A total of 14,500 foreigners, including over 11,000 Kandas people, have received citizenship of Kazakhstan since the beginning of the year. According to the Kazakh Ministry of Internal Affairs, the majority of arrivals, namely 8,500 people, came from Uzbekistan, followed by over 2,000 from Russia, and others from Turkmenistan, China, and Kyrgyzstan. As noted by the relevant ministry, last year, more than 22,000 people became full-fledged residents of the country, including 17,500 ethnic Kazakhs who are eligible to obtain Kazakh citizenship through a simplified procedure in accordance with the law.