70% of Chinese citizens moving to Kazakhstan are ethnic Kazakhs - Ambassador

The Ambassador unveiled statistical data about the entry of Chinese citizens to Kazakhstan for permanent residence purpose.

“There is the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Beijing. The Consulate General’s Office is functioning in the cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong. There is also Kazakhstan Passport-Visa Service in Urumqi. Issuing visas to the citizens of China is one of their main activities. There are many speculations regardign that hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens are leaving China for Kazakhstan and stay here. Let me unveil some statistical data on the number of visas issued in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Urumqi. 118,321 Chinese citizens were issued Kazakhstani visas. 83,358 of them or more than 70% are ethnic Kazakhs living in this country. 19,000 people were issued business visas, 10,000 received working visas, 4,600 received tourist visas and 173 people came to Kazakhstan for educational purpose. In January-September 2016, 86,203 Chinese citizens received Kazakhstani visas, 68% of which or 58,474 are ethnic Kazakhs. 15,000 visas were issued for business purposes, while more than 6,000 were issued for working purposes. 5,000 people were allowed to visit Kazakhstan on a tourist visa, 299 came to our country for educational purpose. 322 people were issued service visas. 23 Chinese citizens were issued investor visas and 56 received transit visas,” said Shakhrat Nuryshev.

It should be reminded that President Nursultan Nazarbayev suggested declaring year 2017 as the Year of Tourism of China in Kazakhstan. This initiative was backed by the Chinese side.