1 What counts as damage
- Water damage, staining or ink running, especially near the data page.
- A torn, peeling or delaminating photo page.
- A damaged chip, or a machine-readable strip that no longer scans.
- Missing or loose pages, whatever the reason.
- Unofficial marks or writing on the pages.
Ordinary wear — a soft cover, bent corners — is normally fine. Anything affecting the data page or the chip is not.
2 Why it fails the application too
You upload a scan of the data page. If damage makes the passport number, full name exactly as printed in the machine-readable line, date of birth, nationality and passport expiry date hard to read, the file is refused for legibility before anyone considers you personally. That costs the US$90–US$110 government fee and the 3 working days review window.
3 The cheaper route
Renew first, then apply on the new passport. Doing it the other way round means applying twice: an eVisa is tied to the passport number on the application, so a renewal afterwards invalidates the link and forces a fresh application anyway.
4 If you are already travelling soon
Count backwards in working days. Renewal plus 3 working days of review (sometimes around 5 hours where faster handling is possible — on request, never guaranteed) — is the realistic minimum.
5 Before you apply
Work through the Kazakhstan eVisa requirements checklist, then continue to the application flow. Other questions for this destination are collected in the Kazakhstan eVisa FAQ.
United eVisa Services is a private application-support provider, not a government agency. The immigration authority makes the decision.