Citizens of several countries will be subject to new rules of stay when planning to remain in Kyrgyzstan for a long period for private reasons, the Ministry of Digital Development has announced.
Through an official statement, the Ministry said that the new changes were implemented on September 5, VisaGuide.World reports.
Therefore, the registration procedure has been changed for nationals of the following countries with a visa-free stay regime:
- Russia
- Kazakhstan
- Tajikistan
- Armenia
- Belarus
- Georgia
- Azerbaijan
- Moldova
It means that now, registration and extension of registration of nationals of the countries mentioned above who plan to stay in Kyrgyzstan for a long time for private reasons will be carried out only on the basis of the following documents, which give them the legal right to stay in this territory:
- residence permit
- “Kairylman” certificate
- “Meken-kart” certificate
- stateless person’s certificate
Following the new rules, citizens of the European Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan) are now eligible to stay in Kyrgyzstan without registration for no more than 90 days within a 180-day period from the date that they arrive.
New Changes Aim to Streamline Migration Flows Instead of Harsher Restrictions
Legal expert Murat Azimbaev told News AZ that the new rules have been introduced as part of efforts to streamline migration flows instead of imposing harsher restrictions. However, internationals may still be subject to challenges when applying for a temporary residence permit after they must prove a legal income source that is enough in order to cover their stay.
The main pitfalls are the provision of documents confirming the existence of a legal source of income that provides the applicant and his family members with a minimum subsistence level.
The decision has sparked controversies among Russian expatriates. Some of them who moved to Kyrgyzstan have expressed concerns regarding the difficulties they could encounter when planning to extend their stay, as reported by Deutsche Welle.
On the other hand, in Russia, there has been an increase in the number of deportations of internationals in the past six months.
Based on the figures from Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 65,000 internationals were deported from Russia for a period from January until July 2024. The figures show that there has been a total of 55 per cent increase compared to the figures registered during the same period in 2023.
The figures from the Ministry also revealed that there was also noted a surge in the number of administrative offense cases, or more specifically 40 per cent, with 1.6 million recorded incidents.