Uzbekistan plans to hand over the function of sending citizens to work abroad entirely to the most reliable private employment agencies from 2027, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said at a government meeting today.

Mirziyoyev said the number of private agencies has tripled in the past two years after licensing was simplified, while the number of citizens placed in jobs abroad through them has risen fivefold. He acknowledged mistakes, corruption and cases of fraud in the sector.

To encourage the agencies, the plans provide for a payment of 1.5 million soums for each person placed in a well-paid job. Agencies would receive part of the premises of technical schools free of charge for vocational and language training. A social tax rate of 1% is proposed for teachers and experts brought in from abroad, with training equipment exempt from customs duties.

Agencies are to operate in a transparent, rated system judged on actual placements, protection of citizens’ rights, high wages and guaranteed social protection. The president instructed officials to submit a draft resolution within a month providing for further reform. He also proposed treating the activity as a social service and simplifying its taxation.

It remains unclear how powers will be divided between private agencies and the state Migration Agency after the transfer.

Private agencies are regulated by a law dated Oct. 16, 2018, and need a license to place citizens abroad. A law adopted in November 2025 tightened requirements, expanded their powers and obliged them to keep a deposit of 4,000 base calculated values.

In October, the Migration Agency published its third-quarter assessment: of 47 agencies, 40 were rated unsatisfactory, four satisfactory and three good. None was rated exemplary.