Russia

Making migration and mobility positive forces for development
1. Bring together representatives of diaspora communities and governments of countries of origin and destination for round-table debates on sharing best practices and on recognising the role and needs of diaspora communities in development and investment in countries of origin as well as in integration in the host societies.

The National Financial Literacy Strategy initiated by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation was approved by the Russian Government in September, 2017. This Strategy includes special financial consumer protection measures and financial education activities for migrants and their families. The implementation will start in 2018. 

Since 2015, foreign workers coming to Russia in a visa-free regime can work on the basis of special license and documents, so-called labor patent.

Russian activities in the field of migration management are grounded on the concept of the state migration policy up to 2025, approved by the President of the Russian Federation in 2012. The Concept is a set of opinions and ideas as regards the content, principles and main areas of activity with regard to migration.

The main directions for Russia’s state migration policy are:

In January 2015, work permits and quotas for work permits for foreign nationals from visa-free countries were cancelled, and replaced with a visa-free system that requires these employees to obtain licenses before they take up employment with companies, individual entrepreneurs, lawyers or notaries. The benefits for employers of this new licensing system are significant reductions in the bureaucracy involved in issuing work permit quotas to foreign workers, as well as in the number of irregular migrants.

Lithuania has bilateral agreements on migrant workers with Germany, Ukraine, and Russia. 

The Russian Federation (Russia) is the largest state in the world in terms of territory, occupying more than 11% of the land surface of the Earth, and is located in Eurasia. Russia shares borders with 16 countries; it has land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, North Korea and maritime borders with Japan and the USA. Russia is a federal state consisting of 832 “subjects of federation” (like states in the USA or Laender in Germany).

“Migration in the Russian Federation: A Country Profile 2008” is part of a series of migration profiles produced by IOM Budapest within the “Black Sea Consultative Process on Migration Management” project, funded from IOM’s 1035 Facility.

In Russia, special language courses have been established. There are now more than 300 special language courses which operate together with partners from diaspora, academics and NGO’s. Two special centers have been also established. It is a pilot project to support, educate and empower migrants.

The Council has been established as an effective mechanism of cooperation. In practice, Russia and partners from CIS have signed bilateral and multilateral agreements and schemes for organized recruitment of foreign labour force which guarantee migrants with rights, competitive salaries, security and other crucial issues.