Uzbekistan to abolish exit visas for citizens

By bne IntelliNews August 9, 2017

Uzbekistan announced on August 8 that the country is to abolish exit visas for its citizens.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed an executive order in July on new passports for traveling abroad, which was widely taken to be a first step towards the just-announced scrapping of exit visas.

The move will ease the process of leaving Uzbekistan for Uzbek migrant workers, whom the country depends on for a large share of the population’s foreign exchange earnings. Remittances are equivalent to 13-15% of Uzbekistan's GDP, according to independent Uzbek analysts. Most remittances come from Russia.

Uzbek migrants working in Russia sent home $570mn in the first quarter of 2017, some 50.7% more than in the same period of last year, according to the latest published Central Bank of Russia figures.

The jump was due to the low base of a year ago. The economic slowdown in Russia caused a plunge in remittances in the first half of 2016. However, the Russian economy has been on the recovery track since then, driving remittances back up.

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