Abstract: Kuqa basin is a Mesozoic-Cenozoic salt-bearing foreland basin developed in the piedmont area of the southern Tianshan Mountains. Influenced by orogenesis, pre-existing structures in the basement and salt rocks, Kuqa foreland basin is characterized by belts along N-S orientation and segments along W-E orientation, leading to the forming of different styles of tectonic transfer zones in Kelasu salt-bearing foreland thrust belt in the northern part of the basin. Based on the latest data of 2D and 3D seismic, drilling and field outcrops, the paper analyzes and summarizes the deformation styles and tectonic transfer characteristics of the foreland thrust belt in Kuqa foreland basin. The study results show that Kuqa foreland basin is featured with vertical stratification and deformation from the southern Tianshan Mountains to the interior of the basin, and the subsalt thrust belts are mainly distributed in the area from the southern Tianshan Mountains to Baicheng sag, which can be divided into 3 deformation zones, i.e., vertically uplifting fault-fold zone, inclined thrust wedge-like zone and nearly-horizontal compressing detachment zone according to their transfer styles. The subsalt thrust belt is divided into 6 structural segments such as Wushi segment, Awat segment, Bozi segment, Dabei segment, Keshen segment and Kela-3 segment, where 4 types of transfer zones are developed, namely strike slip type, margin type, growth type and complex type. In conclusion, the E-W trending, first-order transfer zones are dominated by complex type and strike-slip type, controlling the distribution of main tectonic zones. The margin type and strike slip type are the dominant of subordinate tectonic transfer zones, controlling the distribution of different tectonic segment. And most of the third-order transfer zones belong to growth type, which controls the distribution of local structures