Governmental official comments on immigration control

Migration cards for foreigners arriving in Russia, will be introducedbeginning November 1, 2002, head of the Federal Migration Service of theRussian Interior Ministry Andrey Chernenko said at a briefing. According tohim, this card will consist of two parts. One of them will remain withinterior authorities, the other one will be held by foreigners and confirmtheir right to stay in Russia. This card will contain passport data offoreigners and their goal of coming to Russia.It is planned that cards of different groups of foreigners - students,employees, tourists and others - will be of different colors. The backsideof the card will contain information about the rights of migrants and atelephone number of a 24-hour hotline for foreigners. The Migration Serviceis currently holding negotiations with carriers, so that migrants couldfill in their cards before coming to Russia. They reached an agreement withthe Federal Frontier Service on dividing authority between frontierservicemen and immigration control services.At the same time, Chernenko pointed out that immigration control points hadbeen created at only 30 percent of border crossing points so far.Immigration control is planned to start functioning in full in a year and ahalf..