This is a translation of Marat’s post on the Russian-language Neweurasia-Kazakhstan weblog. 

Here are some figures concerning legalization of labor migrants in Kazakhstan. They might be especially interesting for those living in Russia, who enjoy making fun of “wild immigrants” from the “stans”, but don’t take this post too close to heart.

164,586 instead of expected 100,000 – such is the number of legalized illegal immigrants from the CIS countries in Kazakhstan after the recently finished state campaign, informs the Ministry of Interior. According to the report, there are 117,133 Uzbeks, 23,856 Kyrgyz citizens, 10,760 immigrants from Russia, and 4,673 came from Tajikistan.

The Ministry adds that illegal immigrants occupy the niche of non-qualified jobs that are not popular among the Kazakhstanis, so the newcomers don’t compete with the locals. The major sectors where immigrants work are construction, services, agriculture and home-workers.

So, the questions are:

1. Can the Kazakhstani citizens call the Gastarbeiters and their fellow countrymen “chuchmek” and/or “churka” [classic labels that are used in Russia for the immigrants from Central Asia and Caucasus]?

2. Is the country accepting illegal immigrants cooler than the country from which the immigrants are coming?

3. Where do the Russian immigrants supposedly work - В какой сфере предположительно работают гастарбайтеры из России - construction, services, agriculture or home-workers?