Deputy Prime Minister — Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva spoke about the reform of Kazakhstan's migration policy, reports Todayinfo.
According to Balayeva, Kazakhstan is moving away from a complex and largely restrictive system towards a more open and flexible model.
“The goals of the reform are to build a transparent, predictable, and favorable migration system for specialists in demand by the domestic economy, to ensure their free entry, effective professional realization, and full, comfortable integration into life in Kazakhstan,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
To achieve these goals, the migration policy will rely on the following approaches.
The first key approach is the formation of a service-oriented state in the migration sphere. Balayeva explained that this means state procedures should be as simple, transparent, and accessible as possible. In practical terms, this is expressed in expanding the “single window” principle, digitalizing all basic processes, and reducing interdepartmental approvals. For example, processing status, work permits, and related procedures will be conducted on a “single window” basis, without the need for multiple visits to different government agencies.
The second approach is the debureaucratization of administrative processes, which will reduce application review times, optimize regulatory procedures, and introduce digital control tools. This will lower transactional costs for both citizens and the state.
The third approach is that Kazakhstan is introducing the “Altyn” (Golden) visa to attract investors and highly qualified specialists. For example, a foreign investor who invests in a project in the manufacturing or infrastructure sector will receive stable conditions for stay and business operations in Kazakhstan. Similarly, a specialist in engineering, IT, or medicine, in demand in the labor market, will gain simplified access to legalization and work.
The fourth approach is that Kazakhstan will significantly simplify the recognition of professional qualifications. This is especially relevant for scarce and high-tech industries. “In some cases, we are talking about reducing the time for qualification confirmation from months to significantly shorter procedures while maintaining all quality and safety requirements,” clarified the Deputy Prime Minister.
Balayeva emphasized that by initiating these reforms, the state is not lowering the level of regulation but making it more precise, targeted, and technological. According to the authorities, this will strengthen Kazakhstan's position in global competition for investment, technology, and human capital.
“Thus, we are talking about a comprehensive transformation of migration policy from a predominantly administrative function to instruments of economic development and a long-term state strategy,” Aida Balayeva concluded.
It is worth noting that Kazakhstan has introduced new rules for obtaining permanent residency permits for foreigners wishing to acquire Kazakh citizenship. One of the stages involves checking basic knowledge of the state language. Earlier, we reported that Kazakhstan plans to create a national program for the development of migration policy. This included discussions about a unified digital platform for migration regulation. The head of the Ministry of Labor proposed paying special attention to the introduction of electronic tools for selecting, accounting for, and integrating labor migrants, with an emphasis on attracting qualified specialists.
