Tightening Russia’s migration laws has caused a real panic in Armenia. The reason is that from January 1 onwards, the citizens of the states having the right to leave for Russia without an entry visa can stay in the territory of given country for 90 days, in every 180 days, and, therefore, during the three months stay in RF, the migrant has to obtain an employment contract, or, the so-called, a patent to work in Russia.
Note that at present about 220 million people is facing a serious problem due to tightening of Russian immigration laws. In particular, “Entry of over 50 thousand people to Russia in the next three to five years is blocked. Another 170 thousand people, being in Russia and breaking the Russian migration law have appeared in the core attention by some agencies. They are mainly labor migrant”. http.//www.aravot.am/2014/03/03/436685/
However, it is controversy that, on the one hand, the authorities are talking about the intention of reducing the volumes of migration, on the other hand, they do not take the opportunity of tightening of the legislation to reduce the volume of migration. Demographer Ruben Yeghanyan views this matter from another aspect. “Let us not forget that we are dealing with two different phenomena, which are mixed with each other. Permanent migration when a person is constantly leaving the country, and the labor migration phenomenon are different matters. Now we are talking about the labor migration, rather than about the people who want to live permanently in Russia.”
According to Mr. Yeganyan, that fact that we the volumes of permanent migration in our country did not greatly increase, it is due to the result of the labor migration phenomenon. He explained, “The person is earning outdoors, and keeping his family. If this 220 thousand people fail to do this, they will be thinking about emigration. A part of them will think to sell the house, make some money, and try to permanently settle in Europe.”
The painter Haghtanak Shahumyan has the impression that going to abroad is encouraged in Armenia. On this occasion, he told the following incident, “I have acquaintances in Russia, who had committed various violations, but now they are forced to solve the issues associated with Russian citizenship, rather than going back to Armenia.”
Developing this logic that the “the interests of the political elite and the people in Armenia are diametrically opposite,” the artist said, “The children of our political elite and government officials are studying and working abroad. There is a tendency to encourage going out. This is a problem that is not only the task of the government or other parties, but the national security.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
