that your phone has no network lock.
• Keep your German SIM as a second line if your phone supports dual SIM, for bank codes by text.

Source: kcell.kz, number registration, read on 30 October 2026.

When is the eSIM the better choice, and when is it not?

For a week or two with maps, messengers and the odd video call, the eSIM costs less: 3 GB for 15 days cost €4.90, 10 GB for 30 days €10.90. You land online, skip the registration with passport and camera, and your phone stays out of the IMEI check. Install the eSIM at home on Wi-Fi (instructions for iPhone and Android); validity starts on first contact with the Kazakh network.

Travelling on to Kyrgyzstan? A second country eSIM for Kyrgyzstan costs from €1.90 for 1 GB; what a local SIM costs there is in our Kyrgyzstan SIM card guide. For the route on to Samarkand and Bukhara, read the Uzbekistan SIM card guide. We have no country eSIM for all three; our Global eSIM covers them on one profile, from €21.90 for 3 GB over 30 days.

The Beeline SIM is the better deal in these cases:

• You use more than 10 GB. Beeline gives you 25 GB for €11.86, our 20 GB plan costs €15.90.
• You need a Kazakh number, for calls inside the country or apps that confirm your number by text.
• You stay a month or longer and do not mind verifying your phone.

This guide is also available in German.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated on 30 October 2026. Prices read on that day on beeline.kz, povnomad.com and airalo.com; exchange rate of the National Bank of Kazakhstan of 30 October 2026. Prices and rules may change at any time.