More foreigners can stay temporarily in Russia

The Russian government has decided to increase the quota for temporary residence permits in the country for foreigners and stateless persons in 2015.

"The quota for 2015 for issuing temporary residence permits in Russia to foreign citizens and stateless persons was increased from 128,055 to 151,175," RIA Novosti cited the Russian government as saying.

The government explained that the decision is due to the increase in the number of Ukrainian citizens who were forced to leave their country temporarily due to the ongoing armed conflict.

The Chairman of the Central Committee of the Trade Union of Migrant Workers, Renat Karimov, noted in a conversation with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza that the migrant workers coming to Russia now have a different immigration status.

"Our migrant workers are staying in Russia temporarily and they are allowed to be here for only one year. I know that many of them would like to get temporary residence permits, but the quota is not enough. Usually, the majority of migrants are concentrated in Moscow and its quotas are small and you need to pay a lot of money for them. But we welcome the fact of increasing the quota of 20%," the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Trade Union of Migrant Workers said.

"Probably more people will take advantage of this opportunity, because temporary residence permits are the first step on the path to citizenship of the Russian Federation. The demographic situation in Russia is not the best one now. Therefore, it seems to me that foreign nationals from Ukraine, Moldova, the Caucasus and Central Asia are the most desirable potential Russian citizens," Karimov stressed.

"The government is focused on applications by the heads of subjects of the federation. It's hard to say what should be done: to abolish all quotas or make a big quota that would suit everyone, or be satisfied with one-off events," Renat Karimov concluded.

The head of the Center of Migration Policy Studies of the Russian Academy of State Service, Victoria Ledenyeva, thinks that these new quotas for immigrants are not so different from those that existed before.

She noted that she doesn't see a need to increase the quotas due to the current stream of migrants, because the current situation is largely linked to refugees from Ukraine.

"The people arrive, find a job and then want to obtain temporary residence permits. Consequently, the number of those who want to stay in Russia is increasing along with the number of quotas. I do not think we have to initially count how many people can come to us and to increase the quota. We cannot predict what will happen next. I believe that one of the mechanisms for regulating migration flows is to take some decisions, then understand how you need to change these decisions," Victoria Ledeneva said.