The times are gone when people knew nothing about life abroad, imagined it as an earthly paradise, were ready to drop everything and, with a toothbrush in their pocket, rush off to Western bliss. Everyone has already read and heard a lot about another life. And they have managed to see the most varied, sometimes quite difficult – including not very successful and simply dramatic – ways of entering unfamiliar societies. They realized that even in rich countries the land does not flow with milk and honey for everyone, and that even powerful states are not always able to ensure the safety of their citizens. In short, they understood that one hundred percent guarantees, as everyone's favorite hero used to say, are provided only by an insurance policy. Having realized all this, people have become more discerning, more cautious, and more thoughtful when aiming at immigration. Now they prefer not to slam the door on their old life and to enter the new one as gradually as possible, having first arranged everything there for themselves.
Client ready
People go abroad to study, then find a job, over time receive permanent residence status, and five years later – citizenship. Some start this cycle right with work, and others – with starting their own business. Moreover, the latter are becoming more numerous every year. This category of, so to speak, step-by-step immigrants acts legally. They enter Western countries on legal grounds – on student, work, or business visas. And only later do they change their status. Illegal immigrants – and there are many of them – travel ostensibly as guests or on tourist trips, and once there, go underground. Without a work permit, they still find jobs, usually working "for cash" on construction sites or helping someone around the house. Some manage to legalize themselves sooner or later – they are helped by periodically announced amnesties for illegal immigrants in various countries; or an employer is found who is willing to hire them legally, acting as an employment guarantor; or they are lucky enough to meet a life partner from among the locals; or an opportunity to go study comes up. The list could go on. Many achieve none of this, and they remain for decades in a precarious legal status. And if they are really unlucky – they get caught and deported.
Let us single out into a separate category those clients of immigration firms who do not intend to go anywhere at all. They want, while staying at home, to obtain the right to freedom of movement – to acquire a passport that allows them to cross the borders of Western states without any visas.
As a result of the fact that people today prefer precisely step-by-step immigration (though some might want to cut all ties and immediately obtain a residence permit, but do not have such an opportunity), our OVIRs have recently been recording a decrease in the number of people leaving for permanent residence. If in the early 1990s the main share of emigrants consisted of repatriates – Jews to Israel, Germans to Germany, Greeks to Greece, Finns to Finland, Spaniards to Spain – as well as refugees (that is, those whom the host countries considered as such), then over the years the source of repatriation has noticeably dried up, and the world no longer recognizes people from the democratic Russia and Ukraine as refugees. The exception is a very limited contingent: Jews are accepted by the United States and Germany, and Evangelical Christians only by the United States. Moreover, over the years, the few countries that have immigration programs have significantly tightened their requirements for applicants. And, on the contrary, some countries, including Argentina, where a deep economic crisis erupted, have lost their attractiveness.
There is one more important circumstance that strongly affects immigration flows from our country. This is not so much the standard of living in the country, but the level of stability of that life. The 1998 default is already forgotten by many. Yet the shock was so great that it caused a real explosion of immigration activity. People rushed headlong wherever their eyes looked, and at the start of this run they enriched the immigration fly-by-night firms that were springing up like mushrooms after rain.
That was when immigration advertising blossomed.
Offers poured in, each more incredible than the next. Immigration to the USA in five days. A passport of a world citizen for a very moderate fee. Immigration to Switzerland with a one-hundred-percent guarantee. And so on. The record-holder countries in terms of frequency of mention in advertisements were Australia, Argentina, Canada, New Zealand, and the Czech Republic. They were followed, by a large margin, by a wide variety of places, including such exotic ones that only geographers and philatelists had heard of.
As recently as the beginning of 2001, there were more than 200 immigration firms in Moscow alone. But gradually this bubble deflated, and now, according to experts, barely more than three dozen remain. It is not possible to establish the exact number: immigration firms, unlike travel and educational agencies, as well as employment agencies, are not required to license their activities. That is, not only does no one know how many firms are engaged in organizing the immigration of our compatriots, but no state institution has any idea how it is done in practice. The activities of these firms are not regulated by any provisions, are not controlled by any agencies, and therefore it is extremely difficult to make any claims against them. In cases of blatant fraud, of which there were many during the heyday of this industry, deceived clients sometimes managed to enlist the help of law enforcement agencies, but, as a rule, the charlatans succeeded in slipping away.
The recent cases of immigration firms "self-closing" without warning clients coincided with the entry into force of Canada's new immigration law. Moreover, veteran firms disappeared from the market, which over a number of years of work had given no cause for suspicion.
Promises are the engine of advertising
So even today, when it seems that only reliable firms remain on the market, one should not completely relax.
Although after all that has been said above, a question may arise - why are these firms needed at all? Why can't a future emigrant manage on his own?
Strictly speaking, he can. After all, all types of legal immigration are regulated by laws and instructions. Suppose a person wanted to move to the Czech Republic. He took the matter seriously, studied the country's laws and realized: he needs to register his own company in the Czech Republic, this will become the basis for obtaining a temporary residence permit, then he can become a director of his company and purchase real estate in the company's name. The person understood all this and began to act. First, he bought a tourist package to Prague and went on a reconnaissance trip. He liked the city, even picked out a district where it would be very nice to settle.
And what next? To register a company, it is not enough to know the laws; you also need to be able to draw up documents correctly in Czech and submit them to the appropriate official, while answering a series of questions... Especially if the company is being registered in an unfamiliar space, where a foreign language is spoken, where there is its own style of doing business, its own rules. Of course, if a businessman has been doing business with the Czech Republic for a long time, he has acquaintances there who will help him competently cope with this task. And if he is there for the first time and doesn't know a single soul? You could, of course, study the local newspapers to find a reliable local lawyer. Or you could find such a specialist right here, that is, a firm that has a representative office in the Czech Republic and provides such services.
This path of immigration - through opening one's own company - has been trodden to other countries of the world as well. Recently, more and more people are taking this path. The choice of country, of course, depends on the preferences of the business immigrant and on his financial capabilities: the costs of opening a company in different countries differ by several times. But in all cases, one has to resort to the help of specialists.
Let us consider another path. Immigration to the United States under the program for outstanding figures in science, culture, and sports. Here, too, everything is formalized: it is described in detail what achievements the applicant must demonstrate, how these achievements should be confirmed, which diplomas, certificates, and publications to attach to the application. But the same fact can be presented in different ways: favorably, convincingly, or dully, inexpressively. Moreover, what seems convincing to us may seem highly dubious to an American. So even in this seemingly sure-win case, the services of an 'interpreter' or 'translator' can be very useful. Not to mention controversial cases or cases of refusals. A lawyer who takes on the case seeks its review, even going to court. To an American court, where an amateur has absolutely no business. Of course, you can hire a specialist after receiving a refusal. But what if his participation from the very beginning would have made it possible to avoid the refusal?
The same can be said about immigration programs for qualified professionals to Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. It is clear that the most wonderful lawyer will not replace your knowledge of English, the requirements for which are increasing at a dizzying rate. But even someone who knows the language must properly prepare all documents, gather confirmation of their qualification in a profession that is in demand in the country of immigration. We are not talking about forgeries and deceptions: one should flee without looking back from a firm offering such routes. But it happens, for example, that the same qualification is applicable in different fields of science and industry, and this can be used when submitting an immigration application...
Repatriates also use the services of immigration firms, although they supposedly should not have any problems obtaining an immigration visa. Most of them indeed do not. But sometimes a person has lost the key to repatriation: his parents or even grandparents, adapting to Soviet life, 'corrected' their documents and got rid of records of their 'non-prestigious' Jewish or, say, German origin. And now children or grandchildren have to retrace the path and find convincing evidence of their nationality. We know of cases where this could only be done in court with the involvement of genealogist experts.
Those who have left and successfully settled in a new place sometimes also return to their assistants - immigration consultants. This usually happens when they decide to invite their parents to come and live with them permanently. Family reunification is the most indisputable basis for immigration to countries that have such a program. So an immigration visa under this program can be obtained independently. But if caring children want to spare their parents unnecessary hassle and can afford to spend a few hundred dollars on this, they too turn to immigration firms. This is all the more justified when the parents do not live in the capital and obtaining the exit documents requires exhausting trips to another city.
Yes, it seems that one should resort to the services of immigration firms. By what principle should one choose them? What kinds of immigration firms are there in general, and how do they differ from one another?
All immigration firms can be divided into two groups: narrow specialists who concentrate their efforts on one country, and generalists who are ready to fulfill any client's wishes.
Theoretically, one can imagine that some very large firm has partnerships with law firms in many countries and is ready to work to order: a client wishes to move to Switzerland - they pick up the phone, call their partner in Geneva, and the process is underway. But then the local firm's staff must also be sizable. After all, before calling the partner, you still need to make sure that the client is yours. And to get a client, you need the help and advice of a lawyer - you need to answer thousands of questions about both the immigration process itself and life in the new country. On the other hand, a firm needs a constant flow of clients to survive. Therefore, they are forced to extend their activities to a group of countries. The client also gets some benefit from this: the choice offered allows them to compare the offer with their own capabilities and wishes. Say, I want to move to Europe. I don't have much money, not enough to open a firm and promote it in the UK, France, or Germany. But Hungary, Bulgaria, or the Czech Republic I can afford. But I'll never master Hungarian. I'm not drawn to Bulgaria; even in Soviet times it wasn't considered abroad. The Czech Republic is a different matter; besides, it was about to join the EU. So I need to hurry, or it too will become more expensive. Only a firm that is a jack-of-all-trades can give you information on such a wide range of countries. But all things in moderation. An ad like "We specialize in immigration to all countries of the world" can be left unread.
But how can you gauge this moderation?
The list of countries for which a firm takes on immigration cases is quite indicative. Say, it is completely justified if a firm handles immigration to Australia and New Zealand. The immigration laws of these countries are similar - if Australia tightens its immigration rules today, then in six months to a year New Zealand will follow suit, and vice versa; moreover, there are bilateral agreements between the countries that allow residents of one country to work in the other. Both speak the same language, meaning that applicants for immigration to these countries take the same exam. Including Canada in this list is not absurd either: it also accepts qualified professionals with knowledge of English or French. The firm's consultants evaluate an applicant's chances according to the criteria of each of the three countries, take into account the duration of the immigration process in these countries, as well as the client's wishes, and choose the most realistic of the three options.
It is another matter if a firm helps with immigration to both Canada and the Czech Republic. From the point of view of immigration, these countries are similar in only one respect: there is a relatively large demand for them. Or the pair Canada - United States. Only by looking at a geographical map would one think these are related concepts. In reality, their immigration laws differ significantly. Even when it comes to the same category of immigrants. Say, a qualified specialist entering the country: the United States accepts them on a work visa valid for a limited time, and additional effort and luck are required to turn a 'temporary' into permanent residence, while Canada immediately grants such a specialist the desired status. Though in fairness it must be said: American lawyers do work on the domestic market who, specializing mainly in immigration to the United States, take on, as an exception, disputed cases concerning both of these countries. They take them on and handle them competently.
On the Benefits of Careful Reading
So, we began choosing a firm by looking at advertisements. The first thing to pay attention to is the list of countries for which this firm handles immigration. After selecting a few candidates, we read on.
The name of the firm contains practically no information. What is really important, and we have already noted this, is that an immigration firm should have partners or its own branches in the country of immigration - or itself be a representative office of some Western firm. However, it is wrong to assume that this fact must necessarily be reflected in the name of an immigration office. Say, if the name of a lawyer written in English appears in the firm's name, it does not at all mean that this firm is more qualified and authoritative than one that also bears the name of its American founder but writes it in Russian. Therefore, when choosing a firm, one should abstract from these foreign lures.
However, a firm must necessarily have a name. Private ads like "Immigration to Canada, phone:..." cannot inspire trust.
Today, when we live surrounded by advertising, it is unnecessary to say that one should not swallow the lofty epithets characterizing the qualifications of a firm's employees and depicting their outstanding talents and abilities. No one has ever compiled ratings of immigration firms, so no one can know who is more experienced and skillful.
But you must pay very close attention to the details - phone, fax, address. If instead of all those contact attributes the ad only gives an email address, our advice: do not contact this firm. After all, you are not buying a refrigerator or even a car. There are so many questions to ask before making a decision. And it is better to hear the answers while looking the consultant in the eye. And what kind of firm is it that doesn't even have its own office? Today they will give you a consultation by email, and tomorrow they will ask you to transfer money for their services to goodness knows where.
Listing a telephone and fax number in America, Australia, or Germany can undoubtedly impress. But you should, armed with a telephone directory, use the area code to find out where the firm is located - in a big city or in a remote village. At one time, people from all over the world hoping to win the American Green Card fell for this bait. In far-off 1999, the "very respectable" firm National Visa Service Center - NVSC - offered a win-win participation option in the DV-2000 lottery. Fortunately, skeptics were found among the hopefuls. And they discovered that at the specified address there is and cannot be any self-respecting law office. Just as there is no outstanding lawyer Michael Clayton in these parts, and this phone number is not his at all.
Since we have recalled that story, it is appropriate to note that any promise of a win-win lottery is a one hundred percent signal: a lie.
Conclusion in the next issue