Employment abroad to be handed over to private agencies: 1.5 million soums per person employed

What was decided at the meeting on labor migration

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on priority tasks in the field of labor migration, following which he announced the transfer of functions for sending citizens abroad for work to the private sector. Starting next year, the most reliable private employment agencies will handle the employment of Uzbek citizens abroad, and for each person placed in a high-paying job, the agency will receive a reward of 1.5 million soums. This was reported by Daryo.uz, Spot.uz, UzNews.uz and Kun.uz with reference to the meeting.

Sector growth and acknowledged problems

The sector's statistics look like a confirmed shift: after the licensing procedure for private employment agencies was simplified, their number tripled over two years, and the number of citizens employed abroad through them grew fivefold. At the same time, the president acknowledged that mistakes, corruption and deception of citizens had occurred in the sector; a separate law has been adopted to address these problems, creating a legal framework for the agencies' activities.

Transparency in exchange for rewards

The transfer of functions to private operators comes with conditions: agencies must operate in a fully transparent system, and their performance will be assessed by rating. The main criteria will be the actual placement of a citizen in a specific job, protection of their rights, high income and guaranteed social security. The president instructed that a draft resolution on taking the agencies' activities to a new level be submitted within a month, and that the work itself be treated as a social service with simplified taxation.

Incentives for those who train personnel

In addition to the agencies, entrepreneurs who train specialists will receive incentives — demand for qualified personnel in construction, industry and logistics is growing both domestically and abroad. The Tashkent Pipe Plant in the Sergeli district proposed training 2,500 welders, electricians and fitters per year with its own master trainers. It is also planned to hand over two or three technical colleges in each region to major entrepreneurs for management for 15 years, with at least 30,000 specialists trained annually and graduates receiving state qualification certificates. Training and equipment costs will be allowed to be deducted from taxes paid, and entrepreneurs will be able to receive a grant for each graduate successfully employed abroad. To prepare young people for work abroad, part of the technical colleges' premises will be leased out free of charge, the social tax for instructors recruited from abroad will be 1%, and training equipment will be exempt from customs duties.

What is important to understand

What is described consists of instructions and plans announced at the meeting, not norms that have entered into force: the draft resolution on the new stage of the agencies' work still has to be submitted within a month. For migrants, the practical change is that from 2027 the channel for employment abroad will become unified — through rated private agencies — and the quality of their work will be measured by specific criteria of employment and social guarantees. It has not yet been disclosed which agencies will be recognized as the 'most reliable' or how the rating will be structured.