Zakirjon Mirzaev (36) was deported from Norway to Lithuania in August 2010 as in his passport he had an expired visa issued for the purpose of visiting the Republic of Lithuania. He immediately applied for asylum. 

While Zakirjon didn‘t see real possibilities to stay in Lithuania and the asylum process was still ongoing more than 1,5 years later, he decided to voluntarily return home and apply for IOM Vilnius reintegration assistance. As Tajikistan is mainly agrarian country, Zakirjon decided to set up an animal breeding business and invested the financial support into his father‘s farm.

With IOM Dushanbe assistance Zakirjon was provided with comprehensive support in building a cattle-shed  necessary for animal breeding. IOM also bought him two cows and two sheep. Currently, Zakirjon is selling milk in a local market and breeding sheep. Despite the fact that his business income is still moderate, Zakirjon is planning to expand his farm and buy more cattle. Zakirjon claims that emigration will not be in his plans at any time soon.