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Kazakhstan tightens foreign student screening to prevent misuse of visas
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan /Culture & Society

Kazakhstan tightens foreign student screening to prevent misuse of visas

From Tengrinews · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Sources not specified New plan
  • Kazakhstan is enhancing its screening process for foreign students to ensure they are genuine learners and not using student visas for transit or migration purposes.
  • The new digital platform 'Study in Kazakhstan' centralizes applications and visa processing, with plans to integrate Face ID technology for identity verification and attendance tracking.
  • These measures aim to close loopholes in the system, with full implementation of new regulations expected by the end of 2026.

Kazakhstan is implementing a comprehensive overhaul of its foreign student visa system, aiming to attract "high-quality" students while preventing misuse of educational permits for migration.

Over 37,000 foreign citizens are already pursuing higher education in Kazakhstan. This is, it must be said, a historical record for us. However, at the same time, it is very important that we attract 'high-quality' students who come specifically to study here, not for transit purposes.

— Sayasat NurbekExplaining the need for stricter screening of foreign students.

Acting Minister Sayasat Nurbek explained that over 37,000 foreign citizens are currently pursuing higher education in Kazakhstan, a record number. However, the focus is shifting to ensure these individuals are genuinely coming to study.

The "Study in Kazakhstan" digital platform is now central to the application process. Foreigners must submit documents through this system, allowing authorities to track who is arriving and for what purpose. Future plans include processing student visa applications entirely through the platform, with visas denied to those not registered or confirmed.

Through this platform, we can now see and understand who is arriving and who is not.

— Sayasat NurbekDescribing the functionality of the 'Study in Kazakhstan' digital platform.

Further measures include digitizing all procedures, implementing Face ID technology across universities for attendance tracking, and automatically transmitting information about expelled or departed students to migration services. This aims to immediately identify individuals who no longer have a legal basis to remain in the country on a study visa.

We will close all loopholes.

— Sayasat NurbekAssuring that measures will prevent the use of student visas for other purposes.

A special working group is also established to balance simplifying enrollment and visa issuance with robust control mechanisms. These changes are expected to be fully operational by the end of 2026.

We have formed a special working group to determine how we can, on one hand, simplify enrollment and the visa issuance process through the digital platform, and on the other hand, ensure a robust control mechanism is in place.

— Sayasat NurbekDetailing the approach to balancing ease of access with security.
About this summary

Originally published by Tengrinews in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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