Ainuddin, a native of the Afghan province of Kunduz, first set foot on Kazakh soil in 2016. He arrived in Kazakhstan with a group of students enrolled in preparatory courses at an Almaty university. Being the only one who spoke Kazakh, he acted as a translator between the Afghan students and local teachers.
Two years later, Ainuddin enrolled in Karaganda Technical University, where he obtained a residence permit and a kanda certificate. He submitted documents for Kazakh citizenship, attaching a certificate with stamps from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, confirming his ethnic Kazakh identity, as well as a certificate of no criminal record. In 2019, he was issued a passport of a citizen of Kazakhstan, and he joyfully celebrated this event.
After obtaining citizenship, Ainuddin got married, had a child, and found a job at a company in Karaganda. Later, he brought two younger brothers to Kazakhstan, who were also issued Kazakh documents.
However, in the summer of 2024, the brothers learned that their citizenship had been revoked. Ainuddin found out from the migration police that a certificate had arrived from Afghanistan stating that he was not Kazakh, but an ethnic Uzbek. As a result, he lost not only his citizenship but also his job, as employers do not accept employees without identification documents.
Ainuddin is disappointed with the authorities' decisions. He emphasizes that kandasy, regardless of where they came from, aspired to live on their native land and wished to contribute to the development of Kazakhstan. He is confident in his Kazakh origins—his family always spoke Kazakh and adhered to traditions.
“My father always said: 'The native language is our honor.' We have not forgotten our customs and traditions. I was engaged in childhood, and now I have a Kazakh child,” says Ainuddin.
He is currently engaged in a legal battle to prove his Kazakh heritage. The initial court in Karaganda recognized the revocation of his citizenship as unlawful, stating that the migration police had not properly notified him of the deprivation of citizenship. However, in the appellate court, the decision was overturned, and it was established that the data regarding his ethnic affiliation was inaccurate.
More than 200 Afghan repatriates have also faced a similar situation and lost their Kazakh documents.
According to human rights activist Bakht Sarai, who helps repatriates restore their citizenship, problems began in 2023 when Kazakhstan received data from the Afghan embassy about residents who are not ethnic Kazakhs. “In the documents they provided, their Kazakh nationality was indicated, but now the migration police claim otherwise,” she notes.
Over the past two years, Kazakh migration authorities have revoked the citizenship of about 250 Afghans, many of whom have long settled in the country, started families, and have children. They renounced their Afghan citizenship, as dual citizenship is prohibited in Kazakhstan, and now may find themselves without citizenship at all.
People are afraid to return to Afghanistan, fearing that their children will struggle to adapt to society, as Sarai emphasizes in an interview.
“I WAS TOLD THAT THIS IS MY PROBLEM.” CHALLENGES WITHOUT DOCUMENTS
The lack of citizenship complicates life in Kazakhstan: without documents, it is impossible to find a job, receive free medical care, and access social assistance.
After gaining independence in 1991, Kazakhstan adopted a program to attract Kazakhs from abroad, as ethnic Kazakhs made up only 37% of the population. Over three decades, more than 1.15 million ethnic Kazakhs have moved to the country, including about 13,000 from Afghanistan. This situation indicates that many Kazakhs who found themselves in Afghanistan due to historical upheavals have returned to their homeland.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan reported that the revocation of citizenship occurred based on data from "authorized bodies." The department claims that some migrants provided forged documents confirming their ethnic affiliation.
Courts, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, recognized the revocation of citizenship as lawful. Those who lost their citizenship must apply to their countries for foreign passports and legalize their status in Kazakhstan, and they can also apply for citizenship in the usual manner.
The loss of citizenship has already changed the lives of many migrants. 56-year-old Abdul Khalil Najibullah lost his agricultural business after his citizenship was revoked in 2021. He moved to Kazakhstan in 2000 with his family, but this year he learned that he and his children had been stripped of their citizenship. “I asked how I was supposed to live without documents, but I was told that this is my problem,” he shares his experience.
