Immigration
Security
No plans for visa
regime with Ukraine – Russia’s immigration chief
Published
time: December 29, 2014 10:03
Refugees from eastern Ukraine fill a form to get
social benefits at a temporary accommodation centre on December 25, 2014 in
Russia's Rostov region. (AFP Photo/Sergey Venyavsy)Refugs
from eastern Ukraine fill a form to get social benefits at a temporary
acc
There
will be no visa regime for Ukrainians, the head of Russia’s Federal Migration
Service says. However, as of 2015 all previously-introduced migration benefits
for citizens of Ukraine will be canceled.
The
current lenient attitude to immigrants from Ukraine will be replaced by a
normal regime as soon as January 1, Konstantin Romodanovsky stated in an
interview with Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
However,
he emphasized that Russia was not planning “to take the path of complicating
the situation for citizens of a brotherly nation who now find themselves in a
very complicated situation due to an internal conflict.”
Romodanovsky
especially noted that there would be no changes for people who had been forced
to leave Ukraine and cannot return to their homeland for objective reasons.
According
to the Federal Migration Service there are 850,000 such immigrants in Russia at
the moment. Some 40,000 of them have chosen to permanently relocate to the
Russian Federation using the "program of compatriots’ resettlement" –
a set of benefits for ethnic Russians whose ancestors once lived on the
territory of the present Russian state.
Such
people receive residence permits and citizenship through a simplified
procedure, and also monetary aid, help with settlement and jobs.
However,
Romodanovsky promised that for ordinary Ukrainian citizens the rules would
become standard again – they would be able to stay in Russia without a visa or
work permit for 90 days every six months and those who illegally stay in Russia
for over a year would be banned from entry for 10 years.
Romodanovsky
told reporters that the restrictions were just and completely ruled out that
they would negatively affect the Russian economy, which still needs to bolster
its workforce, including migrant workers.
Russia
has the second-highest number of resident migrants in the world, according to a
UN study released in September 2013. The total number of migrants in Russia is
estimated at about 2 million and Russian law enforcers claim that about half of
them live and work in the City of Moscow.
After
radical nationalists enforced the change of power in Ukraine in 2014 and a
military conflict broke out there, up to a million people from this country
arrived in Russia reeking refuge. Most of them have stayed in Russia without
registration, but over 220,000 applied for refugee status and about 200 000
were granted it.
Russian
authorities have altered the rules and laws to help the Ukrainian refugees and
immigrants. In late August, Deputy PM Olga Golodets said in a radio interview
that all Ukrainian refugees of pension age would receive their pensions in
Russia, and all refugees’ children will have the opportunity to study in
Russian schools.
In
mid-august the Presidential Council for Human Rights proposed fast-tracking the
acquisition of Russian citizenship for Ukrainian refugees.
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