Tougher Immigration Laws in Russia

New developments have now unfolded in Russia’s immigration reform. Since Prime Minister Putin made his controversial announcement to crack down on immigration from former Soviet nations and central Asia, there have been two new proposals on how to accomplish this reduction. The first proposal is to criminally charge businesses that hire illegal immigrants and provide them with housing. This would include a $26,000 fee to any business that is caught employing illegal immigrants. The second proposal is to have these immigrants pass a required exam if they wish to reside legally within Russia. This exam will cover Russian language, history, and culture. While this is aimed at dramatically reducing the number of immigrants from Soviet countries, it could potentially make immigration from desired countries more difficult, such the United States or various Western European countries.

Another concern would be the fact that if you make legal immigration all the more unattainable, then chances are there will be a spike in illegal immigration. There are still all these people who want to live and work in that country and will do what ever they can to get there. This in turn will cause a higher demand for human trafficking, which is already notorious in that region. And when you have a greater number of people being moved illegal across borders, there is more opportunity for drugs to be smuggled with them, driving the number of narcotics crimes up. The same situation can be seen here with the US and Latin American countries. Access to live and work in the US is near impossible for most who wish to immigrate here, so they find their own means to “live the American Dream”. These immigrants then go through some terrible ordeals and terrible people in order to get here.

http://rbth.ru/articles/2012/02/03/russias_authorities_to_tighten_migration_legislature_14315.html