Russian MPs: the state will improve migrant policy

By Vestnik Kavkaza

New legislative initiatives in the sphere of migration control were a subject of the press conference of the head the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, Irina Yarovaya and the head of the State Duma Committee on Nationalities Affairs Hadjimet Safaraliyev.

According to Safaraliyev, the concept of the migration policy is developed. He emphasizes that the Federal Migration Service is working well, but it is not enough. “It’s like my right hand works well, but my left hand and head work badly. If the head doesn’t work, my hands won’t work as well. The Ministry of Regional Development and the Ministry of Economic Development should decide what regions need what specialists. They should analyze these directions and choose regions which are most comfortable for settlement – first of all, secondly, thirdly, and so on. And only then, migrants should be invited,” Safaraliyev said.

“If we need engineers, let’s invite engineers. Let’s invite street cleaners. Our migration is various. It can be for a season, for a year, for three years or for a whole life, if a person wants to become our citizen. The approach shouldn’t be slipshod. The resettlement moment should be considered – it shouldn’t be called migration inside the country, it is wrong. It is about mobility of the population. We should provide people from excess working regions with an opportunity to move to unpopulated areas.

We have established the ministry which will monitor and develop the whole country from the Ural to the Pacific Ocean. How can it be developed, if it is not populated? 70% of the country’s territory is poorly populated. From this point of view, the program on migration by the International Labour Organization was implemented. There was a survey in the South Federal District. It appeared that families where husband and wife are 25-35-year old are ready to move to Frantz Josef Land under certain conditions – initial financial support, apartment, job. Give them job and an opportunity to live. Probably they would move there for 10 years only. But then others will replace them. We should think about employment of our population,” the head of the State Duma committee said.

The MP thinks that the country lacks people and Russia needs migrants. “Whether we want it or not, we have to welcome them because of the demographic gap. The president has recently said that in the 1990s we experienced the demographic gap, and it will be felt soon. We will lack people. So, migrations should be treated smartly. The issues were discussed in our committee and at the Presidential Council. Migration policy is impossible without ethnic policy. It is connected with ethnic groups and their resettlements. Any migration flows lead to a change in the ethnic situation of certain regions. It should be considered.

We should establish conditions for normal cooperation without conflicts. Why do Moscow residents treat migrants badly? Firstly, it is about crime – illegal migration. Legally they all work. Why does illegal migration exist? It is beneficial for an employer. He doesn’t pay taxes. He writes 50,000, but pays 10,000 to him, if he pays at all. So, corruption is growing in the sphere. The law is being developed that an employer will be legally responsible for illegal migrants. This is a right approach. Illegal migration should be eliminated from our life. If there is no illegal migration, the rest can be settled. Illegal migration is hard to control,” Sfaraliyev concluded.

The head of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption, Irina Yarovaya, summed up upcoming plans for the fight against illegal migration, labor quotas and measures to identify labor market needs. According to Ms. Yarovaya, the proportion of crimes committed by migrants amounts to 20% of the total.

“We understand that today the term 'illegal immigration' is connected with serious problems. This is direct damage to the economy of the Russian Federation and the rise in crime and the commission of very specific socially-dangerous acts. I must tell you that if in the overall proportion of crimes the crimes committed by migrants are already 20%, it should be understood that among these crimes there has been an increase in violent crime. That is, the degree of social danger of the crimes committed by this category is very high. Therefore, the issue of combating illegal migration, of course, will be of a high priority.

You know that we have prepared a draft law that provides for additional forms of control on registration, on the so-called "rubber" flats. We propose a criterion of accounting standards of housing. You know that we offer the additional participation of business in addressing illegal migration, because one of the factors of unfair competition is the attraction of illegal migrants. And in the construction industry, where we have implemented the principle of self-regulation, we propose to make it obligatory to inform the self-regulatory organizations about instances of abuse and violations of economic agents in order that they can make a decision to exclude such unscrupulous entities from the self-regulatory organizations.

In addition, you know that we have proposed the introduction of additional restrictions on entry to the territory of the Russian Federation of people who have committed crimes or after the removal from the territory of the Russian Federation escaped and thus demonstrated persistent misconduct. But we do have two new themes on which we will elaborate. Namely, labor quotas, because we believe that today those approaches that are stated at the state level should have a clear, transparent, public scheme to exclude any evidence of abuse and illicit influence.

You know that we have expressed our official position regarding disagreement with the government's decision to give a quota of 25% of the total workforce of retailers. We understand that these are primarily in the large metropolitan areas. Let me remind you that for six years annually the government adopted a zero quota, and for the first time in six years, the decision to change this position of principle was made, and the quota is 25%.

But we believe that the general question of quotas has today become a major issue of force application for the Ministry of Labour, because forecasting the development of the labor market is primarily a question of economic security, job creation and employment, and this is the correlation between the real needs of the economy with the labor migrants that are requested by quotas.

Another question that we will develop is patents, because today actually people who work on patents face no additional requirements to their characteristics. We do not know whether these people know our language, whether they work in reality, whether information that they provide on the contract for different types of services is accurate, or is it just a form of legalization of illegal migration. This direction, as I have said, of quotas and patents, will be deeply developed in the near future,” Irina Yarovaya said.