Last Change:
06/16/2025
The Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Refugees
Year: 2002
Type: Domestic law
Rights Category: Asylum, Education, Freedom of movement, Health, Housing, land & property, Liberty & security of person, Nationality & facilitated naturalization, Social protection, Work & Workplace rights, Family life, Documentation
Description
The Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Refugees establishes the terms, grounds for granting, loss, and revocation of refugee status in the Kyrgyz Republic, along with the rights, duties, and responsibilities of refugees. It also defines the legal, economic, and social guarantees for protecting refugees' rights, ensuring equal legal status for all refugees without distinction based on sex, race, language, ethnicity, religious confession, age, political or other opinion, education, country of origin, property, or any other circumstance.
Selected provisions
A refugee may not be returned against his will to the country he left for the reasons specified in Article 1 of this Law.
This provision may not be applied to a refugee who is considered, for valid reasons, to be a threat to security or who has been convicted by a final court sentence for committing a particularly serious crime.
Decisions and actions of state authorities and administration bodies, local government bodies and officials that infringe on the rights of a refugee established by the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic in the field of refugees may be appealed to the relevant state bodies or to the court.
A person seeking asylum and arriving from the territory of a state where his life and freedom were threatened may not be punished because of his illegal entry and stay in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, provided that he promptly appears before the relevant authorities and provides satisfactory explanations for his illegal entry or stay.
A person recognized as a refugee in the Kyrgyz Republic enjoys the same rights and bears the same obligations as foreign citizens permanently residing in the Kyrgyz Republic. A person recognized as a refugee in the Kyrgyz Republic shall also be granted the rights and obligations of a person applying for refugee status, as stipulated by Article 6 of this Law. A person recognized as a refugee in the Kyrgyz Republic and his family members shall have the right to: - reside for three months in a temporary settlement; - choose a settlement from among those proposed by the Authorized Body in which his relatives reside as their place of permanent residence, subject to their consent to cohabitation; - work for hire or engage in entrepreneurial activity in accordance with the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic; - acquire real estate under the conditions established for foreign citizens and stateless persons by the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic; - receive, with the assistance of the relevant state bodies of the Kyrgyz Republic, information about property left behind in the state of previous residence; - have the necessary documents proving his identity and travel documents; - to receive medical care on an equal basis with citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic; - to receive administrative assistance when applying to state bodies of the Kyrgyz Republic; - to mandatory registration of civil status acts and receipt of relevant documents.
Acquisition of citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic by a refugee shall be carried out in accordance with the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic on citizenship.
15.1 A person recognized as a refugee, members of his family and persons under the care of the person recognized as a refugee shall be issued a travel document for leaving the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic and entering the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic. Determination and issuance of travel documents shall be carried out by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic.