Uzbek citizens accounted for more work-related arrivals in Russia than any other nationality in the first half of 2026, despite a 13.2% decline compared with a year earlier.
According to data published by TASS on October 26, Uzbek citizens listed employment as the purpose of entry on 1,178,609 occasions. Tajikistan ranked second with 494,518 entries, followed by Kyrgyzstan with 289,061, Kazakhstan and China.
The statistics count border entries rather than individual people: a single worker may have crossed the Russian border several times.
The Central Bank of Uzbekistan reported approximately 1.358 million such trips in the first half of 2025, nearly 180,000 more than a year later.
Russia remains Uzbekistan’s largest overseas labor market, but the number of Uzbek citizens working in other countries is growing. In 2025, the number of Uzbek workers in the European Union increased by 13.2%, while the figure for Turkey rose by 10.7%.
As of July 1, 2026, approximately 70,000 Uzbek citizens were in Turkey, and 102,200 were in South Korea, both increases from a year earlier. These figures reflect the number of citizens present in the respective countries and do not necessarily correspond to employment statistics.
Despite the decline in work-related trips, remittances from Russia to Uzbekistan increased by 8.8% in the first half of 2026.
For Uzbekistan, remittances are a significant source of household income. The Central Bank has warned that declining labor migration could eventually reduce household incomes and consumer spending. Meanwhile, the number of advertised vacancies in Uzbekistan fell by 9.8% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, while competition for jobs intensified.
Unpaid wages are another persistent problem. During the first nine months of 2026, Uzbekistan’s Migration Agency handled complaints from 817 citizens concerning unpaid wages and compensation, recovering a total of $850,000 from foreign employers.
Of these complaints, 533 came from Russia, 155 from Turkey, and 92 from South Korea.
The agency also helped 532 Uzbek citizens recover identity documents withheld by intermediaries or employers. Russia accounted for 331 such cases and Turkey for 185.
The Times of Central Asia previously reported that Russia accounted for 72.4% of remittances received by Uzbekistan in the first quarter of 2026, despite its declining share.
