The Employment Center for Citizens Abroad, operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Labor, has been successfully helping Kyrgyz citizens find legal employment outside the country for several years. As noted by Esenbek Ergeshov, the chief specialist of the ministry, the organized employment process has become an important tool for improving the living standards of many families.
According to him, the center ensures organized hiring of Kyrgyz citizens in international labor markets, provides consultations, protects the rights of migrants, and assists their relatives with the costs of repatriating deceased individuals. The ministry also licenses private employment agencies and closely monitors their activities.
Areas of Employment for Kyrgyz Citizens
Esenbek Ergeshov reported that Kyrgyzstan has already signed employment agreements with various countries, including the United Kingdom, South Korea, Russia, and Turkey, and is actively working with Japan and Italy.
Kyrgyz citizens are in demand in the United Kingdom in agriculture, in Turkey in tourism and services, in Russia in manufacturing and warehousing, in South Korea in industry, and in Slovakia, there are vacancies in logistics and transportation.
Migration Statistics
According to Ergeshov, in 2025, about 170,000 Kyrgyz citizens left for abroad. Of these, approximately 25,000 were employed thanks to the employment center and private agencies: 5,500 through the center and 19,500 through agencies.
“These figures account for only 15% of the total number of migrants. The remaining 85% leave independently, relying on their own resources and personal contacts, which sometimes leads to difficult situations, including labor exploitation and human trafficking. Unlike them, we monitor those who leave through our center until their return home,” emphasized Esenbek Ergeshov.He also noted a positive trend: if five years ago about one million people left for work annually, now many of them are returning due to the improving economic situation in the country.
“Previously, Kyrgyzstan was a labor-exporting country, but now we are beginning to accept foreign citizens to work on our territory,” added Ergeshov.
“Currently, there are 148 licensed agencies operating in Kyrgyzstan, working in 26 countries around the world. More than 99% of them have been operating honestly for many years. However, illegal organizations damage the reputation of the entire sector. Online fraud is particularly dangerous, which intensifies during mass recruitment in the United Kingdom. Scammers use aggressive advertising, promising high earnings in the UK or Germany. In 2025, 65 victims approached us, who lost a total of 110,000 US dollars,” reported Ergeshov.According to the specialist, scammers use various deceptive schemes: they forge documents and licenses, as well as use deep learning technologies to create fake video calls to gain trust.
Among the proposed solutions to the problem is the blocking of advertisements for employment services coming from unscrupulous companies.
Thus, organized employment abroad is an important means of supporting Kyrgyz citizens, but its effectiveness requires improved control, increased awareness among citizens, and a fight against fraud. In this process, interaction between the state, private agencies, and the migrants themselves is key to creating safe and legal working conditions abroad.
