"Everything can rest on details": what will change in the life of migrants after the cancellation of a temporary residence permit

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia has prepared a draft Federal Law “On the Conditions of Entry (Exit) and Stay (Residence) in the Russian Federation of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons”.

The official rationale for the document says that the amendments are designed to unify migration requirements.

In particular, now a foreign citizen who has no grounds for obtaining a residence permit must first obtain a temporary residence permit (RVP).

The department proposes to abandon this and establish three migration regimes of stay for foreign citizens: short-term (no more than 90 days in total during a calendar year), long-term (more than 90 days in total during a calendar year without obtaining a TRP), permanent residence (indefinitely).

At the same time, foreigners during the permitted period of stay will have the opportunity to change the purpose of their stay without leaving the Russian Federation.

Loyalty, supervision and expulsion

The bill allows foreigners to work as self-employed, or to carry out activities as an entrepreneur without forming a legal entity, regardless of the procedure for entering the Russian Federation.

It is planned to track labor migration through two information resources: an electronic register of employers who attract foreign labor, and a register of foreign workers, and a register of unscrupulous inviting persons will also be introduced.

Foreign citizens will be issued a so-called "single document" with an electronic carrier of information, which will allow receiving banking and government services through the State Services portal using an electronic signature, as well as carrying out its identification and verification in real time.

It also introduces the concept of "administrative supervision over the legality of stay (residence) in the Russian Federation of foreign citizens, as well as a new law enforcement regime" controlled stay ".

Foreigners will have to sign a loyalty agreement, which spells out the conditions for permission to enter Russia - compliance with laws, and an obligation not to harm the country and its citizens.

The bill also pays attention to administrative offenses related to organizing or participating in unauthorized rallies, picketing or disobeying police demands.

In case of violation of these rules, migrants may be denied entry or stay in the Russian Federation.

At the same time, a new concept is introduced into the migration legislation - "expulsion".

According to the document, it will summarize the measures of coercive influence in force today in the form of deportation and administrative expulsion.

Now unwanted guests will be "expelled".

In addition, if now decisions on the undesirability of stay (residence) can be made in relation to foreign citizens who are in Russia, then within the framework of the new law it is supposed to keep this measure only for foreigners who are outside the Russian Federation, if their entry into the country may pose a threat “Constitutionally significant values”.

The planned date for the entry into force of the bill is January 1, 2024.

Improving migration comfort

According to experts interviewed by RT, the bill should significantly simplify the current migration rules, however, given the number of innovations, it is still difficult to say exactly how it will work and what nuances will appear as a result of its adoption.

So, according to the deputy head of the Institute of CIS Countries Alexandra Dokuchaeva, the rejection of the temporary residence permit is a logical step in the process of simplifying the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship, but it is not yet clear how the issue of issuing documents will be resolved within the framework of the three new proposed regimes of stay.

“The public has been discussing the possibility of canceling the temporary residence permit for a long time, since this is an intermediate and not very reasonable step before obtaining a residence permit, and it is glad that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has met the numerous proposals of experts,” Dokuchaeva comments. - It is right to make the procedures simpler and more understandable for foreign citizens. However, now it is difficult to say how the issue of issuing documents will be resolved within the framework of three new modes of stay: short-term, long-term and permanent. Everything can rest on the details - how the categories of citizens who will receive this or that right of residence will be divided. How it will be implemented and whether it will be understandable for people ”.

According to the hero of RT publications, Alexei Alyoshin, who was issued a TRP within the framework of the Not One to One project, refusal to issue this document will significantly reduce the time required for obtaining citizenship for foreign citizens, and also make this process cheaper.

“Now, at each stage of filing documents, it is required to spend a lot of money on the collection of documents, their translations and certification by a notary,” he explains.

- Reducing this stage will reduce the cost of the path to the coveted passport and reduce the time it takes to obtain it by at least 9 months (deadlines for submitting documents for a temporary residence permit and living conditions for this document -

RT

).

The bill will make it possible to choose a more convenient, quicker path for obtaining citizenship.

It will give much more freedom of choice, opportunities, that is, it will cover a larger mass of people who will find it easier to obtain citizenship and work in Russia.

I would call it “improving migration comfort”.

Alyoshin also noted that one of the important points of the bill is the creation of registers of foreign workers and employers.

“This will make it easier to check the documents,” the speaker said. - The inspector can simply scan the identification QR code, and all the information will be in the device: from the employer's computer to the tablet of the Rosgvardia employee in the metro. In addition, this is also a feedback - right in the application you can receive notifications about the status of documents (residence permit, patent, applications for admission to citizenship), reminders about the duration of stay in the Russian Federation, information about the entry into force of changes in migration legislation. It is high time to move from paper slavery to digital freedom. "

Meanwhile, as a member of the subcommittee on labor migration of the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (CCI) on economic integration and foreign economic activity, President of the Union of Experts and Consultants in the Field of Labor Migration "International Labor Migration Alliance" Nikolai Kurdyumov said in an interview with RT The CCI is preparing two blocks of proposals from the department, which are aimed at universalizing the processes related to the introduction of a register of unscrupulous persons inviting foreign citizens to work.

“So far we do not see any mechanisms for an organized recruitment of specialists within the framework of agreements with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, for example.

Moreover, the agreements will also apply to other states, - the expert comments.

- Legislation should stimulate both migrants and employers who facilitate their employment, so that even before leaving, the migrant is properly prepared.

Moreover, with control and training, we could help the countries of origin to receive good specialists. "

The second block of proposals, according to Kurdyumov, concerns the issues of professional training of migrants in the territory of the country of departure.

“Now we do not understand how the register of foreign workers will take into account their qualifications, and whether it will take it into account at all. This is important, because it is necessary to promote the attraction of migrants in the professions in demand, and not just the labor force. Of course, the flow of migration is now large and almost unregulated, although earlier in the context of a pandemic there was still some opportunity to restrict it. If we are interested in organized migration, we need to streamline it. It is nevertheless necessary to introduce a certain corridor of orderly entry on the basis of a universal regime for the entry of foreign workers to us. And within this corridor and make a block of professional selection for qualifications. Moreover, it is important that the regions make their proposals on who and what specialists are most in short supply. Somewhere we need welders, somewhere we need doctors. And then how 99% of unskilled workers drove,that's how they go, ”the expert concluded.