No paper, to the best of die authors' knowledge, comprehensively and on die basis of up-to-date information, compares the migration experiences of females and males from Central Asia to die Russian Federation. The most important migrant-sending countries are Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which are the focus of the present study. To a large extent, Kazakhstan is a receiving country whereas Turkmenistan with its visa regime is not an active participant in international migration.