Radical changes in Russia's migration policy have been blocked

Legislators in the Russian Federation are working to restore order among migrants better than the executive branch. Lobbyists of legal migration do not give up, and illegal migration has not been eradicated, the observer writes Pravda.Ru Lyubov Stepushova.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation reports that out of 766 thousand foreign minors (under 17 years old) who are currently in Russia, only 154 thousand (20%) are registered for migration. Of these, citizens of Tajikistan — 26%, Uzbekistan — 13.4%, Ukraine — 8.3%, the rest are citizens of the EAEU member states.

"We are in favor of the need to resolve this issue," said Gennady Kudryashov, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

Not only the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but also the FSB, and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, as well as legislators of all levels, supporting the wishes of citizens, advocate tightening migration legislation, but their good intentions are hindered in civil executive structures.

The State Duma adopted a law prohibiting from September the admission of migrant children to Russian schools who have not passed the Russian language proficiency test. But the rules of Rosobrnadzor have appeared, which establish that in order to successfully pass the test, migrant children need to receive only 30% of the maximum number of points. This is clearly not enough for the perception of the material at school. If we take European standards, then children are required to pass the A1-A2 test for citizenship with a score of at least 50%.

After criticism in society and personally from the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, the new version of the rules of Rosobrnadzor states that the child needs to get a "satisfactory" grade for the test. But at the same time, the agency does not explain on what scale knowledge will be evaluated and which tasks will have to be completed.

Also in the State Duma, a law was submitted for adoption that would prohibit labor migrants from bringing in Russia has its own families. We are talking about low-skilled specialists who are in Russia only on the basis of an employment contract or patent, while not having other legal grounds for residence in the country, for example, Russian citizenship.

However, the government (probably the relevant department — the Ministry of Labor) sent the project "for revision." That is, they informally refused to pass the required document.

There are lobbyists among migrants and in Ministry OF Foreign Affairs OF THE Russian Federation. The head of the department, Sergey Lavrov, said that tightening the entry regime for labor migrants contradicts Russia's long-term interests. According to him, "any tightening of our approaches to labor migrants from Central Asian countries, primarily Transcaucasia and other former republics, will not contribute to our long-term interests." The minister urged "to tighten control over their behavior, but not to put up barriers, especially not to introduce a visa regime."

"We only welcome them (migrants)," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and called for "strict regulation" of the migration sphere, which "will insure us against crime among migrants."

But so far it is only growing. According to IC RF, in 2024, crime among illegal migrants has almost tripled. Isn't it easier not to create a problem than to solve it in the conditions of a corruption component among those who deal with migration flows.

A recent example is Severstal, which, according to media reports, planned to import several thousand migrants to Cherepovets and even build a town for them. However, the company says that they have already been imported and are working legally.

Nevertheless, the chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Vologda region, Sergey Zestyannikov, asked the obvious question: why do Russian workers not deserve a salary of 70-80 thousand, expenses for medical commissions, accommodation in a comfortable town? The speaker of the legislative Assembly noted that recruiting contractors did not even try to find workers in the region.

The governor of the Vologda region Georgy Filimonov also intervened, after which Severstal began active actions to improve the situation. All these points could have been solved much earlier if the Cherepovets Mayor's Office had joined the problem, local media write. But for obvious reasons, the mayor's office abstained, and therefore the mayor "resigned".

After the terrorist attack in Crocus, the problem with migrants in the Russian Federation began to be slowly resolved. So,

• From January 1, 2025, a law comes into force that reduces the maximum period of stay on the territory of the Russian Federation for foreign citizens arriving in the Russian Federation in a manner that does not require a visa to 90 days in a calendar year. Previously, this period was 90 days for a period of 180 days.
• From January 25, 2025, a law comes into force extending the period of being married to a citizen of the Russian Federation required to obtain a temporary residence permit (RVP) in a simplified manner. The term has been extended to three years.
• From February 5, 2025, foreigners temporarily staying in the Russian Federation will be registered at their place of residence for no more than a year.
• Since December 10, 2024, a new list of state institutions conducting an exam in Russian as a foreign language, the history of Russia and the basics of legislation of the Russian Federation has been approved.
• Government The Russian Federation has approved the permissible shares of foreign workers in certain sectors of the economy for 2025.