The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan is developing solutions for issuing individual identification numbers (IIN) to foreign citizens, which are necessary, among other things, for issuing bank cards, using biometric identification, as well as automatic verification of documents and the fact of crossing the border, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan reported, commenting on information about cases of cancellation of IIN for foreigners, including Russians.
"It should be noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is completing the development of a digital solution for issuing IIN using biometric identification and automatic verification of the authenticity of documents and the fact of crossing the state border. This will eliminate intermediaries and minimize the human factor“, the department's response says.
As noted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, during the verification activities “cases of illegal issuance of an individual identification number (IIN) to foreign citizens, including the use of forged documents“, were identified. Such IINs were excluded from the register of valid ones.
At the end of March, information appeared in a number of Russian-language Telegram channels dedicated to financial services in Kazakhstan that some Russians had canceled their IIN, after which they could not use banking applications and bank cards issued in the country. Some chat participants reported that they had issued IINs through intermediaries.
At a press conference on March 28, the chairman of the committee on the migration service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan Aslan Atalyukov, answering a relevant question from journalists, said that employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic were conducting a criminal investigation into the illegal issuance of IINs to foreigners, as well as checking such numbers and their cancellation. He also noted that only since the beginning of 2025, about 9 thousand IINs had been issued to Russians.
IIN in Kazakhstan is required to receive various state services, as well as, for example, to issue bank cards. Russians received Kazakh bank cards for international payments after the introduction of sanctions against Russian banks. Last year, IINs could be issued in diplomatic missions of Kazakhstan abroad, but the pilot project ended at the end of December 2024. and now, to obtain an IIN, a personal appearance at a public service center in Kazakhstan is required. In addition, this year the republic tightened the requirements for issuing cards to non-residents; their validity is now limited to one year.
