Uzbekistan is poised to begin issuing expedited work visas for foreign investors in the IT sector – a sign that the country hopes to draw talent away from Russia and Belarus, which are currently enduring a major brain drain.

Eligible investors are being invited to go to the itvisa.uz website, which was launched on March 10, to apply for three-year visas and a simplified residence permit procedure for themselves and dependents.

The visas are reportedly due to be issued starting from April 1.

Many thousands of Russian and Belarusian nationals have fled their countries in recent weeks amid a rapidly worsening political climate and over widespread revulsion at the Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine. The largest numbers appeared to have headed for countries like Armenia, Georgia and Turkey, but Central Asian nations too appear eager to take advantage of the trend.

Uzbek officials have said that IT companies will be granted a wide array of tax breaks as an additional inducement to relocate.

Preparations by Uzbekistan to try and draw IT specialists predate Russia’s military assault on Ukraine. An initiative by the government-backed IT Park in Tashkent formally launched its relocation program on February 25, one day after that war started. Officials say 3,000 foreign IT specialists have come to Uzbekistan since the start of the year.

In December, IT and Communications Minister Sherzod Shermatov pledged that Uzbekistan intends to increase its export of software products and services to $1 billion by 2028.

That’s an ambitious plan. According to official data, IT-related exports in 2020 reached $16.3 million in 2020, and then rose by a healthy margin, but to a still modest $40 million in 2021.

While the moment feels auspicious, it is far from certain that Uzbekistan will prove a sufficiently attractive proposition over the long term.

Coming to Tashkent was a bit of a homecoming for Andrei, a 25-year-old programmer from St. Petersburg who was born in Uzbekistan. He told Eurasianet that he and his colleagues have been in Tashkent since March 10. But it may not be for long.

“Many of my Russian colleagues in the IT field are now in Tashkent. Some came to Uzbekistan because they have relatives here. But I came to my homeland by chance. That is how it turned out. Our employers decided that Uzbekistan would be an excellent transit point. They say that the whole team will soon leave for Georgia,” he said.