Law

1. Citizenship Law

a. Jus Sanguinis and Jus Soli Provisions

The Republic of Kazakhstan’s citizenship laws provide for both jus soli and jus sanguinis citizenship, which are outlined in the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Article 11 of the Law outlines that a child born to two Kazakhstani citizens will be granted citizenship by descent regardless of their place of birth. Children born inside the territory of Kazakhstan will have citizenship if they have at least one parent who is a citizen of Kazakhstan according to Article 12 of the Law. However, Article 11(1) states that a child born to two parents of foreign citizenship will not have citizenship regardless of their birthplace.

Permanent residency is an additional condition of citizenship in Kazakhstan, which narrows the scope of protection from statelessness under the Law. If a child is born outside of the territory, the child will have citizenship only if the parents are both citizens, or if at least one parent was a citizen of Kazakhstan and had permanent residence in Kazakhstan at the time of birth. Article 12 also stipulates that citizenship is determined upon written consent from the parents for children born to at least one parent who is a citizen but both parents permanently reside outside of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan’s Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan also includes provisions specifically for people affected by statelessness. Kazakhstan introduced a national statelessness determination procedure in 2020, which determines the legal status of persons residing in Kazakhstan who do not have Kazakh citizenship or proof of citizenship elsewhere and can facilitate legalization of stateless persons’ stay in Kazakhstan. Even though a 2020 Order from the Minister of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan stipulates that any non-citizen residing within the territory who does not have proof of citizenship elsewhere “shall be recognized as stateless persons”, one is often not granted stateless status due to inability to confirm their residence. Further, the requirement of showing documentation of absence or termination of citizenship in another state in order to obtain stateless status through the SDP presents a major barrier as states often do not administer such documents. If administered, state bodies of Kazakhstan also often do not accept many forms of such a document. This legislation leaves the burden of proof to stateless people, which can leave some in limbo as they are unable to acquire the required documents for the SDP. While the introduction of the SDP is a significant achievement for Kazakhstan, UNHCR has noted that gaps in safeguards in the SDP legislation remain, including lack of access to the procedure for those without documents proving permanent residence and lack of access to the right to an interview and the right to appeal a negative decision. Kazakhstan’s legislation currently does not protect the right to an interview, free legal aid, and the right to appeal first-instance negative decisions. For example, those whose citizenship applications have been rejected have the opportunity to appeal the decision, but the process to appeal is often drawn out. The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons provides that stateless persons’ access to the courts shall be equal to citizens of the state. UNHCR recommends Kazakhstan to ratify the 1954 Convention and adequately provide legal safeguards and equal access to the courts for stateless persons in Kazakhstan.

Currently, the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan defines a stateless person as any person who is not a citizen of Kazakhstan and does not have proof of citizenship elsewhere, placing the burden of proof on the stateless person. Kazakhstan could further improve its legislation by bringing its definition of a stateless person in line with the definition provided by the 1954 Convention, which determines the status of a potential stateless person by referring to the national legislation on citizenship of the country the person has or had ties with.

b. Naturalized Citizenship

In Kazakhstan, stateless individuals are eligible for naturalized citizenship on the same basis as foreigners. However, Article 32 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons stipulates that such a process should be expedited for stateless persons. Naturalization can be achieved by stateless persons and foreigners alike by legally residing in Kazakhstan for a period of 5 years or being married to a citizen of Kazakhstan for three years. Part of the registration process for naturalization requires providing a criminal record, documentation regarding termination or absence of citizenship in a different state, as well as proof of permanent residency in Kazakhstan for the required period.

A stateless person can only begin accumulating the years of residency required for naturalization after they have successfully completed the Statelessness Determination Procedures (SDPs) and are formally recognized as stateless. Difficulties accessing the SDP for some stateless persons can present a barrier to stateless persons’ naturalization in Kazakhstan.

c. Dual Citizenship

Dual citizenship is not permitted in Kazakhstan’s citizenship laws, with Article 3 stating that the Republic of Kazakhstan does not recognize the citizenship of another state for its citizens. Article 21 further states that gaining citizenship of a different state will result in the loss of citizenship of Kazakhstan. The Law does not provide details on the process of renunciation of prior citizenship upon application for citizenship of Kazakhstan.

2. Treaty Ratification Status

Article 2 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan states that the rules of any ratified international treaties take precedence over the rules included in the Law.

Aside from the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Kazakhstan has ratified all relevant international treaties, which include the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, the ICCPR, ICESCR, ICERD, CRC, and CEDAW. There were no notable reservations from Kazakhstan on these ratifications.

Under CEDAW, Kazakhstan is required to ensure gender equality in nationality laws. In Kazakhstan’s recent concluding observations by the CEDAW Committee, it was identified that reacquisition of nationality after loss of nationality through marriage is not always possible and, therefore, legislation should be reviewed to ensure that women can re-acquire nationality in cases of dissolution or non-occurrence of marriage. It was also recommended that Kazakhstan ensure the right to appeal to protect against arbitrary deprivation of nationality. Recent concluding observations by the CERD Committee also included recommendations for Kazakhstan to improve data collection on the number of stateless persons in the territory.

Kazakhstan has also already committed to ensuring that every child’s birth is registered immediately by ratifying the ICCPR and the CRC. However, the State has been non-compliant with its obligations under ICCPR, CRC, and its statelessness pledge of 2019 due to the lack of proper implementation of birth registration to children of undocumented parents. This also relates to Kazakhstan’s obligations under the CRC which requires that signatory states leave no child to statelessness. The CRC Committee in 2015 recommended that Kazakhstan ensure stateless children access to free education and health care services.

Status of Accession Of International Human Rights Treaties

Country	Stateless 1	Stateless 2	Refugee	ICCPR	ICESCR	ICERD	CRC	CEDAW
Kazakhstan

Signifies that the country is a party to the convention

Stateless 1 – 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons

Signifies that the country is not a party to the convention

Stateless 2 – 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness

Population

1. Reported stateless persons

In 2022, UNHCR reported 8,569 stateless persons in Kazakhstan, which shows an increase of 738 reported stateless persons in the year since 2021. The true number of stateless persons living in Kazakhstan may be higher than reported, with ICERD noting that data collection needs improvement. The reported population in 2022 shows an increase of 879 reported stateless people since the start of 2019.

The stateless population in Kazakhstan is largely made up of those who did not acquire citizenship of Kazakhstan or another successor state after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. In 2020, a nationwide campaign to identify stateless persons was launched by UNHCR with the goal of increasing registration and resolution of statelessness in Kazakhstan.

2. Persons at risk of statelessness

Those who are at risk of statelessness in Kazakhstan generally comprise children born to two foreign parents within Kazakhstan’s territory, children born to refugees, undocumented parents, or parents who are otherwise unable to confer nationality to their child, as well as children born to stateless parents who are not permanent residents of Kazakhstan.

3. Kazakhstan’s Pledges to End Statelessness

Kazakhstan made two pledges at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum: to “establish relevant legislative safeguards to reduce statelessness in Kazakhstan within 2024-2025” and to “reduce the number of stateless persons through naturalization in 2024”. At the High-Level Segment on Statelessness in 2019, Kazakhstan made a pledge to “improve access to birth registration procedures through amendment of the national legislation to ensure that every child is registered at birth”.

Reported stateless persons to the UNHCR

Country	2019 (year start)	2020 (year end)	2021 (year end)	2022 (year end)
Kazakhstan	7,690	7,999	7,831	8,569

Source: UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement from 2019-2022.

Causes of Statelessness

1. Lack of legal safeguards against childhood statelessness

Kazakhstan’s national legislation provides that children born to one Kazakhstani citizen parent and one parent who is officially recognized as stateless or whose nationality is undetermined will have Kazakhstani citizenship by descent no matter their birthplace. The law also provides for those children who are born to two stateless parents within Kazakhstan will only have citizenship if their parents are permanent residents. Foundling children in the territory of Kazakhstan are considered citizens through jus soli provisions if their parents are unknown. Citizenship is also protected for children under the age of 14 whose mother is stateless or has undetermined nationality and whose father is a citizen. Provisions affecting children born to a citizen and a foreign parent outside of Kazakhstan which stipulate a requirement of written consent from the parents in order to pass citizenship to their child could leave some children at risk of statelessness.

2. Citizenship stripping

Article 10(2) of the Constitution of Kazakhstan states that a citizen may be stripped of citizenship by an order of the Court only on the grounds of commission of terrorist crimes or acting against the interests of the Republic of Kazakhstan. There are currently no laws in Kazakhstan preventing those who are stripped of their citizenship from becoming stateless. Although, individuals are able to file appeals to reinstate their citizenship.

3. Administrative barriers

Aside from political rights, stateless individuals in Kazakhstan enjoy nearly equal rights to citizens, which has lowered the priority to resolve stateless status in the country. For children a birth certificate as well as a passport of either parent are required in order to become a citizen of Kazakhstan. Despite Kazakhstan’s birth registration rate standing around 90-99%, concerns have been expressed with regards to provisions for documentation to a child born to two undocumented parents.

The Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Marriage (Matrimony) and Family stipulates that birth registration is administered via “medical birth certificate or a copy of a court decision establishing the fact of birth”. Article 187 of the Code, states that the registration for a child born to two undocumented parents (unable to provide a passport) or a mother without proof of identity in a medical institution will be administered under the statement of information given by the mother.

Concerns have been raised with the implementation of this legislation, which often results in issuance of documents that are not in full compliance with the law and lack information given by the mother about her identity. The lack of thorough and consistent birth registration for children born to undocumented parents places such children at risk of statelessness. If a child of two undocumented parents is born outside of medical facilities, they are especially at risk of statelessness as they are not protected by laws regulating birth registration.

Kazakhstan

Overview

Law