Migration has become a charged issue recently both for scholars and policymakers. Millions of people are on the move, displaced by war and violence, traversing the globe and bringing about all manner of disruption – from the fairly straightforward challenges of providing food and shelter to the multifaceted issues and long-term consequence of the biggest migration upheaval since World War II. Many more millions are looking for better lives elsewhere, posing difficult dilemmas of both economic and ethical natures for the recipient countries (mainly in Europe) to answer.

The vast multinational region of Central Asia, while appearing somewhat removed from the Europe-centered migration crisis, has been witnessing unprecedented and rising intraregional and international migration since 1991 – the year of the fall of the Soviet Union. The article focuses on migration in the Republic of Kazakhstan – one of five independent Central Asian states – and analyzes it from the perspective of official discourse as manifested in strategic initiatives, laws and regulations, and on their institutional corollaries. The methodology of a political system approach allows us to demonstrate the politicization of factors that influence decision-making in many spheres, including migration.

Key words: Central Asia, Kazakhstan, migration policy, political system, official discourse