The global economic crisis has turned many foreigners living in Moscow into illegal immigrants
The current global economic crisis has affected the populations of many cities, including Muscovites. Both residents of the Russian capital and its guests who came to work from other countries have felt this crisis impact. For them, it has become much harder to find employment and not easy to keep a job. Nevertheless, about a third of foreign migrants continue to remain in the capital of Russia, hoping for the best.
According to the Moscow FMS department, mostly foreigners who worked in construction lost their jobs. After all, most construction projects were shut down during the global economic crisis, and the rest were completed. Some of the foreigners who lost their jobs mainly hope that the Russian capital will offer them other vacancies and are looking for them, while others have completely given up and do nothing.
It is worth noting that many of them have lost both the opportunity to earn money and legal residence. After all, the capital of Russia is a city where renting an apartment requires considerable funds, and to have that, one must get a job with a good salary. Therefore, foreigners who have lost their jobs and legal housing in Moscow sometimes resort to unlawful actions. For example, some of them live at train stations. Others find work with a construction company and settle in its non-residential premises. Moreover, many of these people, who are illegally on the territory of the Russian capital, sleep right on construction sites.
Therefore, the Moscow FMS department cooperates with precinct police officers. After all, many ordinary Muscovites call the relevant hotlines of the Internal Affairs Directorate of Russia, reporting cases of illegal residence of foreigners. Precinct police officers, responding to such calls, conduct raids, including joint raids with employees of the capital's FMS department. There is another ally of these services – Moscow homeowners' associations (HOA). The Moscow FMS cooperates with more than two and a half thousand capital HOAs, which significantly increases the detection rates of illegal stay of foreign citizens in the capital of Russia. It is also worth noting that ordinary Muscovites easily find the phone numbers of the above-mentioned capital organizations.
Summarizing the above, in the Russian capital today it is very difficult for foreign citizens to get a good job and find decent accommodation without having substantial sums of money in their pockets. After all, the global economic crisis has made Moscow unattractive for foreigners seeking work and legal housing.