ASTANA – The Ministry of Internal Affairs launched an electronic housing register in October, the Central Communications Service reported Nov. 19. The listing now includes approximately nine million people.
Kazakh citizens have been submitting entitling documents for residential premises since 2017. The information can be received online from the address registry using the individual identification number and the electronic housing register system was developed based on the service. The migration service has started issuing address certificates to homeowners indicating all persons registered at the location.
“The migration service committee is working on automating public services to make them available through the e-government portal. We are working to shorten the period of service and the number of documents required from citizens,” said migration service committee deputy chairperson Galina Sarsenova.
Birth registration will be provided in conjunction with birth certificates issued through the end of 2018.
This year, 23,877 people received Kazakh citizenship. Approximately 1.43 million individuals have received citizenship since the country’s independence in 1991.
“Next year, the migration service will start providing new services including issuing a refugee travel document and providing an individual identification number to foreign people temporarily staying in the country,” she noted.
Issuing an individual identification number now takes 15 minutes and the period for recording permanent residency has been reduced from 30 to 17 days. In the future, public service centres will issue refugee travel documents.
“Foreign citizens can apply for a residence permit at the public service centre (TsONs). Migration service centres will be opened in all regions of the country to ease procedures provided by the migration service for foreigners until the end of this year,” said Sarsenova.
Foreigners can currently secure work permits in centres in the capital, Aktobe, Almaty, Atyrau, Petropavlovsk, Shymkent, Uralsk and Ust-Kamenogorsk.
“Today, 11 services are provided at the public service centres in Astana. These include issuing documents for permanent residence, issuing and extending permits for labour migrants and issuing residence permits and certificates for stateless persons permanently residing in Kazakhstan,” she added.
The committee combined the services for issuing invitations and visas and registering foreigners temporarily staying in the country in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Security Committee. The action has reduced the period from submitting an invitation to issuing a visa from 14 to 5 days. When the invitation is submitted, the foreign citizen’s Kazakh address is provided, eliminating the need for temporary stay registration.