Ministry of Internal Affairs prepared regulations on deprivation of work permits for migrants

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia intends to give itself the right to cancel the work permits of labor migrants at the request of the employer. The agency plans to introduce the institution of administrative supervision of migrants, abolishing state control in this area. This is stated in project law published on the federal portal of draft regulatory legal acts.

“If a foreign worker has violated the terms of an employment contract or a civil law contract for the performance of work (rendering services), a work permit issued to this foreign worker may be canceled by the federal executive body at the request of the employer or customer of work (services) in sphere of internal affairs or its territorial body that issued this permit,” the text of the bill reads.

It follows from the draft that, as part of the administrative supervision of foreign workers, the police will publicly post up-to-date information about the requirements in the field of migration and about responsibility for failure to comply with these requirements. Law enforcement agencies also plan to carry out the prevention of administrative offenses in the field of migration, to prevent and suppress such offenses.

Supervision will also be aimed at establishing the whereabouts of a foreign citizen who is illegally in Russia. The Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to carry out fingerprint registration and identification of migrants. The collection of information about migrants will be carried out when providing public services in the field of migration and in the course of administrative supervision of migrants, including by obtaining information about foreigners from state bodies, local authorities and organizations.

In October 2022, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, speaking in the State Duma, said that the shortage of personnel in the migration department of the ministry is 20%, and low salaries in the department are to blame. The removal of part of the bureaucratic work on registering migrants outside the agency can help solve the problem.

To this end, the government and the Ministry of Internal Affairs made two draft laws are submitted to the State Duma, which indirectly transfer part of the work on the control of migrants to the administrative plane. In particular, it is proposed to expand the use by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the services of the departmental Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Passport and Visa Service” and the specialized Moscow “migration” MFC for processing documents of labor migrants and registering citizens at the place of residence.

Human Rights Council under the President of Russia in February sent in the Security Council government sharply critical review of the bills of the government and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Members of the HRC point to the “political risks” of the police bill and are unhappy with the government’s proposal to transfer public services for migrants to “commercial structures for the sake of profit.”

“The system of federal state control in the field of migration is being replaced by administrative supervision. In fact, this implies only the observation and statistical recording of foreign citizens and does not affect the regulation of migration processes in any way, ”the response of the HRC says.

Erdni Kagaltynov