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Asia Times
November 5, 2002
Crackdown on illegal immigrants
By Sergei Blagov
MOSCOW - A law introduced this month gives the police new powers to deal with illegal immigrants, while seeking to strengthen the rights of legal migrants, and aims to bring Russian law closer to Western practices.
Long-term expatriates can now obtain a permanent residence permit, the Russian equivalent of an American green card, which would give permanent residents new privileges, including the right to vote in municipal elections. A migration fee of US$100 per person will bring in an estimated $30 million from applications for permanent residence.
The law was introduced on November 1, but accompanying legislation could take a year to come into force, officials say, so Russia's first "green card" is unlikely to be issued before such legislation is approved. Accompanying legislation will include penalties for companies that hire illegal immigrants.
The Interior Ministry says that 3 to 4 million illegal immigrants currently work in the shadow economy. No more than 300,000 foreigners a year receive work permits. The law sets migration quotas for the first time. The Labor Ministry has announced that it intends to issue no more than 530,000 work permits a year.
Russian authorities are taking urgent administrative steps while new legislation is brought in. A nationwide database on foreigners is due to be established no later than May to slot foreigners into three categories - temporary visitors, temporary residents and permanent residents, says Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov. Visitors, including many citizens of former Soviet states who do not need visas, can stay up to 90 days.
Andrei Chernenko, head of the migration service within the Interior Ministry, says that the main goal is to establish strict control over migrants. The rights of foreigners will be respected but security will be the main focus of the migration service, he said.
Chernenko's announcement came after a warning from Vera Lekareva, deputy of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, that "dope-dealing invaders" could turn Russia into one of the world's top drug markets.
The Russian police have been asked to enforce earlier regulations more strictly by checking registration documents. But these measures have been far from efficient. Illegal aliens in Moscow say that the police let them go for a bribe of $15 to $30.
The Kremlin, the seat of the Russian government, has made immigration a police issue. Chernenko was appointed head of the migration service and Deputy Interior Minister by President Vladimir Putin in February this year.
Human rights activists have been critical of the transfer of immigration control to the Interior Ministry on the grounds that the police are prejudiced against foreigners. There is a need for increased public control over the police, says Valery Borschov, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a human rights organization. The new law makes no such provisions.
As a part of new controls, immigration cards will be issued from this month, Chernenko said. Foreigners will be required to fill in the card when entering the country, and carry it at all times. The Interior Ministry must be informed of any change in residential or work address. After July 1 next year, anyone caught without a card can face deportation.
Russia is encouraging migration from ex-Soviet states. The government announced a plan last year to encourage such immigration to check the population decline. Russia needs up to a million migrants a year just to sustain its population at the current level, officials say. Present trends will bring the population of Russia down from the current 143 million to 80 million by 2050, according to official estimates.
Within the past decade 4.7 million people, mainly from former Soviet states, have been granted Russian citizenship, says Valery Fyodorov, deputy head of the legislation committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament. Over the same period, more than 8 million people - nearly 90 percent of them Russian speaking - became permanent residents in Russia, and 4 million left the country, according to official statistics. (Inter Press Service)
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