Legalization Of Stay Of Foreigners In Kazakhstan: Work Permits For Foreign Specialists

To date, a significant number of foreign specialists are annually engaged by Kazakhstan employers to work in Kazakhstan. Every year the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan approves a quota for the next year for foreign specialists. The 2016 quota for foreign specialists constitutes 0.7% of the amount of economically active population of Kazakhstan, i.e. about 63,000 foreign specialists are eligible to work in Kazakhstan subject to certain qualification and other requirements.

According to the Rules regulating the procedure for issuance of permits to Kazakhstani employers for attracting foreign specialists and foreign employees under intra-company transfers, every Kazakhstani employer (a Kazakhstani legal entity, a branch or a representative office of a foreign company, or an individual hiring a foreign specialist) is required to obtain a work permit for each foreign specialist.

The Rules provide for a number of exemptions from the general requirement to obtain a work permit for certain categories of foreign specialists, including but not limited to specialists who are:

Citizens of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belorus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia in observance of the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty;

Holding primary management positions in branches (head of branch) and representative offices (head of representative office) of foreign companies;

Holding primary management positions in companies that have made contracts with the Government of Kazakhstan for investments in value exceeding U.S. $ 50,000,000, and persons holding primary management positions in Kazakhstani companies carrying out investment activities in so-called priority sectors of economy (a list of such priority sectors is approved by the Government of Kazakhstan) under investment contracts with a relevant Kazakhstani state authority;

Working in the Regional Financial Center of Almaty and holding positions of managers and specialists with university degrees;

Working in Kazakhstani companies that have made investment contracts for priority projects as well as working in organizations engaged by the Kazakhstani companies (or their contractors) in architectural, city planning and construction fields subject to special terms and conditions; and some others.

There are four categories of foreign specialists who are eligible to work in Kazakhstan, subject to qualification requirements:

First category includes top managers and their deputies;

Second category includes heads of...

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