Uzbekistan Rolls Out Cash Grants To Turn Returning Migrants Into Small-Business Owners

Tashkent is offering one-time start-up payments to citizens who worked abroad last year or this year, aiming to encourage returned labor migrants to establish or grow small enterprises at home rather than resume work overseas.

The government announced a program that makes 60 million Uzbek soum available to eligible applicants — roughly $5,090 — to invest in micro- or small-business ventures. The award is open to any Uzbek who held paid work abroad in 2025 or 2026 and wants to launch or expand an enterprise domestically.

Applicants must submit a business plan that receives sign-off from the Uzbek Migration Agency and the International Organization for Migration, which are administering the initiative together. Officials say proposals will be judged mainly on their potential to create jobs and on their likelihood of operating without ongoing subsidies.

Stockholm is underwriting part of the scheme after agreeing with Uzbekistan earlier this year on a migration arrangement that opens paths for Uzbek workers to take up employment and training opportunities in Sweden, including in healthcare, elder care and hospitality. Observers note the finance from Sweden ties into broader bilateral efforts to channel migration into regulated, skill-based routes.

In recent years Tashkent has pushed to change where and how its citizens work abroad, seeking to move away from unskilled labor markets and toward higher-skilled placements in parts of Europe, East Asia and the Middle East. The government has negotiated labor mobility pacts with several nations, among them Germany, Slovakia and the United Kingdom, to expand legal employment options.

Official tallies show the pool of Uzbek nationals working overseas has shrunk from about 4 million in 2010 to an estimated between 2 million and 3 million in 2023–24. In August the Migration Agency reported roughly 1.4 million Uzbek citizens employed across some 40 countries; about three-fifths of them — roughly 834,000 people — were in Russia, while about 84,000 were in Kazakhstan and close to 258,000 were working in European states. Turkey and South Korea remain frequent destinations.

Analysts caution that a single grant may be insufficient by itself to guarantee business success: new firms typically need training, market links and ongoing advice, not just capital. But some local economists say, if paired with mentorship and easier access to markets, the cash could help returnees build firms that employ neighbors and reduce pressure to seek low-paid jobs abroad.