After 19 years of charity, an American is deported from Kazakhstan due to a translation error.

Victoria Charbonneau began to travel to Kazakhstan at the beginning of the 2000s. Together with colleague Elizabeth Tarnok, they visited the country as social workers at the invitation of the American charity organization Interlink Resources and conducted summer camps in orphanages.

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“In America, for 10 years I worked as a director in a children’s colony for troubled teenagers. This is a large rehabilitation organization. An annual budget of $300 million was allocated for 13 children. It seemed to me that I had a good job and opportunities for self-development, but after I came here, I realized that these children need much more,” Victoria said in an interview with 365info.kz .

In 2010, Victoria and Elizabeth decided to move to Kazakhstan and founded the crisis center “Kamkor Zhurek” (“Caring Heart”) in Taraz for orphans, children with disabilities and single mothers. Currently, 36 pupils live at the foundation.

Translation error

In 2018, Victoria Charbonneau once again received a residence permit in Kazakhstan. In December, she applied to the migration service department of the Zhambyl region police department with an application for re-registration from the city of Almaty to the city of Taraz. The application documents were in Russian - Victoria made a mistake when filling them out. She understood the question “have you previously applied for permanent residence” as “have you previously received a residence permit in Kazakhstan” and answered “no”. But she had actually applied for permanent residence before, and was rejected in 2014.

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A few months later, migration service employees discovered the mistake and filed a lawsuit. Victoria Charbonneau was found guilty under Art. 495 part 2 (“Submission by a foreigner or stateless person of knowingly false information to government agencies of Kazakhstan”).

The lawyer Zhangeldy Suleymanov pointed out that the court had no right to decide on expulsion, since the statute of limitations had expired since the moment of the violation.

However, according to a court order, Victoria must leave Kazakhstan within five days without the possibility of re-entering the country over the next five years.

"I'm shocked. For 19 years, I have given my heart to helping orphans, single mothers, people with disabilities, marginalized people and pray for many more years to come,” Charbonneau wrote on her Facebook page. “I have no idea why all this is happening.” The staff, Beth and I are dedicated to our work, our mothers and our children. My heart is broken". She added that the foundation will not cease its activities: “We will not abandon children, mothers, or our wonderful employees.”

Photo: Facebook screenshot

The fund’s secretary, Asel Abuova, told the Vlast publication that an appeal has been filed against the court’s decision and an application is being prepared to defer the execution of the court decision.

The publication also appealed to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for comment, but there they stated that they knew nothing about what was happening until 5 and asked to send a written request.