Stumbling quota: how, what kind of people "to take in Tomsk residents"

TOMSK, Mar 1– RIA Tomsk. The formation of a quota for a temporary residence permit (TRP, or "RVP") obtaining for 2020 will start from March 1. It is unlikely to exceed previous one - 800 people, but the principle of selection can change: the region will determine by name which foreign citizen get a stamp, and students will be in priority. In more detail - in our material.

Thrifty migrants

A temporary residence permit - is a stamp in the passport that has been valid for three years, which gives a foreign citizen quite broad rights - from the possibility of registering an self-employed entrepreneur to getting free medical care. But the main function of the temporary residence permit - is to obtain a residence permit in Russia.

For the second year, the number of quotas required for the Tomsk Region is determined by a specially created commission under the regional administration. From March 1, it will begin forming quotas for 2020, after which the decision will be considered at the federal level.

"The quota is determined on the basis of the state of the labor market, demography, ecology, sanitary and epidemiological well-being, immigration processes, and so on. Respectively, the commission includes representatives of departments that deal with these issues in any way", - the deputy chairman of the commission, the chairman of regional committee of public safety Vladimir Mysin explains.

In 2017 and 2018, 1000 temporary residence permits were issued for quotas in the Tomsk region, in 2019 - 800. Now a stamp is put to everyone who managed to get into the quota (that is, who had enough coupons) and formally meets the requirements (no criminal record, and so on).

At the same time, the law allows to give permissions over and above established standards (individually), therefore, in fact, in 2018 more than 2 thousand people received them.

In 2020, the number of quotas is unlikely to change much. One of the reasons is - that the authorities understand that for the majority of migrants, permissions is a way to save, not to gain a foothold in the country. Thus, analyzing the statistics of past years, officials drew attention to one fact: citizens who had previously been given temporary residence permit constantly violate the established rules (for example, by registration at the place of residence).

"In 2016, there were 904 such people, in 2017 - 739. Only those who aspire to become citizens of Russia do not violate. According to our data, there are no more than 30%. In fact, out of 3,499 foreigners who received permit under the quota in recent years, only 1147 decided to get a residence permit and another 45 - citizenship of the Russian Federation. That is, most of them just do not want to pay for a labor patent", - emphasizes Mysin.

According to him, last year many undergraduate and graduate students addressed the administration, who did not have enough quotas. They were made advances, applying for everyone personally in the migration service. At the same time, says Mysin, the real opportunities and the desire to gain a foothold in the region were taken into account, because it is not necessary for students to receive temporary residence permit at the established quotas.

Consensus with universities

The head of the department for migration affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Tomsk region Nikolay Lezhnin in a conversation with RIA Tomsk confirmed that last year students made requests "to normalize the temporary residence permit issuance system". They can be understood: standing in the same queue with strong men, accustomed to hard physical work, they had little chance to get into the front ranks and have time to get a ticket for the delivery of documents until the quota is exhausted ...

Representatives of universities is outraged by this situation. Thus, Artyom Rykun, the Vice-Rector for International Affairs of Tomsk State University (TSU), emphasizes that countries that are actively engaged in educational exports use citizenship obtaining to attract qualified personnel:

"As a rule, the presence of higher education, demanded specialty - is an additional argument to give citizenship. But for those who apply for the Russian temporary residence permit and subsequently for citizenship (and there are many such students), a university diploma does not give privileges, all go in accordance with general practice - and migrant workers who do not have the qualifications, and excellent students".

During the year, at the initiative of the regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Council of Rectors of Tomsk Region universities and all the parties involved, including the diaspora, repeatedly met and looked for a solution. As a result, on January 9, 2019, the reception of documents took place not only in the migration center on the Irkutsk trakt, but also in Tomsk universities.

Universities, in turn, made lists of students in advance who, in their opinion, deserved to receive temporary residence permit, who were invited in day X.

For example, as the Vice-Rector for External Affairs Liliya Kiryanova of Tomsk Polytechnic University told RIA Tomsk, preference in TPU was given, first of all, to graduate students — that is, young foreign scientists, and secondly to undergraduates who are active in research, thirdly, to bachelors of senior courses, intended to continue learning. That is, to all those who are planning to link the coming years of their lives with Tomsk.

Qualitative selection

As the deputy governor for territorial development Anatoly Rozhkov told reporters, in 2019 more than 50% of quotas (over 400) were received by students. He stressed that the Tomsk region bears considerable expenses on foreigners with temporary residence permit, for example, for health care and other social guarantees, which are financed from the budget. Therefore, it is logical to spend money on those who intelligently want to stay in Russia:

"There are foreign citizens who are outraged (by a small number of quotas). Of course, it is more profitable for them to get a quota for temporary residence permit, and not a labor patent for which expenses must be borne (the number of labor patents is determined by the regional department of labor and employment. - Ed.). But it's not the fact that they will remain in the region and will form our budget for the revenue side. We are interested in attracting those foreign citizens who will bring benefit to the state".

“The Tomsk region is ready to accept those who really want to live and work here. First of all, of course, we are interested in law-abiding people with a profession and education. This is especially true for young people”, - adds Vladimir Mysin.

They may be selected perhaps by name: the State Duma is considering a draft law “On Amendments to Article 6 of the Federal Law "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation". "The quota is a quantitative indicator and does not affect the qualitative composition of migrants. The quota distribution mechanism is absent, which is associated with high corruption risks and leads to the activation of diasporas and intermediaries <...>", - is said in the explanatory note.

This will be done by such commissions, which, on its own initiative, has already been created under the administration of the Tomsk region. It is assumed that the changes will take effect on January 1, 2020.