The procedure for obtaining a residence permit in Kazakhstan for ethnic Kazakhs living abroad will be simplified with the Ata Zholy special card that will be available to them from July. It can be issued via the Kutty Meken mobile application, which will start to work soon. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, the Ata Zholy card will attract professionals and successful businesspeople to the country to realize their potential. It will be provided to the Kandas people, or ethnic Kazakhs living abroad without a loss of citizenship.
“These citizens are not obliged to change their citizenship, which they once acquired. If they receive the status of Kandas, they are supposed to get the citizenship of Kazakhstan within one year. If they do not want to lose the citizenship of the United States, France or Germany, they can get the Ata Zholy card that gives them right to be on the territory of Kazakhstan. The only thing they won’t get is political rights, which means they cannot contest elections. The rest of all the rights of social security and health insurance will be granted. Holders of the Ata Zholy card can stay in the territory within their passport validity period or for ten years,” said Dastan Aitkulov, spokesperson for the Kazakh Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 8,000 people have returned to their historical homeland and received the status of Kandas. They arrived from Uzbekistan, China, Russia, Mongolia, Turkmenistan and other countries. The largest part of ethnic Kazakhs settled in the Almaty, Mangystau, Turkistan and Zhambyl regions, as well as in Astana, Almaty and Shymkent cities.
