Russia Not To Limit Gastarbeiter Flows

The Interior Ministry will not limit the flows of gastarbeiters coming to the Russian Federation. This was disclosed at the press conference in RIA Novosti by Colonel-General Andrei Chernenko, head of the Federal Migration Service (FMS).

He explained that an employer still plays the key part in the migration process since he/she not only gets certain preferences from the invited worker, but also bears certain responsibility for him. At the same time, Chernenko stressed that the Interior Ministry will control migration flows, check persons coming to Russia, determine the terms of their stay, expose illegal migrants, as well as streamline gastarbeiters into taxation sphere.

The General reported that the Labour Ministry specified the quotas for foreign workforce in Russia and currently the figure is equal to 500,000, while the number of officially registered migrants does not exceed 300,000. Meanwhile, according to different estimates, there are about 3.5 million of the so-called illegals in Russia.

Chernenko believes that the law On Foreign Citizens' Staying in the Russian Federation, which will come into force as of November 1, 2002, allows migration authorities to settle the tasks facing them in full. The FMS head noted that 17-18 additional sub-laws will be adopted along with the law before the year ends. They will regulate such notions as "migration card," "migration duty," etc.

Chernenko stated that currently the Federal Migration Service transferred to the Interior Ministry in accordance with the presidential decree in February 2002 has been fully formed and is prepared to fulfil all the tasks.