Kazakhstan’s authorities have changed their approach to potential investors. The country is now going to provide them with 10-year residence permits, according to Tamara Duysenova, a minister of labor and social protection of the population. The official also noted that the visa threshold for investors is going to be $300,000 as the government has approved a new migration policy concept called Ashyk Kazakhstan 500+.
The new concept says that any investor who meets key requirements can live in Kazakhstan, register a business, own property, hire personnel, and make any kind of financial transactions associated with his business activity.
It is expected that the concept developed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population will help the country to attract qualified specialists from abroad and protect the interests of those Kazakhstani citizens who work in foreign countries. The government wants to eliminate the demographic imbalance between different regions in Kazakhstan and enlist at least 500 professionals from the shortage occupation list.
Moreover, in order to make Kazakhstan’s economy more attractive for highly qualified professionals, investments and new technologies, the ministry suggests introducing new types of visas for scientists, teachers, and representatives from creative or rare professions.
«There is another important moment. We want to protect our citizens working abroad, to provide them with legal support and consulting assistance. To achieve this goal we are going to sign bilateral agreements with those countries where we know many of our fellow citizens work. We have to have an opportunity to protect our people even if they work abroad,» said Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov.
The concept also implies that the government will create a single information system to register all migrants. As Smailov noted, this digital system will let the authorities immediately identify any migrant and monitor his movements.
On the other hand, the new concept reflects the intention of the country to strengthen its requirements for those who want to become Kazakhstani citizens, according to Interior Minister Marat Akhmetzhanov.
«We are going to introduce tougher rules to counter double citizenship. If a person who obtained Kazakhstani citizenship continues to use an ID issued by another country, the migration police will immediately take citizenship away from him or her. The other reason to denaturalize a person is a situation when he or she fails to prove in six months that he no longer possesses previous citizenship,» said Akhmetzhanov.
He also noted that under new rules those who want to naturalize in Kazakhstan have to pass a Kazakh language exam and show their knowledge of the country’s history and Constitution.
The members of the cabinet voted for the document with one voice.
In January 2022, the U.K. government announced that it is going to suspend its golden visa. This program was launched in 2008. It allowed any foreigner who is ready to pay £2 million to the government to get a residence permit.
Kyrgyzstan has also simplified the process of receiving residence permits for foreigners who invested at least $118,420 into its economy. In Turkey, those foreigners who buy real estate can obtain a residence permit and even citizenship much faster than other applicants.
