Last week, the Duma committee on constitutional legislation and state building recommended that the lower house adopt a government draft of amendments to the Administrative Code, which should strengthen the responsibility of foreign workers and Russian employers for violating migration legislation. “The new system of relations that we are forming today with foreign citizens and stateless persons working in Russia needs administrative and legal protection,” explained the need to change penalty sanctions, committee adviser Alexei Filimonov.
In particular, lawmakers intend to specify violations for which an employer hiring migrant workers should be punished, and establish different fines depending on the “severity” of the offense. For example, for hiring illegal migrants, a fine of 10-25 minimum wages for individuals (500-1,000 minimum wages for legal entities) is proposed; for using foreign labor without permission from the authorities – 10-25 minimum wages (500-3,000 minimum wages); and for failure to notify about the employment of migrant workers – up to 5 minimum wages (100-500 minimum wages). “Moreover, the employer will bear financial responsibility for each illegal worker hired, not for the mere fact of using migrants,” clarified Alexei Filimonov. “If earlier an employer using dozens of illegal workers paid one fine, now, having paid an amount equal to the number of his workers, he will feel the difference.”
Migrant workers, who in the new year will be able to register even by mail, are expected to be punished for providing knowingly false information about themselves to migration authorities with a fine of 15 to 20 minimum wages. Moreover, an attempt by a foreigner to present himself as a tourist rather than someone who came to Russia for work may not end with just a financial penalty. The bill provides that the authorities may resort to extreme measures – that is, deport such an offender from the country.
During the autumn session, Russian parliamentarians intend to clearly spell out the mechanisms of deportation – corresponding amendments to the law “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation” have already been submitted to the State Duma by the Federation Council. According to Alexei Filimonov, adviser to the committee on constitutional legislation and state building of the lower house, they include, among other things, the creation of a system to monitor the independent departure of an illegal migrant from Russia. This will not require keeping the migrant in temporary detention facilities and will be paid for by the employer, the migrant worker himself, or his home state.
The State Duma and the Russian government hope that the strengthening of penalty sanctions against the backdrop of the transition from a permit-based system of migrant registration to a notification-based one should force migrant workers, primarily residents of neighboring countries, to choose legal ways of employment.