Russians have no problems with migrants

by VK

Outcries about labour migrants from USSR becoming the most criminalized part of the society and taking jobs that Russian specialists could have taken are common in Moscow. But Superjob.ru, a recruitment portal, says that 75% of Russians are confident that foreigners are no match for them at the labour market. People questioned during the polls say that migrants have low skills and only work at low-paid positions in construction, housing and utilities and services. 18% of Russians have already experienced the professional struggle. They say that migrants use the undercutting method, preventing increase of wages.

“The FMS has formed a section for assistance, adaptation and integration of foreign citizens in the Russian society. We have a special directorate at the central office and regions. This service is also developing contacts with communities, the Russian Orthodox Church, Muslim community officials, i.e. the people and organizations foreign citizens refer to. These organizations may give proper consultations and support. We publish all kinds of agitations materials together, we organize round-table conferences and communicate”.

Russians have started going abroad more often, not only on vacation, but to work and for permanent residence. The number of international passports issued by the FMS in Moscow keeps increasing. Acting Chief of the FMS Directorate in Moscow Vladimir Ivanov says: “About 500,000 requests have been filed this year. We expected a much smaller figure, because the figure has been rising for the last 3 years. Regarding the terms for filing international passports, most passports are approved and issued within 20 days. Reception of documents through the portal is one of the most desired services of international passport issuing. Comparing with the same period last year, six months, we had about 100,000 requests at the portal. People praised the opportunity to file documents in such a way...

Moscow remains a highly-demanded city. A lot of guests come here. We are certainly happy that they arrive, because any citizen on the territory of Moscow, especially from a foreign state, makes a certain contribution. There are some estimation of how much money the citizen leaves at a hotel, museum, for transport and food daily. We welcome this.

Regarding non-CIS states, these issues have been settled, no problems occur here, in terms of existing legislature for this category of citizens, because they are easy to manage. In order to arrive, you need an invitation, a visa, registering. In this aspect, we are certainly comfortable with control over their movement. We used to be concerned about China and Vietnam. If you remember 2008, Cherkizon, when serious violations were revealed. We had 72,000 Chinese citizens in 2008 and 13,000 this year. We are happy that we have serious partners arriving from China, instead of the shuttle traders we had in 2008. We have serious structures in collaboration with the Chinese. We have complexes of oil refineries, this includes the Sukhoi Company where we build engines. In other words, the Chinese part is quite active in major and serious projects. We are happy about it and are tranquil about the number of people invited”.

Oleg Molodiyevsky, head of the FMS Directorate of Moscow Region, says: “Migration processes on the territory of Moscow and its region are stable. About 550,000 migrants requested migration registration. If we take a look at the dynamics of the previous year, we can see about half a million requests in 2008. In 2009-2010, their number dropped slightly, to 15%. This year, we see a return to the pre-crisis level of registry of foreign citizens. Their origin is different too. Most people arriving in 2009-2010 came from Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova (about 50% of migrants to the Moscow region), the picture has changed since then. We have a totally different picture in 2011-2012. 50% of migration processes are citizens from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, in general. About 70% of migrants arriving in the Moscow Region work for individuals. If we look at the economic aspect of this issue (since early 2010, when we started issuing patents): 1 300 000 000 rubles is the budget of the Moscow Region. About 460 million rubles of taxes from migrants receiving the patents were contributed in 6 months of this year”.

Regarding surveillance, we continue revealing new violations among employers, businessmen, not just legal bodies or individuals. Unfortunately, harsher responsibility does not affect employers, their law-abiding nature and proper recruitment of foreign citizens the way we wanted it”.