The External Labor Migration Agency have been terminated and the Migration Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers has been set up to replace it. The germane decree was signed by the President on October 17.
The Agency has been defined as the authorized executive body that implements state policy in the field of external labor migration, coordinates the activities of state bodies and provides state services in this area.
The Migration Agency shall directly be subordinate to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Republican Commission on Migration and is the legal successor of the External Labor Migration Agency and the Fund for the Support and Protection of the Rights and Interests of Citizens Working Abroad.
Bekhzod Musayev, who previously served as chief of the External Labor Migration Agency, has been appointed Director of the Migration Agency.
The core activities of the Migration Agency include comprehensive regulation of external labor migration processes, control over the organized sending of citizens abroad to work and keeping records of these citizens. The Agency will also license private employment agencies, monitoring compliance with licensing requirements.
The Migration Agency's goals also include developing international projects in this area of migration and cooperating with foreign agencies on temporary employment and protecting the labor rights of Uzbek citizens. The Agency also organizes training in professions and foreign languages, introducing qualification assessment systems, and provides legal and social protection for citizens who find themselves in difficult situations abroad.
From January 1, 2025, the Agency will be allowed to conduct oversight measures related to the inspection of the activities of private employment agencies. It will be required to post data on the results of inspections and identified violations in the e-program Xorijda Ish (Jobs Abroad) within five days.
According to the document, the Fund for the Support and Protection of the Rights and Interests of Citizens Working Abroad will be transferred to the agency, on the basis of which the Migration Fund will be created.
The funds of the Migration Fund will be used to provide assistance to citizens of Uzbekistan who have suffered from violence, forced labor and discrimination while working abroad. The fund will also provide medical care to migrants injured or sick during labor migration, and transportation of the bodies of the deceased. In addition, the fund will pay for the return of deported citizens (with subsequent reimbursement of these funds by the deportees themselves). The fund will also finance vocational training for migrants and their teaching of foreign languages.
