Better at home: migrants — why they no longer want to live in Russia

Since January 1, 2015, the procedure for attracting foreign labor has changed in Russia and the quota system has been abolished. Now, foreign citizens from visa-free CIS countries (for example, Ukrainians, Tajiks and Uzbeks) must get an expensive patent instead of a work permit, and then renew it every month. This circumstance — as well as the sharp fall in the ruble exchange rate against the dollar — led to the mass departure of foreign workers to their homeland. The Village asked former Moscow migrants about their future fate.

(5 photos in total)

1. Anonymous.

I overheard what they tell you about working at home. There is no work at all in Tajikistan, don't believe anyone. And do you think it's just you that everything has gone up in price? The whole country is under threat of famine there. Corruption is terrible, and everything is done through relatives. Only the rulers live well, and the rest are all poor. Everything is going the way they want. We have already learned: give money — and mind your own business. Already in order to send a student to the first grade, teachers are given money. There is no such thing anywhere.

Here I worked at a construction site. In one month he could get 40 thousand, in another — 20, and in the third — nothing. In December, I made a permit, and a month later I need to receive new documents. Why couldn't I have been warned in advance?

2. Sanjar. 35 years old, security guard

I'm going home, I think, for about four months. Firstly, I missed my family, and secondly, now patents for work cost 4000 rubles a month instead of 1200. And my salary was only 20-25 thousand. But I will not look for a job in Kyrgyzstan yet. By May, our country should join the EurAsEC. Then the patents for the Kyrgyz will be canceled, as they have already been canceled for Belarusians and Kazakhs. I hope to come back here after that.

I do not know for sure, but everyone says that many of my compatriots are leaving. And not only because of patents, but also because of the dollar exchange rate. We all work here to send dollars home. In Kyrgyzstan, the average salary is $ 180. Prices for everything are lower. After the fall of the ruble, there is no special sense to work here for 20 thousand.

3. Sherali. 40 years old, handyman

Now you need to pay a patent of 4000 rubles to work. And to submit documents is another 30 thousand (the cost of a package of documents at the official migration center in New Moscow is 14,500 rubles. — Ed.).

And if you didn't have time to do everything in the first month, then a fine of 10-15 thousand. It is not profitable for the guys, they come to the consulate of Tajikistan to get documents for their return.

With such laws and salaries, they will not come back. The largest salary of Tajiks in Moscow is 20 thousand. Some of the janitors work for 10-12 thousand. The janitors will be given housing, and from food — "Doshirak". They don't eat themselves, but the Tajiks are welcome. At home, salaries are $ 200, everything is cheaper and the products are fresh. Here I rented a room for 15 thousand, and there is a luxury apartment for only $ 100.

If there are no places for all those who have returned, the president will figure out what to do, we will sort it out somehow. We are starting large-scale construction now. Can I ask you a question? Are you glad we're going home? Are you happy?

4. Dair. 27 years old, builder

No one consults with us. The price of patents is raised, but they do not create conditions for migrant labor. I've been coming to Moscow for five years now and I don't see any changes. As some guys lived in basements, so they live. A lot of promises, but little good in the end. And now many people can't send money to their homeland, they don't eat anything to raise funds for documents.

At first I got 25 thousand. Then I began to receive 40 thousand, but how much I had to suffer for this! This is the ceiling. Now Iranians, Turks, and Chinese are building in Tajikistan, and our guys receive $400 each. Due to the strong fall in the ruble exchange rate in Russia, income is now even lower than at home, and many are leaving themselves. This is your country, and you have to equip it yourself. And there is ours — and who will restore it instead of us?

There is little work in Tajikistan, but it is good, and here the police stop all the time. I was detained literally two weeks ago. I had a patent, all the documents are in order. I was late for a meeting at the subway, and the police put me in a car and patrolled the streets with me, as if I had no other business.

We came to work, not to arrange a showdown. And they treat us like an empty place. As soon as a patrolman sees a migrant, he immediately rushes to him. And immediately joy on his face: money, money, money! They think we came down from the mountains. But we also have a militia, laws, and a Constitution. Unfortunately, the family is not without a freak, and someone is stealing here. But why should hardworking people suffer because of such? One has done something - they are all slaughtered, put in monkey houses. Well, how is it possible with people? I'm not saying that all migrants are bad or all police officers are bad. No, everything is good, just the conditions are like this. I even have a friend-a traffic cop from Perovo. He tells me all the time that he understands that we did not come to Russia from a good life, and now we are leaving.

5. Zafar. 46 years old, builder

I have one question for all Russian citizens. Now the state wants to recreate those industries that would allow it not to depend on imports. But if there are already not enough hands, then who will fill the new jobs? What will the government do?

My uncle died at the front in 1943 — so isn't it a shame for me to hear that we are already strangers? I am an engineer-technologist of weaving production, I have two higher technical degrees, but in Russia I worked at a construction site. Because the textile industry in Tajikistan has died. And she died here: there is nothing in Ivanovo. It is easier for the manufacturer to sell raw materials quickly, rather than recycle it and release a good product. It's like with oil.

Moscow is a city for work, but it is impossible to live in it. And if everything is fine at home now, if you can earn $ 400 there, then why go to Russia? We ourselves now have a shortage of builders. A couple of years ago, Turks and Chinese came to Tajikistan with investments, high-rise buildings and roads are being built. The Rogun HPP is still at the completion stage. It will be the second most powerful after the Sayano-Shushenskaya station, we will provide Pakistan, Afghanistan and ourselves with electricity completely. The people will rise from their knees.

Tajikistan is much better now than it was ten years ago. We had a civil war in the early 90s. In a year and a half, we killed half a million people. Brother went to brother, Maidan was in every family. We had corpses lying on the streets for weeks, their dogs gnawed. But we have passed it and now we live peacefully. Nobody goes to rallies. Who's up there — what's the difference, as long as it's tolerable around. We always expect the best.

It seems to me that one should live amicably with everyone, and this is unacceptable when people are divided and at enmity. I'm leaving, but I'm grateful to everyone in Russia. Others will leave for their homeland until the end of March at the most. Probably, this is for the best: the Russians themselves will be able to get used to their country. Time will show.

6. Azat and Adilet. Both are 25 years old, handymen

Azat: After the patent price increase, if your salary is less than 40 thousand, it's pointless to work here. In addition, over the year, the ruble exchange rate fell to the Kyrgyz som twice. But if patents are canceled for us, as in Kazakhstan and Belarus, then the whole of Kyrgyzstan will move back, and there will be no one to work there. (Laughs.) However, in recent years, working conditions in Russia have been getting worse and worse. The employees of the Federal Migration Service treated us inhumanely, and they do.

I earned 35 thousand, combined two jobs. I was a handyman in a hotel for 22 thousand, and I also worked as a security guard, three days later. I've been in Moscow for five years — I think that's enough. Now I'm going home to take exams. I will try to get used to my profession as an energy engineer there. At first I will work for a small salary, in three years more, in ten years I will settle down and earn well. New hydroelectric and thermal power plants will be built there soon, and we will work together with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Everything is better than coming home from a construction site.

Adilet: We have passed new tests for migrants in the Russian language and culture, we have already posted 20 or 30 tasks on the Internet. For some they are simple, and for others they are very complex. When we were still working, we discussed them with Russian employees, one of them is a native Muscovite, and the other is a visitor from the Tula region. We answered some of the tasks, and then asked them. And they just don't know anything! With whom did Russia fight in the XIX century? They stand and watch. They fought with the French, with Napoleon. It's elementary.

Keywords: Guest workers | Migrants

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