…IT IS BETTER IF YOU VISIT US

Today Azerbaijan has turned from a country whose citizens are leaving into a destination for foreign nationals. If we take into account the overall picture of migration flows, it can be concluded that Azerbaijan, like other countries, is visited mostly by migrants from countries of Central and South-East Asia, Turkey and Europe. The main reason is to find a job. A fact that causes no doubt is that labour migration is an area in which most human rights violations take place and where participants in the process are, as a rule, mostly migrants. That is why, given the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 18 December International Migrants Day 12 years ago.

On this day, member states and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations are invited to disseminate information on human rights and fundamental freedoms of migrants and to design actions to ensure their protection.

Protected migrants

International experts agree that when considering labour migration in CIS countries, the situation with the degree of illegal immigration in Azerbaijan does not cause anxiety in comparison with its neighbours. In particular, significant changes were recently made to the country's immigration legislation. From 1 July 2009, in accordance with the Azerbaijani president's decree, the "one stop shop" principle was applied in the management of immigration. Its introduction simplified the procedure for granting foreigners and stateless persons permission to live and work in Azerbaijan and their registration, and ensured transparency in this area. The State Migration Service (SMS) was assigned as a single state agency authorized to manage migration processes. How does it look? After the registration of a foreign citizen who applied to the relevant unit, the SMS issues him with a certificate valid for a certain period of time. This document not only replaces all the others (this does not apply to the passport) that grant the right to live and work on the territory of Azerbaijan, but also expands the powers of the citizen at the border, even if he came to the country with a visa. That is to say previously, if the visa was not a multiple-entry one, he had to apply for another visa when going home (there can be various circumstances) and returning to the country. Since the application of the "one stop shop" principle for foreigners who have new ID cards, exit and return visa have been abolished.

To facilitate the submission of applications to the SMS, the official website of the organization has all the application forms, a list of required documents, and information about the size of the state fee charged for the issuance of permits. Applications from foreigners are now accepted by email. Of course, such processes made it necessary to adapt national legislation to the current situation surrounding the use of international experience. Thus, tightening control over immigration in the country, given the concept of migration policy approved by the head of state in 2004, has become one of the most important tasks. In addition, to strengthen control over immigration, on 6 February 2009, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the establishment of the single migration information system, through which every foreigner and stateless person is monitored from the moment of entry into the country - their location and occupation. This was done, first of all, because in the past seven years, Azerbaijan has turned from a supplier country into a country that receives migrants from other states - thanks to the development of the economy, the oil and gas sector and its other segments.

The SMS press service told R+ that since the establishment of the service, a lot of attention has been paid to the positive experience of the migration work of other states in order to use it at home. "A lot from international experience formed the basis of changes in immigration legislation. In particular, the duration of stay for foreign persons who enter on a visa and without a visa is limited to 90 days. At the same time, all foreigners and stateless persons who enter the country for more than one month shall register with the police within three days. Foreign citizens are given permission to extend their stay and live temporarily (specific cases are defined by the same law) by the SMS for up to one year. This can happen every year, but no more than four times. Foreigners and stateless persons residing in the country legally for at least two years can be granted by the State Migration Service the right of permanent residence for five years or immigrant status. After the five-year period expires, the permission is extended for the same period; the number of extensions if there are legitimate reasons is not limited."

In addition to some relaxation, the same document provides for a significant increase in liability - by 10 times - for breaking the immigration law. This applies both to foreigners living in the country illegally and officials and employers who do not follow the rules. In addition, penalties against those who provide accommodation to foreigners and do not take measures to ensure their timely registration have increased manifold. The amount of the fine in this case is from 300 to 500 manats. Taking into account the changes in the law "On the state duty", the amount of the duty on an individual permit to hire a guest worker has increased to 1000 manats. Until now, the figure was only 45 AZN. According to experts, these and other measures are adequate to the current situation in the country and are designed to protect the labour rights of our citizens, which is why our labour market is protected.

The numbers speak

The SMS says that Azerbaijan is currently a very attractive region economically, and the flow of migrants into the country is growing from year to year. Although the SMS is doing everything necessary to stop illegal immigration and violations of the rules of temporary and permanent residence of foreigners and stateless persons in Azerbaijan, they still have to deport immigrants from the country.

Currently, 13,300 foreign migrant workers, of whom 90.2 per cent are men, have individual social insurance accounts (ISIA) in Azerbaijan.

The following figures speak in favour of the fact that the migration flow in Azerbaijan is increasing: in 2006, more than 1,300 foreigners officially worked in the country, two years later - their number increased by 3.5 times. Foreigners working here are mainly engaged in the oil and construction sectors, and transport.

In general, according to the SMS, there are about 500,000 migrants in Azerbaijan, and they come to the country for various purposes. Among them are people who are married to Azerbaijani citizens, who have close family ties, and students studying in Azerbaijan. Some of the migrants who arrived in Azerbaijan are labour migrants. However, the SMS stresses that this is not to say that there are no unregistered foreign citizens working in Azerbaijan. Evasion of registration may be explained by the fact that after the introduction of the "one stop shop" principle in the country, quotas were established on labour migration in all areas of economic activities based on the needs of the domestic market and the demand for labour force. This was done to ensure that the number of guest workers clearly corresponds to the needs of the national economy - the interests of local citizens should not be infringed in any case. Therefore, despite the large number of foreigners who wish to obtain a permit to work in the country, not everyone gets it.

Azerbaijani migrants

However, it should be noted that Azerbaijan is a country with the largest number of internal migrants. While 97-98 per cent of the world's migrants are citizens of other countries, in Azerbaijan, 70 per cent of migrants are internal migrants, who were forced to change their place of residence within the country following the occupation of their lands by Armenia. More than 90 per cent of migrants in Azerbaijan are Azerbaijanis by nationality. At the same time, we can say that the process of emigration from Azerbaijan has stopped completely.

The geography of migration of Azerbaijanis from their country is rather large. However, the list of countries they prefer has been headed by Russia for centuries. It is followed by Turkey, Ukraine and Kazakhstan with a solid margin... Information about the number of people leaving Azerbaijan for temporary jobs is very diverse and is a matter of dispute between independent analysts and state officials. For example, there is no exact answer to this day to the most pressing question: how many Azerbaijanis are living in the Russian Federation? Some cite the Russian Interior Ministry and argue that there are more than 2 million of them, and a third of them are already Russian citizens, while others believe that their number is 400,000-500,000.

Findings

In general, according to international experts, though Azerbaijan has taken very significant legislative initiatives in the field of migration in recent years, this does not mean that in the following, for example, seven years, they should not change. International migration is a sphere that is constantly changing. Consequently, the laws that regulate it must be flexible and responsive to any change in the situation. Special attention should be paid to the fight against trafficking. At the same time, it is worth considering that labour migration can give a lot of positive effects that can work for the benefit of economic and social development in Azerbaijan, taking into account the remittances that migrants, including Azerbaijanis working abroad send to the country. This is a big help for the country and its budget. At the same time, Azerbaijan should establish a clearer mechanism for the coordination of all agencies involved in migration in collecting statistical data. Based on specific facts and figures, it will be much easier for the government to decide on the further development and improvement of migration policy.

Experts have a rather ambiguous attitude to the decision of the Azerbaijani government to increase the size of the state duty for individual work permits for migrant workers to 1,000 manats, for in this matter it would be useful, among other factors, to take into account the category of migrant workers. If a foreign migrant worker comes to Azerbaijan to work in a very large company that is engaged in a wide range of activities here and can afford to pay that amount, then it's fine. But if it is a small or medium-sized business, for which the rate is high, it can cause the migrants to go into hiding to avoid problems. And it will be bad for the employer, because he will have to pay quite a large fine for hiring migrant workers without a permit, and for the employee himself. The latter is threatened with violations of labour rights - long working hours, low wages, etc. Of course, the state will suffer as well. On the one hand, it is the presence of illegal migrant workers and on the other - the lack of income for the state budget. Therefore, many countries take a differentiated approach in addressing these issues. They take into account the level of a migrant worker's wages, the position of the company where he works, the level of the specialist and other factors. It is also possible that increasing the state duty will have a positive effect, as companies will think whether they should look for workers on the local market or bring them from abroad.