Visitors and guest workers

 

Author: VK

 

Last year, 16 thousand illegal migrants were deported from Moscow. According to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, 15 thousand of them will not be able to return to Moscow. The quota for migrants in Moscow is currently 200 thousand people. According to the mayor, 200-300 thousand migrants are in the city illegally. In some areas, the proportion of migrants in Moscow is about 10-12%. Experts and officials told about solving problems of migrants in Russia and Germany.

 

“One of the most important features of Russian migration is the order of entry of the majority of migrants, migrant workers, primarily into the Russian Federation. As you know, with the majority of the CIS countries, in other words, the former Soviet republics, we have visa free entry. Accordingly, the regulation of a number of issues related to the influx of foreign nationals acquires a specific feature”, Tatiana Bazhan, head of the department for supporting integration of the Federal Migration Service, said. “Last June, the concept of the state migration policy of Russia paid a lot of attention to this problem. An important section of the migration concept specifies that the state and civil society must work together actively and work hard in the adaptation and integration of migrants”.

 

“In the Russian Federation, as well as in Germany, there is a legal framework, within which all migration processes take place. This is the current law on the legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation, which includes work with foreigners who come to Russia to work, this law regulates the arrival and stay of the people who come to study, for treatment and so on, that is. almost all categories of foreign nationals. Separately, we have a federal law, which deals with asylum seekers, i. e. refugees. And there are a number of other laws”, Vladimir Volokh, chairman of the Public Council of the Federal Migration Service, said. “One of the main issues which now confronts the Russian Federation is the pre-departure training of migrants before they come to Russia”.

 

“This is a very sensitive issue - reducing the hostility of the local population toward migrants and hostility of migrants towards residents.. I probably do not know any country where people have not experienced any stereotypes or hostile attitudes towards visitors”, Alexander Brod, Russian human rights activist, social activist, said. “Newcomers are always considered people who can take jobs, bring unfamiliar cultures. It is important that, for example, in European countries there are special videos, public service announcements, large educational work in schools, special training courses. In the Baltic countries I have seen anti-racist posters at bus stops, which promote acceptance and the perception of other cultures and other world views. The same activities should be very widely deployed in the Russian Federation - in schools, universities, the media, advertising and other forms of education”.

 

Germany is one of the countries which have been receiving and integrating migrants for years. The Ombudsman's office for integration and migration just received 6,000 people last year and a million applications for 32 years from the establishment. According to the latest data of the Statistics Office of Berlin, the German capital has representatives of almost two hundred nations. One resident in eight is not a citizen of Germany, and all migrants or the children of immigrants make up a quarter of the population of the city.

 

“We in Berlin are very proud that we have representatives of 180 nations, and Berlin is so diverse”, Monica Luke, Ombudsman for Integration and Migration, said. “Already, more than 40% of primary school pupils are from migrant families. We need these people to preserve our prosperity and ensure our future. We say “Welcome!” to everyone. This, of course, does not mean that everyone who comes here gets a full status immediately and gets citizenship, but everyone who comes here should be entitled to a clear procedure if he gets refugee status or receive humanitarian permission to stay. This is a big goal of integration policy. This applies to all groups - refugees, applicants for asylum, migrant workers.

Of course, there can be a will, so everyone who comes to Berlin can prepare for this while still at home. But it is not always possible for various reasons. Many people just seek refuge in Berlin; they do not leave their country voluntarily and run to Berlin to get a safe haven from persecution, and they do not deliberately leave their homeland and cannot prepare. People who come here are looking for work, they are not always willing to stay abroad, although there is information everywhere about Germany, about the possibilities of studying the German language. Perhaps this is only in big cities abroad, and most of these people do not live in cities. Therefore, online information, and so on, is not always available.

We have recently received a demographic projection for our country; we need these people to stay here to keep our prosperity that we now have. This is one of the most important pillars of integration policy in Berlin, we want to consolidate in our new concept and implement as policy”.

 

“We have to distinguish between categories of migrants, those who are looking for work, students, and other categories of workers. But we need to support different categories of migrants. We have to create conditions of life, respecting human rights and, of course, we have to use their resources”, Mohammed Joanie, member of the Public Council of Berlin for Integration and Migration, said.