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Abstract

Since 1991, Kazakhstan has pursued a diaspora policy along two main lines: the ethnic repatriation of Kazakhs and the support of compatriots living abroad. Today, ethnic Kazakhs reside in more than 50 countries, yet over the past 10–15 years, new diaspora groups have emerged, formed by outward migration from Kazakhstan. These include educational, professional, labor, marriage‑related, and irregular migration, as well as political migrants. Some citizens relocate abroad with permanent or long‑term residence status, and the number of participants in the Green Card lottery has increased.

At present, comparatively large Kazakh communities have formed in the United States, Canada, Turkey, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Educational migration includes master’s and doctoral students, some of whom remain abroad after graduation. A separate category consists of children studying in foreign schools and universities, a process that often leads to their families obtaining permanent or long‑term residency (for example, in Malaysia). Professional migration is frequently associated with the oil and gas industry (the United States and Scandinavian countries), particularly among migrants from western regions of Kazakhstan. Irregular and semi‑legal migration has grown in South Korea, Germany and Poland.

These developments raise new questions for researchers: Where should the boundary be drawn between “the diaspora” and “citizens of Kazakhstan who simply reside abroad”? Will the Kazakh diaspora become more “cosmopolitan” and less ethnically concentrated in the future? How should the role of different types of migration be interpreted in shaping the identities of newly formed Kazakh communities abroad?