Bodies will not interfere with a foreigner – Newspaper Kommersant No. 42 (7487) dated 03/14/2023

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation partially supports the relaxation of the norms for labor migrants, previously proposed by Boris Titov, Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs. The department is ready to halve the term for issuing patents and increase the period of their validity, but together with the Ministry of Labor they oppose the introduction of a mechanism for the rehabilitation of foreign employees expelled from the Russian Federation at the request of employers. Earlier, Mr. Titov suggested extending the term of patents from one year to three years.

Partial support for the easing of migration control proposed by the Ombudsman is stated in the letter of the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Andrei Khrapov (Kommersant got acquainted with its content). In January 2023, Mr. Titov turned to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, proposing to soften the migration legislation (115-FZ “On the legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation” and 114-FZ “On the procedure for leaving the Russian Federation and entering the Russian Federation”). It was about extending the validity of labor patents from one year to three years and introducing a mechanism for the rehabilitation of foreign employees previously expelled from the Russian Federation at the request of employers. Thus, it was proposed to allow “bona fide employers” to submit petitions to the internal affairs bodies to open entry for them (now a similar mechanism is in place for foreigners if they want to get to the Russian Federation, for example, for emergency treatment).

In his letter, Andrey Khrapov recalls the possibility of annual renewal of a patent without leaving the Russian Federation and that the period for considering an application for this “is no more than ten days.” “In circulation (Business Ombudsman.— “b”) it is stated that it takes up to 20 days for foreign citizens to issue notarized translations, medical documents, certificates of knowledge of the Russian language, VHI policies, ”the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reports. At the same time, he declares the readiness of the department to reduce the period for issuing a patent from ten to five days with “a simultaneous increase in the period of its validity.” However, the letter does not mention the possible timing of such an extension.

At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs opposes the idea of ​​a mechanism for bona fide employers to submit petitions “to open entry for their former employees.” Earlier, the Ombudsman complained to Tatyana Golikova that entry into the Russian Federation for a period of three to five years was prohibited for “couriers who violated traffic rules several times”, as well as for qualified builders and agricultural workers who “committed minor administrative offenses.” “The classification of an administrative offense as minor or significant is evaluative, as well as the classification of employers as conscientious,” the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reports. In his opinion, the appearance in the legislation of a “special right” for entrepreneurs to “apply for the removal of restrictions” from former employees can lead to the emergence of one-day companies specially created to open entry to violators.

Mr. Khrapov’s letter cites the position of the FSB and the Russian Ministry of Finance, which have no objections to both the ombudsman’s idea of ​​relaxing legislation. Finally, the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation reported that the “specified time waste”, which the business ombudsman complains about, “may arise through the fault of foreign workers and their employers”, while the introduction of a mechanism for the rehabilitation of migrants expelled from the Russian Federation, according to the Ministry of Labor, will provoke an increase in the number offenses. The Ministry of Labor “Kommersant” only reminded that the procedure for issuing patents is regulated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, but noted that “legislation allows you to renew a patent if there is a notice of the conclusion of an employment contract”: “Advance work on paperwork will minimize the time between the expiration of the previous patent and registration new.”

Vladimir Volokh, professor at the Department of Migration Management at the State University of Management, supports the Ombudsman’s proposals. “Now you can buy patents for a year with the right to prolong for another year. But there are, for example, large construction projects with cycles of three years,” he argues. At the same time, the expert agrees that foreigners expelled for “minor” offenses – for example, for minor accidents – can be returned at the request of employers. But Kirill Kabanov, a member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights (who deals with migration policy), believes that Mr. Titov “does not understand the context of the problem”: “On the contrary, we need to strengthen control. This can be achieved by implementing the law, sending more police officers to ethnic enclaves, punishing violations not with an amnesty, but with a ban on entry into the Russian Federation.” When asked how to replace migrants, for example, in the capital’s housing and communal services, Mr. Kabanov suggested using the labor of Kaluga residents. “For a salary of 45 thousand rubles. we will easily close jobs by our own citizens,” he said.

Alexander Voronov, Maria Starikova, Anastasia Manuylova