Timeframe: January - December 2016

The project was devoted to the migration legislation in Russia. To what extent does real impact of the regulations in the sphere of migration correspond with the expectations of the legislators? How does introduction of specific laws change life of migrants and society in general? These questions laid ground for the research which focused on examining two cases. The first one is the federal law 74-FZ according to which migrants applying for a patent to be able to legally work in Russia were required to pass an exam in the Russian language, history and laws. The second one is the draft of the law on social adaptation and integration of migrants which introduces these categories into the legal field and suggests solving this task via organizing a network of special adaptation centers all around Russia. The research was conducted in the framework of mixed-methods methodology: multilingual survey (N=2412) aws combined with a qualitative study in three regions: Orenburg oblast, Tambov oblast and Moscow. In general, regarding the language case, the research shows that the federal law 74-FZ contributes neither to migrant integration nor to “filtering” migrants according to their Russian language level but to decreasing migration flow and redistribution of resources from migrants and employers to the educational institutions and the state. Regarding the adaptation centers case, it can be concluded that there are limited opportunities for migrant integration in the adaptation centers and the performance depends on the system of motivation for studying but the existing models of integration and adaptation - described in the draft law and being tested in the pilot adaptation centers do not pay attention to the important domain of social integration, namely interaction of migrants and non-migrants.

* The project has been completed in RANEPA with the financial support of the government of the Russian Federation.

Publications:

1. Ivanova, N., Varshaver, E. (2018). Peculiarities of the Legal Status of Labor Migrants from the EAEU and other CIS Member States in Russia: a Comparative Analysis (Beginning). Migration Law, (3), 3-8. [in Russian]
2. Ivanova, N., Varshaver, E. (2018). Peculiarities of the Legal Status of Labor Migrants from the EAEU and other CIS Member States in Russia: a Comparative Analysis (Final Part). Migration Law, (4), 9-16. [in Russian]
3. Varshaver, E., Rocheva, A. (2016). Migrant Integration: What it is and What Role Does The State Play in its Implementation?. The Journal of Social Policy Studies, 14(3), 315-330. [in Russian]
4. Varshaver, E., Rocheva, A., Ivanova, N. (2017). Information Behavior of Migrants from Central Asia under Changes in the Russian Migration Legislation. The Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes Journal, (1), 182-195. [in Russian]