Experts dispelled rumors about a radical change in the rules for migrants in Russia

New laws do not apply to those who work honestly

The attitude of Russians towards migrants employed in the service sector and not only has not changed for many years in a row. However, no one is in a hurry to take the place of immigrants from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan behind the counters of shops and cafes. In the winter of 2023, they once again started talking about the fact that, perhaps, unpleasant changes await labor migrants in the Russian Federation.

Mid-February was marked by anxious talk about the future of labor migrants (mainly from the CIS countries) in Russia. The corresponding message appeared on one of the largest Runet forums. It says that migrants allegedly began to be denied en masse when applying for a job in a fast food chain. This is due to a possible change in the rules for the stay of migrants in Russia. Labor migrants can stay in the country without a visa for up to 90 days within six months, but now they plan to increase the period to a year.

According to the author of the message, in this regard, employers will have to immediately pay the employee a salary for three months and pay insurance premiums for compulsory medical insurance for three years in a row. Thus, the work of migrants becomes unprofitable.

At least a few points from this frightening message do not stand up to scrutiny. None of the experts to whom MK turned for clarification could explain where the words about “compulsory medical insurance for three years in a row” and “immediately pay salaries for three months” came from.

“It sounds extremely doubtful, I don’t believe in it,” Vadim Kozhenov, president of the Federation of Migrants of Russia, categorically spoke out in an interview with an MK correspondent. “We still have a huge demand for labor, so this is not plausible. Today’s excitement is connected with the words about “controlled stay”, but these words refer to the regime for the expulsion of those foreigners about whom such a decision has already been made.

They started talking about the “controlled stay” regime after Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, mentioned it. However, it was said that such a regime would be applied to those who do not have legal grounds for being in Russia. Violators of the law will be “under the hood”, but those who live and work legitimately will not be affected.

Rustam Kasimov, a human rights activist and specialist in migration legislation, expressed the same bewilderment in an interview with an MK correspondent:

– Nothing was complicated, there were no additional barriers to labor migration. Restrictions about 90 days every six months do not apply to labor migrants, but to foreigners in Russia as such. But if there is an intention to stay for work, then these foreigners simply issue a patent, and then renew it within the prescribed period, that’s all. I see no reason for concern, and even more so for refusing jobs for migrants, says human rights activist Kasimov. – Perhaps there was an informal instruction to give the green light to Russian citizens? Regulation is possible at the level of the subject of the Federation, for example, an increase in the cost of a patent, which makes the work of a migrant meaningless, or restrictions in certain professions.