Since the beginning of 2026, 7,584 temporary residence permits for foreign citizens have been issued in the Turkestan region and 166 visas of the Republic of Kazakhstan have been issued. At the same time, 7,749 people were brought to administrative responsibility for various offenses.
“They include 1,048 foreign citizens who violated the rules of stay in the country, 467 receiving parties who did not ensure compliance with the established migration regime, and 102 employers who illegally recruited foreign labor,” said Aida Smagul, head of the migration service of the Turkestan region.
By court decision, 579 foreign citizens were expelled from the country. According to the law, entry into Kazakhstan is closed to them for the next five years.
Who and how can you hire?
A Kazinform agency correspondent studied the legislative norms governing the procedure for hiring foreign citizens. According to the Law “On Migration of Population” and the rules of the relevant ministry, all foreign workers are divided into four main qualification categories. Each of them requires mandatory confirmation of experience and qualifications:
- the first category is heads of organizations and their deputies.
- the second category is heads of structural divisions.
- the third category is specialized specialists (IT sector, engineering, medicine, etc.).
- The fourth category is skilled workers.
Liability and fines in 2026
In Kazakhstan, liability for violations when attracting foreign labor is enshrined in Article 519 of the Code of Administrative Offences. Significant fines are provided both for working without permits and in cases where a foreign employee occupies a position that does not correspond to that specified in the permit.
Taking into account the MCI of 4,325 tenge in 2026, the amounts of penalties are:
- for individuals – 129,750 tenge (30 MCI);
- for officials – 216,250 tenge (50 MCI);
- for small businesses – 432,500 tenge (100 MCI);
- for medium-sized businesses – 865,000 tenge (200 MCI);
- for large businesses – 3,027,500 tenge (700 MCI).
If there is a repeated violation within a year, the punishment is significantly increased. Thus, for large businesses, the fine increases to 1000 MCI, which is 4,325,000 tenge.
Special rules apply to individuals. Hiring foreigners to work in the household (nannies, gardeners, security guards) is possible only with permission from the internal affairs authorities. At the same time, one employer does not have the right to attract more than five labor immigrants at the same time. Violation of this limit or lack of permission also entails a fine of 30 MCI.
Previously, Kazinform reported for which offenses foreign citizens could be forcibly expel from the country and for how long in this case entry into Kazakhstan is closed.
