INTEGRATION WITHOUT PROTECTION? EAEU MEMBERSHIP, MIGRANT RIGHTS AND HOUSEHOLD RESILIENCE IN KYRGYZSTAN AND UZBEKISTAN (2008-2026)

Regional economic integration is expected to protect labour migrants by turning informal mobility into rights-based mobility. This paper tests that expectation by comparing Kyrgyzstan, a member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) since 2015, with Uzbekistan, an EAEU observer whose citizens remain subject to Russia’s patent regime. Using a structured literature review and a comparative-historical analysis of three external shocks (2008-2009, 2014-2016 and 2024-2026), the paper finds, first, that the membership “rights premium” was real during the ruble crisis: in 2015-2016 the number of Kyrgyz citizens in Russia rose by 7.6%, while the numbers of Tajik and Uzbek citizens fell by 10.6% and 16.3%. Second, status-blind securitization has reversed this premium: Kyrgyz entries into Russia fell by 23.9% between the third quarters of 2024 and 2025, against 15.0% for Uzbekistan. Third, membership coincides with a concentration trap, as about 93% of Kyrgyz remittances originate in Russia, whereas Uzbekistan has diversified its destinations faster. The paper conceptualizes integration status as a migration institution whose protective value depends on the destination state’s political choices, and it proposes household-level research designs and policy measures for both countries.