Navigating Fluid Borders: Kazakhstan’s Labour Migrants in Transnational Mobility Regimes

This article examines Kazakhstan’s external labour migration through the lens of transnational mobility and socio-legal governance. While Kazakhstan is often analysed as a destination for migrant labour within Central Asia, it is increasingly connected to international labour markets as a country of origin for outward labour migration. Drawing on qualitative interviews with Kazakh migrants working in Russia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and the United States, the study explores how migrants navigate diverse regulatory environments that structure contemporary transnational labour mobility. Adopting a socio-legal perspective, the article focuses on how formal migration regimes are interpreted and enacted through migrants’ everyday practices. The findings demonstrate that, while wage differentials and labour-market inequalities remain key motivations for migration, migrants’ experiences are also shaped by complex visa regimes, temporary work programmes and differentiated migration policies across destination countries. Migrants rely heavily on transnational social networks, diaspora communities and digital communication platforms to interpret bureaucratic procedures, access employment opportunities and manage legal uncertainty. By foregrounding migrants’ narratives, the study shows how migration governance operates in practice through the interaction of formal regulations and socially embedded informal infrastructures, contributing to broader debates on migration regimes and transnational mobility.