No earnings – no labor migrants
The other day, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced a punitive operation against Ukrainian labor migrants. Starting January 1, 2015, he said, “gray” Ukrainian workers without a special patent “will not get jobs.” “We will also be stricter about compliance with the terms of stay in our country – 90 days within six months. Previously, it was enough to leave Russia and then re-enter to work here for the next three months without problems. Now our border guards will pay increased attention to such Ukrainian travelers without a work patent,” he promised.
To reinforce the impression of the threats, Medvedev turned to figures. According to the Russian prime minister's calculations, only highly qualified specialists from Ukraine and those working with official work permits or patents amount to nearly 400,000 people. Unofficially, there are several times more (up to 6 million people). In fact, according to Dmitry Medvedev, after the New Year, several million Ukrainians will be left without work, which would bring Ukraine, by his estimates, $11-13 billion in financial losses. Moreover, neither Ukraine nor the EU, according to the head of the Russian government, are rushing to solve the employment problem for these people. “After all, for many Ukrainians, work in Russia is their only source of livelihood,” he lamented.
Labor migrants – impossible to count
Indeed, the Russian Federation, along with Poland, Italy, and the Czech Republic, is the largest labor market for Ukrainians who find work abroad. And the choice of Russia in this capacity is due to objective factors: proximity of the border, absence of language problems and visa difficulties. But, to be fair, the Russian prime minister's numbers and facts did not add up.
Firstly, because according to the Federal Migration Service (FMS) statistics, in the past year of 2013, there were about 1.34 million labor migrants from Ukraine in the Russian Federation. Moreover, according to FMS head Konstantin Romodanovsky, more than a million of them were working without documents. This year, the FMS gives different figures – official data says there are about 2.5 million labor migrants from Ukraine (total labor migrants in Russia – over 11 million).
In this regard, the tripling of the number of workers from Ukraine this year, according to Dmitry Medvedev, can be explained by only three factors. Either the head of the Russian government counted all labor migrants, passing them off as Ukrainians, or he added Ukrainian refugees to the labor migrants (although, even according to the most fantastical FMS estimates, there are about a million of them, with official status – several thousand). Or he voiced data from the World Bank, according to which approximately 6.5 million Ukrainians work abroad (but not only in Russia).
Secondly, even if we assume (since it is indeed very difficult to count the exact number of illegal immigrants) that there are several million Ukrainian labor migrants in Russia, most of them are seasonal workers (and Medvedev acknowledges this). Who, unlike, for example, former Ukrainian officials led by ex-President Yanukovych, very rarely violate the requirements of the FMS of the Russian Federation regarding the terms of stay for citizens of other countries on Russian territory. Otherwise, after deportation, crossing the Russian-Ukrainian border even for illegal employment would be very problematic.
Russia's prime minister does not know his country's laws
Thirdly, and this is perhaps the main point, before reporting such “shocking” news to labor migrants from Ukraine, Dmitry Medvedev should have studied Russian legislation more carefully. As is known, since July 2010, for official employment in Russia, a foreigner must obtain a patent as a work permit. The cheapest patent costs from 1,000 rubles per month. But whereas previously such a document only allowed employment with individuals, from January 1, 2015, this permission will also apply to legal entities.
Simply put, if before 2015 a labor migrant had the right to legally work as a nanny or builder for a private person, then from 2015 it will be possible to look for work at a factory or a law firm. The only exceptions might be state structures.
Thus, after paying for the patent, one can work for up to one year. Moreover, after this period, the work permit can be extended for another year. In fact, according to Sergei Temryakovich, head of the department for organizing work with foreign citizens of the FMS of the Russian Federation, on the basis of such a patent, a labor migrant can legally stay in Russia for two years without leaving.
If you look into it, in fact, the employment system for foreigners in Russia is not tightening, but, on the contrary, is simplifying, Ukrainian labor migrants in Russia believe. Especially considering that since August, quotas for Ukrainians have also been canceled by a Russian government decree. That is, until the end of this year, anyone from Ukraine (regardless of place of registration in Ukraine) can freely find employment in any region of Russia.
Another matter is that Russians sometimes prefer not to comply with the requirements of their own legislation regarding Ukrainians. “For example, in the spring of this year, there was a case when our citizen was removed from a train and not allowed into the Russian Federation. Moreover, she was banned from entering Russia for three years, despite the fact that she worked there legally, had a permit and all necessary documents,” said lawyer Vladimir Misechko. According to him, now the Ukrainian woman is trying to challenge this decision of the Russian border guards in court. True, so far without success.
However, the lawyer is confident that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) should have its say in such matters. "For example, in 2008, the ECHR found that Russia, during the anti-Georgian campaign, violated a number of articles of the European Convention. And obliged it to pay monetary compensation to Georgian citizens who were deported from Russia at that time," he noted.
Blow to Russian employers
It is also worth noting that by threatening to tighten employment rules for Ukrainians, Dmitry Medvedev is doing a disservice, first of all, to Russian employers. The fact is that the latter willingly hire Ukrainians rather than people from Central Asia, who may not know Russian and often lack the necessary qualifications. "Normal people come from Ukraine who want, and most importantly, know how to work," Russian employers explain.
Roman Kuritnyk, a man from Lviv who returned from Russia in the fall of this year, where he worked as a builder, says that this is indeed the case: "Despite the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, my employer wanted to work exclusively with Ukrainians." However, according to him, Ukrainian labor migrants in the construction sector are now not particularly eager to find work in Russia. And the reason is not at all in the tightening of rules for migrant workers, but rather in the deplorable state of the Russian economy and the instability of the ruble. "On average, if you calculate, we were paid about 5 thousand hryvnias per month. Given that from these funds you also need to deduct money for travel and food, this is not enough. I returned to Ukraine because I can earn such money at home," the man said.
In addition, Ukrainian labor migrants often complain that Russian employers promise them one salary, but as a result, deduct some fines and hand out a completely different amount.
As for the Russian prime minister's fears about rising unemployment in Ukraine due to the return of migrant workers to their homeland, we note that after the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU, Ukrainians have become much more interested in the possibility of working in Europe. Yes, the Association Agreement does not assume free migration of labor. Nevertheless, Ukrainians get the opportunity to work as "independent specialists or representatives of Ukrainian companies that can open their branches in the EU and provide 18 types of services there." In other words, despite the fact that the problem of visas and permits still exists, there will be fewer reasons to refuse Ukrainians employment.
The reason for labor migration is not so much unemployment at home as the opportunity to earn more than what is paid in one's own country. Given that the "Russian economic miracle" ended along with high oil prices, Ukrainians will soon have nothing to do in Russia – where there is no income, there are no migrant workers.
Olga KARETNIKOVA-KOTYAGINA,
Tatyana URBANSKAYA.