Kazakhstan Changes Platform for Qandas Status Applications

The Ministry of Labor has updated the platform through which applications for Qandas status must be submitted, Orda.kz reports.

According to the ministry’s new order, which comes into effect on October 26, 2025, the main change concerns the electronic platform for accepting applications from ethnic Kazakhs holding foreign citizenship.

In October 2023, the Ministry of Labor launched the Qutty Meken app to simplify the application process. The 2024 revision of the “Rules for Assigning or Renewing Qandas Status” included this app as one method for submitting documents. However, it is no longer listed in the new version.

Under the updated rules, all documents must now be submitted through the Unified Migration Services Portal – Migration.enbek.kz.

An application for assignment of the status of a candidate is submitted by the applicant through the unified portal of migration services Migration.enbek.kz, through an information technology facility: a mobile application, a foreign institution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a state corporation, or the e-government web portal www.egov.kz, with the attachment of documents specified in the list of basic requirements for the provision of the public service 'Assignment or extension of the status of a candidate,'
The new version of the order states.

Another key change is that applicants will now receive notifications via mobile app, email, or SMS if authorities have concerns about their documents. The message will include the reason for the preliminary refusal and instructions on how and where to appeal the decision.

According to the Ministry of Labor, 9,586 ethnic Kazakhs returned to Kazakhstan in the first eight months of 2025. Since independence, more than 1.5 million have come back, primarily from Uzbekistan and China.

Original Author: Igor Ulitin