According to the plan of the authors of the state program, approved at the highest level, 300 thousand people were to return to Russia. But in reality, only a few families have moved to the country so far, settling in the Kaliningrad region.
At first glance, migration processes in the Krasnoyarsk Territory are very active. Thus, according to the territorial body of the Federal Statistics Service, in 2006 the region's population continued to decline. The number of leavers exceeded the number of arrivals by 4 thousand people. The largest number of Krasnoyarsk residents were received by Siberian regions: 9.9 thousand people. According to plans, from 2007 to 2009, 10 thousand people will come to the region from abroad. 17 municipalities are ready to receive them. The regional agency for labor and employment has so far received 153 calls and 75 letters from those wishing to move to the Krasnoyarsk Territory for permanent residence. Most often, citizens of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine apply.
The number of applications is growing. But so far, the only thing they can be helped with is to mail a letter describing the state program and the conditions for participation. 'Foreign citizens will not be able to begin resettlement until the local deputy corps approves a specific mechanism for its implementation,' say the regional office of the Federal Migration Service. 'There is potential interest. But so far we cannot even inform people how exactly the program will be implemented, what benefits and payments are provided. The main problem remains unsolved - housing.'
The regional legislative assembly believes that before approving the resettlement procedure, everything must be calculated clearly. 'Who are the "homeless"?' asks the deputy chairman of the legislative assembly, head of the committee on social policy Anatoly Romashov. 'In many cases, they are the same former compatriots who were forced to flee from other republics. In my practice, there have been cases where people asked me to help them obtain or establish citizenship. I carried on correspondence with the police for a year! Now imagine, a person comes to us from abroad. What status will he have before he receives a residence permit?' According to Romashov, the deputy corps is now actively working with lawyers to prevent such problems. 'I find it difficult to say when the program will actually start working in the region,' the deputy chairman cut short.
As for work and housing, everything looks quite dire here. So, officially, the Krasnoyarsk Territory is ready to provide compatriots with 861(!) jobs. Only a small part of the arrivals can count on housing: municipalities are able to allocate 63 apartments and 80 places in dormitories. The rest will be helped by mortgages, the regional administration believes.
But according to experts, these are just good wishes of the authorities. No one yet knows how it will all look in practice. Banks will not give loans to just anyone out of a sense of patriotism (and a yesterday's resident, for example, of the same Kazakhstan will have exactly such a 'rating' in the eyes of bankers). There is no housing, renting it is also difficult - a lot of time will pass from the moment of arrival until obtaining registration. Many employers are prejudiced against citizens 'without a residence registration'. And the very status of a resettler is still unclear. And so far it turns out that participation in the program actually gives resettlers no 'bonuses'. And if they firmly want to return to their historical homeland, they will have to rely only on themselves.
Yevgeny BURDUKOVSKY.
Expert