The citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan may be granted to:
1) candace permanently residing on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan on legal
grounds, regardless of the length of residence;
The presence of the conditions, stipulated in the first unnumbered paragraph of this
subparagraph, shall not be required for conferment of the citizenship of the Republic of
Kazakhstan for minors, disabled, and the persons that have special merits to the Republic of
Kazakhstan, or have a profession and meet the requirements on the list, established by the
President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and their families;
2) the citizens of the former Soviet republics, that arrived for permanent residence in the
Republic of Kazakhstan, and have one of his (her) close relatives - citizens of the Republic of
Kazakhstan: the child (including adopted), the wife (husband), one of the parents (adoptive
parents), sister, brother, grandfather or grandmother, regardless of their residence in the
Republic of Kazakhstan.
Issues of the citizenship of military servicemen, performing military service and deployed
in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan shall be determined by the interstate agreements
of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Footnote. Article 16 is in the wording of Decree of the President of the Republic of
Kazakhstan, having the force of the Law № 2477 dated 03.10.1995; as amended by Laws of
the Republic of Kazakhstan № 322 dated 17.05.2002; № 600 dated 04.10.2004; № 255 dated
22.05.2007 (shall be enforced from the day of its official publication); № 478 dated
22.07.2011 -IV (shall be enforced upon expiry of ten calendar days after its first official
publication); as amended by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated May 13, 2020 №
327-VI (shall be enforced from January 1, 2021).

Footnote. The title of Article 17 as amended by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan
dated May 16, 2024 № 82-VIII (shall come into effect ten calendar days after the day of its
first official publication).
An application for admission to citizenship or restoration of citizenship of the Republic of
Kazakhstan shall be rejected if the person applying for this:
1) committed a crime against humanity specified by the international law, knowingly acts
against the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
2) calls for the violation of unity and territorial integrity of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
3) performs illegal activities that harm national security, public health;
4) incites ethnic and religious discord, counterworks functioning of the state language of
the Republic of Kazakhstan;
5) is involved in terrorist or extremist organizations or has been convicted of terrorist or
extremist crimes;
6) is on the international wanted list, serving a sentence under a court sentence that has
entered into legal force, or his/her actions have been recognized by the court as a repeat crime
or a dangerous repeat crime;
7) is a citizen of another state(s);
8) provided false information about himself/herself when applying for admission to
citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan or restoration of citizenship of the Republic of
Kazakhstan, or without good reason did not submit the necessary documents within the time
limits established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
9) has an unexpunged or outstanding conviction for committing an intentional crime on
the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan or beyond its borders, recognized as such by the
Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
9-1) committed a crime against the sexual integrity of a minor;
10) committed an offence in the economic sphere within five years prior to filing an
application for the conferment or resumption of the citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan
;
10-1) repeatedly violated the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on population
migration within five years prior to filing an application for the conferment or resumption of
the citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
11) lost the citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan pursuant to subparagraphs 1), 2)
and 5) of Article 21 of this Law within five years prior to filing an application for the
conferment or resumption of the citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
12) lost the citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan pursuant to subparagraph 8) of the
first part of Article 21 of this Law;
13) lost the citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan pursuant to Article 20-1 of this Law
;
14) does not know the state language at an elementary level, the basics of the Constitution
of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the history of Kazakhstan to the extent determined
by the authorized body in the field of science and higher education.
Provisions of subparagraph 7) of the first part of this Article shall not apply to persons
that are subject to international treaties ratified by the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as
those mentioned in the second part of subparagraph 1) of the first part of Article 16 and
Article 16-1 of this Law and those, who put in a notarized written application to Internal
Affairs bodies for the renunciation of foreign citizenship of the state whose nationals they are
and addressed to an official of this state, who makes decisions on issues related to citizenship.
The provisions of subparagraph 14) of part one of this Article shall not apply to minors,
incompetents, or persons who have special merits to the Republic of Kazakhstan or have
professions and meet the requirements according to the list established by the President of the
Republic of Kazakhstan, ethnic Kazakhs, as well as persons entitled to acquisition of
citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan in a simplified manner based on international
treaties ratified by the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Footnote. Article 17 is in the wording of Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan № 478-IV
dated 22.07.2011 (shall be enforced upon expiry of ten calendar days after its first official
publication); as amended by Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan № 15-V dated 27.04.2012 (
shall be enforced upon expiry of ten calendar days after its first official publication); № 233-
V dated 04.07.2014 (shall be enforced from 01.01.2015); № 421-V dated 24.11.2015 (shall be
enforced upon expiry of ten calendar days after the day of its first official publication); № 28-
VІ dated 22.12.2016 (shall be enforced upon expiry of ten calendar days after the day of its
first official publication); № 91-VI dated 11.07.2017 (shall be enforced upon expiry of ten
calendar days after the day of its first official publication); dated 16.04.2018 № 147-VІ (shall
be enforced upon expiry of ten calendar days after the day of its first official publication);
dated 27.12.2019 № 292-VІ (the order of enforcement see Article 2); dated May 16, 2024 №
82-VIII (the order of enforcement refer to Art. 2).

Decisions on issues of citizenship may be revised by the President of the Republic of
Kazakhstan.
Appeals against decisions on the question of belonging to citizenship and loss of
citizenship are made to the name of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
An unreasonable refusal to accept an application on issues of citizenship, violation of the
deadlines for considering applications, as well as other unauthorized actions of officials that
violate the procedure for considering cases on citizenship and the procedure for executing
decisions on issues of citizenship, may be appealed in the manner prescribed by law to a
higher official in the order of subordination, or to court.
Footnote. Article 41 shall be amended in the Kazakh language, the text in Russian shall
not be changed by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 16.04.2018 № 147-VI (shall
be enforced upon expiry of ten calendar days after the day of its first official publication);
dated 29/06/2020 № 351-VI (shall be enforced from 01.07.2021).