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Kazakhstan has raised the bar for Kazakh-language proficiency required to obtain a residence permit, a government official told Deutsche Welle on condition of anonymity.
According to the source, Astana has significantly overhauled its migration policy, shifting responsibility for issuing residence permits for foreigners to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. On February 13, the ministry introduced a so‑called “digital scoring” system—an automated assessment of an applicant’s solvency and reliability—that now applies to all foreign citizens seeking permanent residence in Kazakhstan.
Under this system, every would‑be immigrant must first pass a Kazakh language test at level B1, which implies the ability to understand the main ideas of texts and communicate on familiar topics. Until April 10, the first stage of the digital scoring process required only an elementary A1 level.
“The second stage remains unchanged—it covers checks on family composition, education level, work experience, qualifications, health status, and the presence of relatives in Kazakhstan. Priority is still given to specialists who are particularly in demand in the national economy,” the official said.
The source added that several other innovations are being rolled out. Residence permit applications can now be filed only in seven so‑called priority regions designated by the government: selected districts of Akmola Region and Abai Region, as well as East Kazakhstan, Kostanay, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan and Ulytau regions.
Kazakhstan’s three cities with populations of more than one million—Almaty, Astana and Shymkent—are not on this list and are therefore effectively closed to new residence permit applicants.
Another key element of the new procedure is a mandatory in‑person interview at local executive bodies for residence permit candidates. “If a candidate successfully passes all stages of the scoring system, they receive a notification, on the basis of which they can submit documents to the migration service to formalize permanent residence in the Republic of Kazakhstan,” the interlocutor told DW.
So far, however, there has been no formal public confirmation of these changes to residence permit rules. The first reports emerged in online chats of relocants, where citizens of Russia and Ukraine who had moved to Kazakhstan wrote that they were being turned away at the application stage after failing the state language test.
None of DW’s sources could explain why the government has delayed officially publishing the new migration rules. At the same time, they noted that full details of the updated residence permit procedure are expected to appear on official government platforms and in the media in the coming days.
