Monday, May 14, 2007. Issue 3655. Page 6.
Amnesty for Immigrants Is Rejected
By Tai Adelaja
Staff Writer
The Federal Migration Service has rejected a proposal to grant an amnesty to immigrants working illegally in the country, the service's deputy head said Friday.

Vyacheslav Postavnin told a news conference that the new regulations in force since January would help immigrants legalize their status.

"We have decided on a different measure -- giving legal status to immigrants through the law," Postavnin said, Interfax reported. Experience in other countries show that "no single measure is capable of solving the problems of illegal immigration," he said.

Boris Titov, head of the Delovaya Rossia business lobby, had called at the same news conference for some migrant workers who could not get work permits to be granted an amnesty.

Titov said Russian businesses would like to see the regulations relaxed for immigrants already here, and suggested that centers could be set up in those countries that supply migrant workers to help them prepare for working in Russia. Such centers, he said, should educate immigrants on migration laws and medical and language requirements.

Titov said that of 5 million migrant workers in the country, only 1 million were working legally, Interfax reported.

Postavnin said that more than 2 million foreign citizens had registered at migration offices in the last four months and that more than 750,000 had received work permits in the same period.

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