Oralman (Kazakh: Оралман, lit. 'returnee') is a term used by Kazakh authorities to describe Kazakh diaspora who have immigrated or returned to Kazakhstan since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

According to Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Migration" of December 13, 1997, the official term is kandas (Kazakh: қандас, "compatriot", "same-blood"): "Kandas [compatriots] are Kazakh foreigners or stateless persons who permanently resided outside the Republic of Kazakhstan at the time of independence and came to Kazakhstan for permanent residence."

Oralman usually come from the neighboring countries of China, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan, but also from countries with small Kazakh minorities such as Iran (Iranian Kazakhs), Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Oralman typically settle in areas of Kazakhstan adjacent to or near their former homes, either because of climate or convenience. Thus, returnees from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are often found in the south of Kazakhstan, while those from China and Mongolia are concentrated in the east. The government prefers to settle them in the north of the country, and offers them more benefits to resettle there; however, returnees themselves prefer regions such as the south where the Russian language is less important in everyday life.

According to research done by LSAR (Laboratory for Social and Anthropological Research) Archived 2017-04-08 at the Wayback Machine, the Oralman can be divided into two general groups: those who returned in the 1990s and those who returned in the 2000s. The research showed that Oralman from the 1990s did not interact with Oralman from the 2000s, as the former saw themselves as locals and identified more closely with local Kazakhs. The research also described internal differences among Oralman depending on where they came from and what cultural values they had, with differences mainly rooted in language. Overall, they were able to discover several major divisions through asking samples of Oralman to describe who they see as "We" vs. "They":

According to Astrid Cerny's research paper, Going where the grass is greener: China Kazakhs and the Oralman immigration policy in Kazakhstan, approximately 1.1 million ethnic Kazakhs live in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in the north of China. According to Cerny, this diaspora rose from the mass exodus that Kazakhstan faced in the 20th century. Cerny claims that the recent phenomenon of former ethnic Kazakhs willing to return to their motherland stems from a desire to maintain and strengthen cultural identity, as assimilating into different cultures has proved to be difficult for ethnic Kazakhs in China. According to the research paper, a combination of economic, ecological, and socio-political factors drove people to leave their countries of residence and return to their area of ethnic origin.

One of the key issues in tackling the migration issue in Kazakhstan is to support the repatriation process of Kazakhs returning to Kazakhstan. The Republic of Kazakhstan has launched several integration centers for the temporary residence of the Oralman since 2008 in cities such as Karaganda and Shymkent and throughout the South. Through these centers, the government has tried to implement and ensure legal consultations, support for learning state languages, as well as support for vocational training and professional development.

Since the beginning of Kazakh sovereignty in the early 1990s, Kazakh repatriates from abroad began to be co-ethnically reintegrated into Kazakh society. In response, Kazakh government policy has revolved around building a state for its titular ethnicity in order to overcome issues of Russification and promote the use of the Kazakh language. According to Kazakh migration policy, Kazakh ethnic purity is kept untouched even if repatriates have been abroad for generations.