It’s not completely surprising that Kazakhstan has changed its visa policy in 2021, a few times. The reason of course is the pandemic, which for now refuses to disappear. The country has introduced a temporary visa obligation for citizins of many countries, and in September announced to abolish it.
However, as the pandemic flares up again both in Kazakhstan and in many other countries, the rule has been extended to the end of 2021. We can only hope that in 2022 it is no longer considered necessary.