Is Kazakhstan Ready to Become New Labor Migrant Center?

Over three days in March, during Operation Migrant, local police identified more than 10,000 violators of migration laws.

There is no exact data on the total number of illegal migrants in Kazakhstan, but current trends suggest their numbers are growing. Orda.kz looks at whether the country is ready for these shifts — and what advantages Kazakhstan might gain from the situation.

Deported

Rustam Atoyev, a labor migrant from Tajikistan, was deported from Russia and now works at a construction site in Almaty. He admits the pay is much lower than in Moscow but says he feels safer in Kazakhstan.

He hasn’t even heard about the recent Operation Migrant.

The police in Kazakhstan do not stop you, do not harrass you. In Russia, in recent years, it has become impossible to work, there are too many problems,
 he explains.

The problems Rustam refers to stem from stricter migration laws. Last November, Russian Duma Chair Vyacheslav Volodin said 13 new laws had been passed in 12 months, making life more difficult for labor migrants. Work opportunities have been limited, and deportation procedures have been simplified.

Another major factor is Russia’s economic downturn due to the war in Ukraine — as well as growing xenophobia. After the Crocus City Hall terror attack in March 2024, Tajik citizens were accused, and Central Asian migrants came under more scrutiny.

Rustam was deported in 2024 after police caught him during a street check — his registration had expired. He spent a few months jobless in Tajikistan before coming to Almaty.

Many others were also heading to Russia via Kazakhstan but got stuck at the border due to entry bans.

All the Tajiks who work here were in Russia before. Probably half of them are those who were deported. We work at bazaars, construction sites, in taxis, in delivery. Some are already engaged in business,
 Rustam says.

He doesn’t plan to stay in Kazakhstan. He hopes to move to Europe, where wages and living conditions are better — a common goal among labor migrants.

If Russia tightens its migration laws, labor migrants will most likely come here. But they usually don't stay here. Kazakhstan is a temporary country for them. Firstly, the pay here is not as high as in Russia. Secondly, there are not many labor migrants from Central Asia. This means that they cannot rent housing together, group together, create their own migrant enclaves. And this is not beneficial for them. They use Kazakhstan as a transit country and move on, explains national demographer Ayaulym Sagynbaeva.

These sentiments have been evident since 2022. A UN ESCAP report on migration trends noted that Russia’s war in Ukraine triggered a return of labor migrants to Central Asia. At the same time, economic hardship in countries like Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan has made Kazakhstan a more attractive alternative.

Internal data supports this. The IOM’s 2024 quarterly reports, citing local authorities, also show an increase in people seeking employment in Kazakhstan.

Notably, the nature of labor migration is also changing. According to Shakhnoza Khasanova, director of the Legal Center for Women’s Initiatives “Sana Sezim” in Shymkent, more women with families have been arriving in recent years — a trend the center has observed since the early 2020s.

Is There A Demand?

Kazakhstan’s official policy prioritizes attracting highly qualified specialists, as outlined in the 2023–2027 Migration Policy Concept. Currently, around 14,000 such professionals work in the country. The total quota for foreign workers in 2024 was nearly 300,000 — with 22,000 slots for employer-sponsored labor and 271,300 for domestic workers.

That quota was slightly reduced for 2025.

There is a demand for labor migrants, including low-skilled workers, in Kazakhstan, and it is higher than the proposed quota. Migrants occupy niches where citizens of Kazakhstan do not want to work. There is a demand for foreigners in agriculture, construction, and repair work,explains Denis Dzhivaga, Deputy Director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law.

Sagynbaeva believes migrants could benefit the economy.

Migrants often work harder than the local population, they have to prove that they are better, and thus they are a driving economic force. Kazakhstan in the current situation could become a migration hub,
 she reasons.

Khasanova says her center often hears from migrants who couldn’t get a spot due to expired quotas.

We have been approached by migrants who would like to work legally in Kazakhstan, but cannot do so because quotas have expired. In the summer, during agricultural and construction work and in the agricultural sector, there are more such requests, and in the cold season there are fewer, but they still exist,
 she says.

Dzhivaga suggests Kazakhstan should expand migration agreements with regional neighbors. He also notes growing numbers of migrants from outside Central Asia:

There are now more migrants from African countries, Pakistan, Yemen in Kazakhstan. Many of them used to work in Russia, but due to the tightening of migration policy, they began to come to Kazakhstan.

There’s no clear data on how many are in Kazakhstan illegally. However, an IOM study last year found that one in three labor migrants lacked legal status.

Migrants find themselves in an illegal situation for many reasons that are difficult to prevent. For now, the current legislation is sufficient to regulate the processes. The authorities are trying to respond to the challenges, which is why last year the law 'On Combating Human Trafficking' was adopted, which also regulates migration issues, explains Dzhivaga.

Challenges 

Sagynbayeva warns that migration flows must be studied closely in terms of national security and rising migrantophobia. She also stresses the potential vulnerability of migrants to extremist influences.

If labor migrants feel comfortable in Kazakhstan, this is a very good sign. This means that the issue of interethnic relations is not a problem, as some in social networks and the media want to show. It is xenophobia and migrantophobia that lead to the growth of radical sentiments among newcomers. This does not exist in Kazakhstan. At least not on such a scale,she says.

While Kazakhstan has avoided large-scale anti-migrant incidents, isolated cases of discrimination do exist. The National Security Committee acknowledges this range of attitudes:

The labor market of Kazakhstan has become attractive for citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Some treat migrants with understanding and believe that they are 'in other people's neck of the woods because life is not good back there.' Others view them as competitors and 'capturers of the labor market.' There are also those who jokingly call them 'Ravshans' and 'Dzhamshuts' like popular characters from a humorous TV show, and some create families with them.

Khasanova says “Sana Sezim” runs awareness campaigns to prevent xenophobia and promote understanding of the economic benefits migrants bring.

As our recent study of the situation of female migrant workers in Kazakhstan has shown, the level of trust in the local police, social services, and crisis centers is growing among them. Of course, women still turn to their relatives more often if problems arise, but this often happens because they simply do not know where else to go,she says. 

She also notes that state-funded crisis centers offer support to migrant victims of human trafficking.

Such centers, as a rule, help victims of human trafficking. And according to an analysis of appeals to the organization, 70% of victims are foreign citizens. State crisis centers for victims of human trafficking provide eight types of services — from medical to legal, and if a person is truly recognized as a victim, the state provides him with all kinds of support, including paying for his return to his home country,
she clarifies.

According to Khasanova, these and other steps are vital to protecting migrants and mitigating risks as labor migration to Kazakhstan continues to grow.

Original Author: Liliya Gaysina