• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

Kazakhstan: Internal and external Kazakh passports; process by which a Kazakh citizen obtains a passport; whether a written application might be made in Karaganda; whether Soviet passports were exchanged for Kazakh passports in November 1999

According to the United States Department of State Visa Reciprocity and Country Documents Finder Website, the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues "official (sluzhebny)," "diplomatic (diplomaticheskiy)" and "regular (obshche-grazhdanskiy)" passports (1 June 2002). The "Offices of Visas and Registration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (OVIR)" is reported to also issue "regular" passports to Kazakh citizens (ibid.). The source also noted that:

All Kazakh travel documents should contain the re-registration stamp: "Citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan" (Grazhdanin Respubliki Kazakhstan). Passports not containing this stamp are invalid. A Kazakhstani exit visa is required only for bearers of regular passports (ibid.).

In October 2001 RFE/RL reported that the "Kazakh Prime Minister has signed a new Decree" dictating that all new Kazakh passports will change the spelling of the country's name from "KAZAKSTAN" to "KAZAKHSTAN" (RFE/RL 25 Oct. 2001).

A representative of the Consulate of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Toronto, stated that individuals living outside the capital of Astana must send a passport application with their documentation directly to Astana for processing (10 July 2002). According to this source, the application process would take up to two months and passports are not issued from any office outside Astana, including those of the OVIR (ibid).

The US Department of State list two types of internal passports issued to citizens, which it described as:

(1) "Internal" passport (Sovietskiy). An "internal" passport providing identity information and specifying a residence address is still mandatory for Kazakhstani citizens over the age of sixteen. (2) Temporary certification from the Offices of Internal Affairs in lieu of passport (spravka) ... (1 June 2002).

The consular representative stated that the government no longer issues the "Sovietsiy" internal passports (10 July 2002). Further, this source specified the "spravka" as not an identity document per se, but a form or receipt held while a passport application is in process (ibid.).

Reports indicate that the internal and external passports have not been combined as exemplified first by a 1998 ITAR-TASS article which noted that "new Kazakh passports are meant for going beyond the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] borders ... [while] identification cards will serve their owners in the republic and within the CIS borders" (12 Feb. 1998). A second report, from 2002, stated that the

chief of Migration Police Department at the Kazakh Interior Ministry ... told journalists in Astana on 24 January, that the domestic identification cards in use in Kazakhstan will be changed very soon. He said that current IDs will be replaced by new ones with a color photo of the holder and will also show the holder's full permanent address. ... The current IDs only show the oblast or city where the holder lives (RFE/RL 24 Jan. 2002).

Two reports dated from 1998 make mention of an ongoing exchange of Soviet passports for new Kazakh passports (Kazakh Television First Channel 10 Feb. 1998; ITAR-TASS 12 Feb. 1998). According to ITAR-TASS, "[t]he exchange of the obsolete Soviet passports for the new Kazakh ones has dragged on for three years," a delay caused mainly by the "inability of the population to pay the official charges" (ibid.). According to the programme summary for the Kazakh Television First Channel, "Kazakhs have until the end of this year [ 1998] to obtain new passports" (10 Feb. 1998).

When asked by the Research Directorate, the consular representative was unsure of when, or if, the exchange of these passports had ended, but stated that the only legal passport is the "blue Kazakh" (10 July 2002). No further information concerning the exchange program was found among sources consulted.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

ITAR-TASS [Moscow]. 12 February 1998. Vladimir Akimov. "25 Percent of Kazakh Population Still Produce Soviet Passports." (NEXIS)

Kazakh Television First Channel [Akmola, in Russian]. 11 February 1998. "Kazakh News Programme Summary for 10 Feb. 1998." (BBC Monitoring 11 Feb. 1998/NEXIS)

Kazakhstan. Consulate of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Toronto. 10 July 2002. Telephone Interview with representative.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). 24 January 2002. Kazakh Report. "Kazakhstan's Identification Cards to be Changed." <http://www.rferl.org/bd/ka/reports/archives/2002/01/0-240102.html> [Accessed 2 July 2002]

_____. 25 October 2001. Kazakh Report. "Kazakh Passports Will be Changed Again?" <http://www.eurasianet.org/resources/kazakhstan/hypermail/200110/0071.html> [Accessed 10 July 2002]

United States. Department of State (DOS). 1 June 2002. "Kazakhstan." <http://travel.state.gov/reciprocity/Country%20Folder/K/Kazakhstan.htm> [Accessed 28 June 2002]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

NEXIS

Unsuccessful attempt to contact the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Washington D.C.

Unsuccessful attempt to obtain further information from the Consulate of the Republic of Kazakhstan in New York

Internet sites including:

Eurasianet.org

Global Survey of Group Classification on National ID Cards (Hosted by preventgenocide.org)

Karaganda city webpage

Kazakhstan. Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Kazakhstan. Consulate of the Republic of Kazakhstan, New York

Kazakhstan. Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Washington

Kazakhstan. Ministry of Internal Affairs

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Travel Document Systems

World News Connection