From Which Countries Do Most Ethnic Kazakhs Return?

Since the beginning of 2024, 14,391 ethnic Kazakhs have returned to their historical homeland, all of them received the status of Qandas, Orda.kz reports, citing the press service of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population.

This year, most of the Qandas came from China (45.8%), Uzbekistan (39%), Mongolia (5.9%), Turkmenistan (5.2%), Russia (2.9%), and other countries (1.2%). Since gaining independence, more than a million compatriots have returned to Kazakhstan.

By October 1, 2024, 57.6% will be of working age, 33.1% will be children and adolescents, and 9.3% will be pensioners. 

Of the non-disabled relocatees, 17.9% have higher education, 24.4% have secondary specialized education, 54.4% have secondary general education, and 3.3% have no education. Qandas are resettled in different regions of Kazakhstan.

A quota of 3,033 has been allocated to attract relocatees to labor-deficient regions such as the Aqmola, Qostanay, Pavlodar, East Kazakhstan, North Kazakhstan, and Abay regions. 

In these regions, state support measures are provided for them: a relocation subsidy of 70 MCI (258.4 thousand tenge) for each family member, as well as monthly payments for rent and utility bills for the year in the range of 15 to 30 MCI (55.3-110.7 thousand tenge).

In 2023, a pilot project was launched to assign the Qandas status through Kazakhstani embassies abroad on a one-stop-shop basis.

This allowed ethnic Kazakhs to apply for documents remotely.

19,022 applications have already been submitted under the new format.

Original Author: Alina Pak