Russian Academy of Sciences estimates 4 million illegal migrants in Russia
RBC Exclusives, February 10
Estimates of the number of illegal migrants in Russia are heterogeneous, but now it is believed that there are 3-4 million of them, the head of the Demographic Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences told RBC. In her opinion, it is not necessary to "tighten the nuts" too much for them - it will have the opposite effect.
Estimates of the number of illegal migrants in Russia are heterogeneous, but in recent years the prevailing opinion is that their number does not exceed 4 million people. This was reported in an interview with RBC by Marina Khramova, Director of the Institute for Demographic Research of the Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"Attempts [to estimate the number of illegal migrants] were made a few years ago by our colleagues from the Higher School of Economics, but they got very heterogeneous figures - from 2 million to 12 million people. It should be understood that the total number of migrants is estimated at 12-14 million. Recently, they have begun to say that the number of illegals can be in the range of 3-4 million people," said Khramova.
According to her, much depends on the calculation method. "We need to have a clear idea of who we think. If the migrant runs out, for example, of a residence permit and he did not have time to issue the documents in time, such a person is already among the violators. And in fact, there are a lot of such offenses for migrants - not serious criminal actions, namely violations of the deadlines for the preparation of certain permits," the expert said.
Therefore, at the moment it would be excessive to seriously tighten legislation regarding the stay of migrants, Khramova believes.
In November 2023, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed to introduce a controlled stay regime for illegal migrants. It is assumed that within its framework they will be prohibited from registering real estate and cars, transferring money, marrying, driving cars and obtaining rights.
"If you tighten the nuts too much and make the migration legislation tough, it will have the opposite effect, that is, it will more harm not illegals who will find other bypass maneuvers, but people who came to our country to live and earn honestly," she believes. Earlier, President Vladimir Putin estimated the number of migrant workers in Russia at 10 million people.
However, the initiatives to tighten control over migrants, included in the government's action plan to implement the concept of state migration policy, do not seem unfounded by the Temple.
"Migration map, an experiment to collect biometric data at airports - I don't see anything wrong here. This is not discriminatory and is used abroad. You and I, when we come abroad, take fingerprints at passport control, take a photo - this is necessary to protect the host state," the expert said.
Source: https://www.rbc.ru/economics/10/02/2024/65c5dfca9a794768ad46dd4d