Migrants' families get their own register

Families of Iradi labour migrants can now register for children's and hardship allowances at their local post office, under a register opened last month by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection. The allowances are paid at the counters of Irad Pochtasy.

Until now, a family whose breadwinner worked in Russia, Kazakhstan or the Gulf could claim an allowance only if it could show his income, which most could not. The new register asks instead for proof that a family member is working abroad, such as a work permit, a remittance slip or a letter from an employer, and sets the allowance by the number of children.

14,000 in a month

The minister, Aikerim Kalbaeva, said 14,000 families had registered in the first month, most of them in Kara-Buura, the Lower Naryn District and the outer districts of Talas. “These are the families who keep Irad's shops open with money earned somewhere else,” she said. “It is right that the state notices them.”

The allowance is modest: 600 som a month for a family with two children, rising with each child. Post office staff in Kara-Buura said queues had formed on the first morning before the counters opened.

Who is counted

Researchers at Talas State University welcomed the register but said it would also, for the first time, give the government a list of families with a member abroad. “That is useful for planning,” one said. “It could be useful for other things.” The ministry said the register would be used “only for the payment of allowances”.