A residence permit is an official confirmation of the right of immigrants to reside in another country for a long time. In the Republic of Kazakhstan, a document is issued for 10 years, visitors who have turned 16 can receive it. Residence permit holders are entitled to official employment, purchase of real estate in the host country, etc.
The general rules for obtaining a residence permit are established by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "About Migration of the Population".
The document defines the reasons that are considered a weighty justification for obtaining it for such categories of arrivals in Kazakhstan:
1. For family reunification or marriage with a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
2. To continue education in educational institutions of the country.
3. Specialists in demand in the Republic of Kazakhstan, if Kazakh employers have concluded employment contracts with them.
4. For conducting their own business and for those who have registered an enterprise in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
These justifications should be confirmed by appropriate documents (an invitation from an employer, university, marriage certificate or business registration).
The law grants preferential rights to obtain a residence permit to ethnic Kazakhs and special categories of immigrants:
1. Those who previously had the citizenship of the country.
2. For whom Kazakhstan is the place of birth.
3. Who has relatives living here.
4. If a child has already been born in Kazakhstan in an immigrant family.
These advantages should be indicated in the application and supporting documents attached to it.
The Law provides for reasons why a residence permit of the Republic of Kazakhstan cannot be granted
The reasons for refusal are specified in Chapter 8 of the Law "About Migration". The most common of them are:
1. Illegal migration.
2. A criminal record for serious crimes that took place in the country from which the person came.
3. The presence of diseases dangerous to the environment (the list is specified in the order of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
4. Deportation from the Republic of Kazakhstan, which took place in the last 5 years.
5. If false information is submitted in the documents.
6. Repeated violation of the norms of legislation that immigrants must comply with.
Before applying for a residence permit, citizens who have arrived in the country will have to:
1. Follow the established rules of legal stay in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
2. To obtain the right to temporarily reside in the country in accordance with the established procedure.
3. After three years of legal residence in the country, you can get the right to stay for a longer period
Residence permit of the Republic of Kazakhstan: how to issue
The state has determined how to obtain a residence permit in Kazakhstan:
1. A person or a stateless person who has arrived from another country applies to the migration service at his place of residence.
2. Provides a package of documents that are necessary to resolve the issue of permanent residence in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The list of these documents for preliminary review is provided by the official website of the Migration Police of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
3. Fulfill one of the main conditions for a positive decision — to confirm your solvency.
4. After the migration service has made a positive decision on the permanent residence of migrants in the country, it is possible to proceed with the process of obtaining a residence permit. This should be addressed to the migration service units at the place of stay.
5.To obtain a residence permit, it is necessary to provide documents on payment of state duty and a national passport.
What documents are needed
The list of documents for obtaining the right to reside in Kazakhstan is determined by application №3 to the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It contains the following documents:
1. An application written in the prescribed form.
2. The original and a copy of the passport. At this point, the passport must be valid for another 180 days.
3. Departure sheet (de-registration in the country from which the person came).
4. The document confirms the consent of the country of which the immigrant is a citizen to his residence abroad.
5. Autobiography, certified by a personal signature. It is written in Kazakh or Russian.
6. A document that confirms the solvency. It can be replaced by an agreement that one of the citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan or a company provides an immigrant with housing. The contract must be notarized.
7. Certificate of absence or removal of a criminal record in the country from which the person arrived. Minor children from the age of 14 submit a written consent to live in Kazakhstan. The document must be notarized. A certificate confirming the absence of dangerous diseases in a person.
About the confirmation of solvency
Immigrants who want to stay in Kazakhstan for a long time must document their ability to pay. This is established by a special Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
A certificate of the availability of funds on the account must be obtained from Kazakhstani banks. The amount of these funds should be 1320 MCI for each immigrant. That is, those who have arrived must confirm that they have the means to purchase housing.
Such a certificate is not necessary for those visitors who have signed a contract with citizens of Kazakhstan on the provision of housing.
Also exempt from providing a certificate:
1. Ethnic Kazakhs.
2. Those who were born in the Kazakh SSR or previously had its citizenship.
3. Immigrants from countries with which a special agreement has been concluded simplifying the procedure for obtaining citizenship (Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Ukraine).
After receiving and checking the package of documents, a residence permit is issued within 17 calendar days. An accelerated order of issue is possible — after 7 working days.
Then the applicant is handed an identification card on his right of residence in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 10 years. After this time, the document can be extended. Two months before its end, it will be necessary to submit a petition to the migration service.
The country is open to those who have decided to return to their ancestral homeland, as well as to anyone who will be useful in the development of its economy — qualified specialists and entrepreneurs. Therefore, state structures control and regulate migration, don’t allow foreign citizens to stay in the country without good enough reasons.
The issue of dual citizenship
Dual citizenship is strictly prohibited in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Any person who receives a second citizenship loses his original citizenship.
A citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan who has obtained citizenship of another state reports the acquisition of foreign citizenship to the internal affairs bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan or another representative office and submits a passport and (or) identity card within 30 calendar days from the date of acquisition of another citizenship. Failure to inform the authorities about the acquisition of foreign citizenship within the specified period entails liability established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In order to acquire citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a person who has another citizenship must submit a written application to the internal affairs bodies with an application for renunciation of foreign citizenship. If the application for Kazakh citizenship is accepted, the person must renounce the original passport at the authorized body of the country of former citizenship within 30 calendar days after entering into Kazakh citizenship.
However, they can get dual citizenship:
- seriously ill persons;
- foreigners applying for dual citizenship and having considerable services to the Republic;
- Oralmans (ethnic Kazakh repatriates resettling to Kazakhstan from neighboring countries (Uzbekistan, China, Turkmenistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan), as well as a number of other Asian countries (Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.))
- Minors can also receive dual citizenship if their parents meet one of these points.
Unfortunately, many foreigners don’t take seriously the demands of the Republic and try by hook or by crook to find this or that «loophole» in the law. It is important to understand that the representatives of the Department of Internal Affairs closely monitor the newly arrived citizens and, in case of an attempt to circumvent the law, register the loss of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Who can get citizenship
The law of Kazakhstan states that it is possible to obtain citizenship:
- By right of birth.
- By right of residence on the territory of the Republic until the first of March 1992.
- By the right of admission to citizenship.
- According to paragraph two, it should be added that the registration of citizenship is possible if the foreign person has not expressed a desire to withdraw from the citizenship of Kazakhstan by the first of March 1995.
Also, the law of Kazakhstan states that the acquisition of citizenship is possible if:
- The foreigner has been permanently residing in Kazakhstan for 5 years.
- A foreigner is legally married to a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan (the period of cohabitation should not be less than three years).
- A foreigner has a close relative in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
- If a foreign person has a spouse or blood relatives in Kazakhstan, then the hassle-free acquisition of citizenship isn’t in doubt.
Against the background of the influx of migrants to Kazakhstan, the country's parliament developed amendments to legislation that would tighten the process of granting citizenship.
According to the new law, applicants for citizenship will be required to take paid courses in the Kazakh language, history and legislation of the country.
Procedure for receiving documents
Today there is a standard procedure for the admission of foreign persons to the citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The simplified admission procedure is relevant for people living on the territory of some former Soviet republics, including the Russian Federation.
Standard order
Persons residing in other countries have the right to acquire citizenship in a standard manner.
First of all, a foreign person must submit a petition to the diplomatic institution addressed to N.A. Nazarbayev. In this document, a foreign person undertakes to motivate for what reasons he needs to obtain citizenship of Kazakhstan.
According to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a person applying for citizenship undertakes to provide the following documents to a diplomatic institution:
- a completed questionnaire with correct data;
- four high-quality photographs;
- a document certifying that a foreign person applying for citizenship has no problems with the law;
- high-quality photocopy of the identity card;
- a document on renouncing the citizenship of another country;
- certificate of payment of state duty (some persons may be granted exemption from depositing funds);
- petition of the relevant state body (relevant for persons who arrived in Kazakhstan to carry out professional activities);
- certificate of oralman (ethnic Kazakh repatriates resettling in Kazakhstan from neighboring countries (Uzbekistan, China, Turkmenistan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan), as well as a number of other Asian countries (Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.)
- a confirmed certificate of marriage with a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan (the document must be notarized);
- certificates confirming the fact of kinship of a foreign person with citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The Law of the Republic states that the term for consideration of the application of a foreign person applying for citizenship in the standard procedure is six months.
Regarding the accepted decision, the applicant is notified both in a telephone conversation and in person. In case of a positive decision of the issue, the applicant receives a passport of a citizen of Kazakhstan.
Citizenship of Kazakhstan for citizens of former USSR countries
According to international agreements concluded between Kazakhstan and some former Soviet republics, the right to a simplified procedure has:
- Citizens of the Russian Federation.
- Citizens of Ukraine.
- Citizens of Belarus.
- Citizens of Kyrgyzstan.
- Foreign women married to a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
- Specialists of some professions who move to work in Kazakhstan.
The Agreement is also retroactive. Thus, Kazakhstanis who wish to move to one of the above-mentioned countries have the right to simplified citizenship.
The following procedure for obtaining citizenship is noted:
1. A foreign person may document the fact of residence in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan until December 21, 1991 year.
2. The applicant continuously and legally resides in Kazakhstan (relevant for Ukrainians).
3. The applicant has close relatives - Kazakhstanis.
4. According to the Law of the Republic and the existing procedure, foreign persons applying for Kazakh citizenship are required to submit the following documents:
- A completed questionnaire.
- A document certifying the renunciation of previous citizenship.
- Four high-quality photographs.
- A photocopy of the civil passport.
- A photocopy of the marriage.
- Certificate of payment of state fee.
A foreign person undertakes to attach an application to the package of documents addressed to the head of the Department of Internal Affairs. Sometimes, at the request of diplomats, the applicant undertakes to attach some additional documents.
This may be a document confirming the applicant's residence on the territory of Russia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus before December 21, 1991 year.
If the applicant receives a positive response, he undertakes to hand over the civil passport of the country of departure. In most cases, applications are considered for no more than three months, after which the applicant is invited to a diplomatic institution.
Kazakhstan