[4] The first Pole to travel to the territory which today makes up Kazakhstan was probably Benedict of Poland, sent as part of the delegation of Pope Innocent IV to the Khagan Güyük of the Mongol Empire.

[7] After the Soviet invasion of Poland at the start of World War II, another 150,000 Poles were deported from eastern Polish territories to Kazakhstan; 80% of these were women and children, as the adult men of their community were typically absent due to army service.

In early 1942, a portion of the Polish Anders' Army along with civilians was relocated to southern Kazakhstan, whereas the remainder was moved to the Uzbek and Kyrgyz SSRs.

[11] After the end of the war, people who had been Polish citizens before September 1, 1939 were allowed to repatriate to Poland; however, no provision was made for earlier deportees to leave Kazakhstan.

However, legal reforms in 1996 and again in 1998 regularised the immigration procedures, allowing any ethnic Pole from abroad to settle in the country upon receiving an invitation from a company or association.

[25] In a 1996-1998 academic survey, Poles who had emigrated from Kazakhstan cited a number of reasons for their departure, including the decreased social status of non-Kazakh-speakers in the newly independent country, the local economic crisis which saw many salaries go unpaid, and the desire to avoid service in the Kazakhstani army.

[26] Due to their experience with agriculture on kolkhoz during communism, many of the Poles in Kazakhstan were able to obtain invitations from rural communes in Poland, which hoped to revive farms that would otherwise be sold to German expatriates.