Migration - The Times Of Central Asia

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Labor Migration

Kyrgyzstan Expands Foreign Worker Quotas While Citizens Work Abroad

Kyrgyzstan plans to allow up to 120,000 foreign nationals to work in the country in 2027, even as more than 700,000 of its own citizens have worked abroad this year. Although official estimates are lower than four years ago, the country remains heavily dependent on money sent home by migrant workers, particularly those in Russia. According to the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyzstan received approximately $3.5 billion in transfers from abroad in 2025, more than 90% of which came from Russia. The Ministry of Labor, Social Security, and Migration reported that 736,600 citizens had worked abroad so far in 2026, compared with 798,400 in 2025. The largest group, more than 472,000 people, was reported to be in Russia in March. Approximately 70,000 were working in Kazakhstan, 60,000 in the United States, 35,000 in Turkey, and 20,000 in Germany. In 2022, the authorities estimated that 1.118 million Kyrgyz citizens were working abroad, including more than one million in Russia. However, the figures do not establish exactly how many people have returned home and how many have moved to other countries for work. Russia has tightened its migration requirements and stepped up enforcement of residency regulations. In a report covering the second half of 2025, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) found that 94% of emigrants surveyed had left to find employment or better economic opportunities. Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev discussed these changes in labor migration during a parliamentary committee meeting on October 13. According to Kulubaev, more Kyrgyz citizens are choosing Turkey and the U.S. for employment, while demand for workers from Kyrgyzstan remains strong in South Korea and Japan. He said representatives from some European countries had offered to accept workers from Kyrgyzstan on the condition that the country accommodate migrants from Afghanistan and African nations. Kulubaev did not disclose which countries had made the offer, saying only that Bishkek rejected the proposal. There has been no public confirmation of the arrangement from the European participants in the negotiations. Within Kyrgyzstan, the unemployment rate fell from 5.8% in 2020 to 3.2% in 2025. The decline coincided with growth in construction, trade, and services, although employment figures alone do not show how much wages have increased or how many former migrants have found jobs at home. During a recent visit to the Batken region, President Sadyr Japarov again urged citizens working abroad to return home. The initial quota for foreign nationals arriving to work in Kyrgyzstan for 2025 was 25,000 people. The limit was raised to 100,000 for 2026. Expanding the quota allows businesses to recruit more employees from abroad, particularly for construction, manufacturing, and other industries where employers face staffing needs. According to the Ministry of Labor, by December 2025, approximately 18,900 Chinese, 11,700 Bangladeshis, and 8,300 Pakistanis had received work permits. An IOM study conducted in the first half of 2025 found a substantial presence of workers from Uzbekistan, approximately 10,800 people. The largest numbers of foreign workers covered by the survey were in the Jalal-Abad region,...

Migrant Resettlement

Kyrgyzstan Rejects European Migrant Resettlement Proposals

Kyrgyzstan has repeatedly rejected proposals from several European countries to accept migrants from Afghanistan and African countries, Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev said on October 13. In exchange, those countries had offered employment opportunities for Kyrgyzstan’s skilled workers. He said Bishkek would not negotiate on those terms. Kulubaev did not specify which countries had made the proposals or how many migrants Kyrgyzstan had been asked to accept. No European government has publicly confirmed such an offer. On October 1, the Council of the European Union adopted new rules for returning foreign nationals who have no legal right to remain in its member states. The rules allow countries to establish migrant return centers outside the bloc under agreements with third countries. Such arrangements must comply with international human rights protections, including the prohibition on sending people to countries where they face persecution or ill-treatment. Similar arrangements have been discussed elsewhere in Central Asia. On May 7, Austria and Uzbekistan signed an agreement to cooperate on deportations during a visit by Austria’s foreign and interior ministers to Tashkent. The deal also provided for greater cooperation on legal employment opportunities for skilled workers from Uzbekistan. Unlike the proposals described by Kulubaev, the Austrian arrangement envisaged Uzbekistan as a potential transit route for Afghan nationals being returned from Austria, rather than a place of resettlement. Kyrgyzstan is reassessing its own approach to labor migration. According to Kulubaev, growing numbers of its citizens are choosing Turkey and the United States as destinations for work. South Korea and Japan are also interested in recruiting workers from Kyrgyzstan, particularly staff to care for elderly patients in hospitals. Bishkek has reduced the organized placement of its citizens in long-term jobs abroad while continuing to facilitate seasonal employment. Kulubaev said Kyrgyzstan also faces labor shortages at home. Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Labor, Social Security, and Migration said 736,600 citizens had worked abroad so far in 2026, compared with 798,400 during the whole of 2025. Russia remains the main destination, with more than 472,000 citizens of Kyrgyzstan living there in March. Approximately 70,000 were working in Kazakhstan, 60,000 in the U.S., 35,000 in Turkey, and 20,000 in Germany.

Labor Migration to Russia

Uzbekistan Proposes One-Stop Center for Migrant Workers Heading to Russia

Uzbekistan has proposed establishing a one-stop center where citizens planning to work in Russia could complete key migration procedures before departure. The initiative was discussed at a meeting between Uzbekistan Migration Agency Director Muhsinxo‘ja Abdurahmonov and Russian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Alexey Yerkhov. The Migration Agency also wants Russian-language examinations to be available in the regions so applicants do not have to travel to Tashkent. It said the necessary infrastructure has been prepared in four regions. Uzbekistan is proposing that citizens travel to Russia for specific vacancies. Prospective workers would know their employer and working conditions in advance. In 2025, Tashkent and Moscow considered conducting medical examinations and Russian-language tests at branches of Russian universities in Tashkent and Jizzakh. The latest initiative comes as work-related travel from Uzbekistan to Russia has declined. In January-June 2026, Uzbek citizens made more than 1.1 million entries into Russia declaring work as the purpose of their trip, down 13.2% from a year earlier. Across Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, work-related entries fell by about 15%, from more than 2.3 million to 1.9 million. The figures count border crossings rather than individual workers, meaning the same person can be counted more than once. Despite fewer work-related entries into Russia, cross-border remittances to Uzbekistan reached $9.3 billion in the first half of 2026, up 13% year-on-year. The Central Bank attributed the increase to sustained demand for labor and relatively high wages in traditional destination countries for Uzbek migrant workers, as well as the strengthening of national currencies. The Central Bank also pointed to signs of diversification in the geography of labor migration. Transfers from the United Kingdom increased by 62% year-on-year, those from European Union countries by 27%, and those from the United States by 19%.

Migration

Lithuania Closures Highlight Limits of Central Asia’s Migration Shift Away From Russia

Lithuania will close external service provider centers that accept migration documents in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan on November 1. A day before the announcement, Lithuania’s Migration Department said external service centers in Central Asia had stopped accepting new applications from residents seeking to come to the country for work after receiving a very high volume of employment applications. Lithuania had also exhausted its annual quota for foreign workers earlier in September. Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said the November 1 closures were prompted by security risks and the threat of terrorism. The centers act as intermediaries, accepting applications for Lithuanian residence permits and initiating migration procedures Lithuania’s State Security Department has previously reported identifying individual members of the Central Asian community with radical views or links to terrorism. In its annual threat assessment, the agency also said that Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, has been recruiting followers within Central Asian diaspora communities in Europe. However, the agency said it considers it unlikely that Lithuania itself will become a direct target for Islamist terrorists in the near term. The security decision comes as Lithuania has also reached its annual foreign-worker quota. The country set a quota of 24,706 foreign workers for 2026, which was officially declared exhausted on September 7. Once the quota is reached, a temporary residence permit based on employment remains available if the worker meets a higher salary threshold or belongs to certain high-value professions that are in shortage and meets the separate salary requirement for those professions. As of September 1, nearly 227,000 foreign nationals held valid residence permits in Lithuania. They included around 13,000 Uzbek citizens and 7,400 Tajik citizens. Demand for Lithuania has grown alongside broader interest in the European labor market. Between 2018 and 2024, the number of valid EU work permits held by Uzbek citizens increased roughly eightfold, those held by Kyrgyz citizens more than sevenfold, and those held by Tajik citizens more than fourteenfold. Poland has become one of the main destinations, Germany is expanding organized recruitment, and the UK has become an important source of seasonal work, while labor mobility programs are also emerging elsewhere in Europe. Conditions are also changing in Russia, which for decades has absorbed most of the region’s labor migrants. Following the March 2024 Crocus City Hall terrorist attack, the authorities tightened migration rules, expanded registration requirements, and introduced greater digital monitoring of foreign workers. In the first half of 2026, citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan made around 1.9 million entries into Russia declaring work as the purpose of their trip, down from more than 2.3 million a year earlier. The decline does not mean that there is no longer dependence on the Russian labor market. In the first quarter of 2026, Russia accounted for 72.4% of cross-border remittances to Uzbekistan. In Kyrgyzstan, a March 2025 estimate put the number of citizens living abroad at roughly 600,000; around 380,000 were registered with Russian migration authorities at the end of 2024. For Central Asian migrants, European migration...

Migration

Nearly 100,000 Uzbeks Return From Russia as Labor Migration Slows

Nearly 100,000 Uzbek citizens returned from Russia between August 25 and September 5, as broader figures point to a decline in labor migration from Uzbekistan to Russia amid rising costs and tighter migration controls. According to Uzbekistan’s Migration Agency, 96,415 people returned during the ten-day period. The agency has not published comparable figures for last year or explained why most of them came home, meaning the figure alone cannot be taken as evidence of a mass exodus. There is, however, evidence of a broader slowdown. Between January and June, Uzbek citizens made more than 1.1 million entries into Russia declaring “work” as the purpose of their trip, down 13.2% year-on-year. Across Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, work-related entries fell by about 15%, from more than 2.3 million to 1.9 million. The figures count border crossings rather than individual workers, meaning the same person may appear more than once. But unlike the ten-day return figure, they show a decline sustained over the first half of the year. Alexander Safonov, a professor at Russia’s Financial University, told Vedomosti that “tighter migration policy and the rising cost of work patents” were among the factors behind the decline. Uzbek and Tajik citizens need patents to work legally in Russia. Safonov also pointed to the cost of medical examinations, housing, and travel, which reduce the amount migrants can save or send home. At the same time, Russia has tightened migration controls. Since February 2025, foreign nationals who no longer have legal grounds to remain in the country have been placed on a register of controlled persons. Those listed face restrictions on certain banking transactions, registering property and vehicles, and other activities. Moscow and the Moscow Region have introduced additional controls. Some visa-free foreign workers are required to use the Amina mobile application for migration registration and to provide information about their location. From September 1, 2026, the system was expanded to other categories of adult foreign nationals from visa-free countries staying in the capital region for more than 90 days. The treatment of Uzbek migrants has also become an issue in relations between Tashkent and Moscow. In late August, Uzbek representatives discussed migration checks, the situation of citizens placed on the register of controlled persons, and the possibility of regularizing the status of some foreign nationals with Russia’s Interior Ministry, Prosecutor General’s Office, and Foreign Ministry. Some Uzbek workers who have already left Russia describe a similar calculation. In the spring, Azattyq Asia spoke with Uzbeks who had worked in Russia and returned home. They cited rising living costs, tougher migration rules, inspections, and concerns about their safety. Said, from Samarkand, had worked in Russia for several years before returning and finding a job at home. He said that Russian wages appeared less attractive once rent and the cost of a work patent were taken into account. Human rights advocate Valentina Chupik told the outlet that the return trend had begun before this year. She cited the ruble exchange rate, the war in Ukraine, and concerns...

Migration

CIS Official Warns Middle East Crisis Could Increase Migration Pressure on Turkmenistan

Growing instability in the Middle East could trigger large-scale migration flows that may affect countries bordering Iran, including Turkmenistan, according to a senior security official from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The warning was issued by Evgeny Sysoev, head of the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center, during a meeting of the heads of competent authorities of CIS member states, according to the Azerbaijani newspaper Bakinskiy Rabochiy. Sysoev said the worsening international situation, particularly developments in the Middle East, had created conditions that could lead to significant migration movements and a humanitarian crisis similar to those seen during conflicts in Libya and Iraq. While all CIS countries could face consequences from such a scenario, he said the greatest pressure would likely fall on states sharing borders with Iran, specifically Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. The comments come as regional governments closely monitor the wider effects of instability in the Middle East. Turkmenistan, which shares a 1,148-kilometer border with Iran, is one of the countries most directly exposed to any potential population movements resulting from a prolonged crisis. Reuters has previously reported that Turkmenistan’s border with northeastern Iran has been used as an evacuation route for foreign nationals leaving Iran during periods of heightened instability. Sysoev also highlighted ongoing counterterrorism cooperation among CIS member states. According to his figures, security agencies across the bloc prevented more than 2,500 terrorist and extremist crimes in 2025, including more than 300 attempted terrorist attacks. He said authorities disrupted more than 200 terrorist and extremist cells, shut down nearly 900 sources and 300 channels of terrorist financing, and blocked almost 19,000 online resources containing radical content. More than 2,300 criminal cases related to terrorism and extremism were opened, while more than 1,500 people were prosecuted. Authorities also persuaded more than 100 terrorists and more than 2,000 extremists to abandon destructive activities, he added. The warning follows recent signs that developments in neighboring Iran are already having an economic impact on Turkmenistan. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, disruptions to trade routes and supplies from Iran have contributed to rising prices for food, household goods, construction materials, and cigarettes across the country.