The key facts

  • Since the beginning of 2026, 1,116,000 labor migrants have returned — the figures were announced at a meeting with the president on November 2
  • By the end of the year, the task is to find jobs for 250 thousand returnees; an information platform on their qualifications is planned
  • In the first half of the year, according to the minister of employment, 661 thousand people returned, of whom 557 thousand were engaged in income-generating activities

Meeting with the president and new instructions

Since the beginning of 2026, 1 million 116 thousand people have returned to Uzbekistan from labor migration. These figures were announced at a meeting on labor migration issues held by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on November 2 — about this reported his press secretary Sherzod Asadov.

Experience from abroad and a qualifications platform

Among those who returned are citizens with work experience in Germany, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan and Russia — in industry, construction, logistics, services and agriculture. The president noted that specialists who have mastered modern technologies and new approaches to organizing work at large foreign enterprises may be in demand within the country. Khokims and industry leaders have been instructed to offer such citizens suitable jobs.

Tasks until the end of the year

To facilitate employment, a special information platform is planned to be created with data on the previous workplaces, professions and work experience of those who returned from abroad; it will be integrated with the system used by khokims and industry leaders. By the end of 2026, the task has been set to find suitable work for 250 thousand returned citizens, and for those who want to start their own business — to provide consulting assistance and create conditions for entrepreneurship.

What is known and what is missing from the data

The report does not specify how many of the 1.116 million returnees are already employed and how many are still looking for work. For comparison: at the end of September, Minister of Employment and Poverty Reduction Botir Zokhidov, reporting to the Legislative Chamber, spoke of 661 thousand returnees in the first half of the year, of whom 557 thousand were engaged in income-generating activities; he also announced employment for another 70 thousand taking their wishes into account. At the same time, as Gazeta notes, the figure of 557 thousand covers various forms of income-generating activities and does not mean that all of them were employed under labor contracts.

Previous decisions and context

Support for returning migrants is not new: in April 2024, the president approved measures that included preferential loans for entrepreneurship, financial assistance for household plots, free medical examinations and employment services. And in April 2026 it was reported at a presentation to the president, that about 1.2 million citizens of Uzbekistan work abroad in almost 40 countries; then Mirziyoyev instructed the Migration Agency not to limit itself to employment abroad, but also to help supply the domestic labor market with qualified specialists. The new instructions of November 2 develop precisely this domestic vector.