Relocation of Processing Hub to Delay Work and Residence Permit Processing

The situation

The renaming of the South Kazakhstan region as the Turkestan region and the corresponding relocation of the immigration processing hub to Turkestan is expected to delay work and residence permit application processing in the former South Kazakhstan region.

Impact

The relocation of the immigration processing hub to Turkestan city is expected to have the following effects:

• Stricter document and eligibility requirements. Turkestan officials are expected to interpret immigration and labor legislation very strictly and in turn require more documents to be submitted to support work and residence permit applications. Although work permit applications can initially be filed online in the Turkestan region, authorities may request original documents to be submitted in person.
• Longer processing. All processing steps are expected to take several weeks to several months longer than usual, which could bring the overall work authorization process up to 20-25 weeks.
• More in-person visits. Fragomen expects Turkestan officials to require company representatives and foreign nationals to personally appear at the immigration authorities’ offices during more application steps than currently required. This will increase the administrative burden on applicants.
• Longer appointment waiting times. Due to the considerable increase in workload and expected increase of in-person visits, it is expected that appointment waiting times at Turkestan public offices will increase by several weeks. 
• Affected process steps. The changes will impact work and residence permit applications, and in-person appointments such as passport registrations, notifications of arrival and submission of original documents. Employers and foreign nationals should plan for additional time for each work permit processing step.

Background

Following the growth of the population to over one million inhabitants, the Kazakh government recently named Shymkent as a ‘city of republican importance’, the third city in Kazakhstan to be so marked, following Astana and Almaty. This is the national way of managing the government’s administrative structure and scope of work in large cities.

This event, as well as the corresponding renaming of the South Kazakhstan region, resulted in the relocation of the immigration processing center from Shymkent to Turkestan, since all 14 regions in Kazakhstan, including the South Kazakhstan region, must have an administrative center. Following Shymkent’s promotion to a city of republican importance, it will no longer manage any regional applications and its authorities will focus solely on the immigration applications filed for work in Shymkent.

Generally, regional variations in processing and requirements, a strict quota process, high penalties for employers and foreign nationals who fail to follow immigration procedures, and the occasional regional reorganization make the immigration process in Kazakhstan complex and less predictable for employers.

Looking ahead

These delays and increased administrative burdens are expected to last for several months. Fragomen will monitor developments and will provide updates as they become available.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].