Criminal liability may be established for organizing illegal migration
Uzbekistan is proposing to establish separate criminal liability for organizing illegal migration. In this regard, the Criminal Code
Criminal liability may be introduced for organizing illegal migration in Uzbekistan. In this regard, a draft law has been developed that provides for amendments and additions to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.
This draft was prepared in order to ensure the implementation of the instructions given at the presentation of the President on November 18, 2025 on the work and future tasks in the field of external labor migration, as well as the instruction of the Head of the Presidential Administration dated January 15, 2026.
The authors of the draft note that in recent years the number of offenses related to illegal migration has been increasing.
In particular:
Article 223 of the current Criminal Code establishes liability for illegal departure abroad or entry into Uzbekistan. However, this norm does not fully cover the organizers, intermediaries, financiers and persons providing logistics for illegal migration.
The draft law states that such situations may lead to exploitation of citizens abroad, material damage, the expansion of illegal labor activities, and the criminalization of the migration sector.
According to the draft, it is proposed to supplement the Criminal Code with a new Article 223¹, which defines the organization of illegal migration as a separate crime.
The new article consists of three parts and provides for separate liability measures (from 3 to 15 years) depending on the gravity of the act and the qualification criteria.
It is also proposed to amend Article 345 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
According to it, it may be determined that the preliminary investigation of criminal cases related to the organization of illegal migration will be carried out by internal affairs bodies.
This is explained by the presence of special structures and authorities in the Ministry of Internal Affairs system to detect and prevent migration-related crimes.
If the draft is adopted, a separate legal framework will be created to hold organizers, intermediaries and other participants in illegal migration criminally liable.
It should be noted that the document is currently a draft law.