That's the way it's done: how migrants will be adapted to life in Russia
In the coming days, adaptation centers for migrants will appear in five regions of the Russian Federation, where they will be taught about the culture, history, traditions of the country and rules of conduct in order to reduce the migration burden on the regions. According to the Federal Agency for Nationalities (FADN), in the future such adaptation centers will become mandatory for migrant workers. How foreigners are currently being included in Russian life, how adaptation centers will work and what may hinder their effectiveness — in the Izvestia article.
Where will the adaptation centers appear?
Igor Barinov, head of the Federal Academy of Medical Sciences of Russia, said that the first five such centers will start operating any day now: in the Kemerovo, Chelyabinsk regions, the Republics of Tatarstan and Sakha (Yakutia), as well as in the Khabarovsk Territory. In the future, these centers should appear in all regions experiencing migration pressure.
Igor Barinov, Head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs (FADN), at the IV All-Russian Forum "Peoples of Russia"
Last fall, Igor Barinov said that we are talking about departments where they will deal with the social and cultural adaptation of migrants: telling foreigners about Russian traditions, instilling skills of "adequate behavior" when interacting with the local population. He said that if the government did not take up adaptation, "semi-criminal diasporic structures" would work with migrants.
In mid-April, the head of the Federal Migration Service also announced that a "course on the adaptation of migrant workers" would be introduced in 70 regions of the Russian Federation. This is not the same as adaptation centers, but only a training program. It was developed on the proposals of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Labor and the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, and the subjects of the Russian Federation have prepared "regional components of the course" taking into account the historical, social and national cultural characteristics of the place of residence of foreigners.
The FADN emphasized that successful adaptation of foreigners depends on "the level of awareness of the specifics of the culture of the host community, knowledge of its history, traditions, rules of conduct," as well as, in general, skills of cultural and appropriate behavior when interacting with the local population and the level of proficiency in the Russian language.
In pilot projects, specialists need to understand how migrants will perceive the courses, how these classes affect them, and whether this will reduce tension in the migrant environment.
Izvestia sent a request to the FADN, but no response had been received at the time of publication.
How many migrants need to be adapted
It was reported that subsidies for 108.2 million rubles annually will be allocated only for pilot projects of migrant adaptation centers. In 2024, only 2.5 million rubles were allocated for the social and cultural adaptation of foreigners, but Igor Barinov estimated the number of migrants involved in adaptation work at more than 400 thousand people.
In total, more than 6 million foreign citizens are registered for migration in Russia, GUU Professor Vladimir Volokh told Izvestia. These are those foreign citizens who have arrived for work, students, teachers, and others.
According to Rosstat data for 2023, migrants to Russia most often come from Tajikistan (31% of arrivals), Kyrgyzstan (10%), Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan (9% each), Uzbekistan (8%), Azerbaijan, Moldova (4% each), Turkmenistan and Belarus (2%). 76% of them are of working age, 13% are children. Only 8.8% of migrants have higher education and 22.7% have secondary vocational education.
In January–November 2024, the migration increase amounted to 420 thousand people.
— All migrants, of course, need to adapt, and those who decide to become a citizen of the Russian Federation need to integrate, — says Vladimir Volokh. — Adaptation is the primary prerequisite for any foreign citizen who has left for Russia, familiarization with the conditions and regulations that apply in our country. Integration is a deeper immersion into our lives when a foreigner is going to become a citizen of the Russian Federation.
Sergey Nuzhdin, Chairman of the Opora Russia Committee for the development of the national labor market and monitoring of migration processes, believes that it is necessary to adapt those migrant workers who are attracted for a long time, regardless of the country of arrival.
— And those foreigners who come for a year need to be controlled, — the interlocutor of Izvestia expressed his opinion. — First of all, control must be digital: biometric registration at the entrance to Russia, assignment of a single bank account to each person who enters the country for work, and the unconditional responsibility of the employer for the person's stay in the country until departure at the end of the employment contract.
He calls the state programs for the adaptation of migrants in Russia a necessary and relevant measure. According to him, citizens with permanent residence status, who have a temporary residence permit or a residence permit, must be involved in the adaptation process.
Olga Korovina, Scientific Director of the Agency for Support of State Initiatives, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, notes that adaptation should affect all migrants who plan to stay or work in Russia for a long time.
"But the priority is to work with people from countries that are culturally and linguistically remote from Russia, such as Central Asia, the Middle East, China, and Africa," she told Izvestia. — Practice shows that it is migrants from regions with a significantly different cultural environment who experience the greatest difficulties in the integration process.
How migrants are already being adapted
Vladimir Volokh says that now the task of adapting foreigners is assigned to the Federal Migration Service and partly to the Main Directorate for Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
—The fundamental document is the methodological recommendations of the FADN for the state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation on the socio-cultural adaptation and integration of foreign citizens in Russia, which have been communicated to all subjects of the country," the source told Izvestia. — In accordance with these recommendations, the authorities responsible for this area are carrying out appropriate work in the regions.
In the near future, Vladimir Volokh added, a new service on citizenship and registration of foreign citizens will appear in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the regulations on it are still being developed. The expert believes that this service "should not remain aloof from the issues of socio-cultural adaptation and integration of foreign citizens."
Olga Korovina notes that so far the adaptation work in the regions is extremely unsystematic.
— Some regions, such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tatarstan, and the Moscow Region, are trying to solve this problem through targeted initiatives.: Russian language courses, consultations, creation of specialized support centers. However, in most regions of the Russian Federation, adaptation work is either completely absent or fragmented, often limited only to monitoring compliance with migration legislation and paperwork," she said.
She calls the initiative to create adaptation centers extremely necessary. Olga Korovina notes that the EU has had a well-developed and systematic migrant adaptation program for several decades. She does not rule out problems, however, according to her, "creates more transparent and understandable mechanisms."
"There are still not enough such mechanisms in Russia, which is why migrants are often forced to adapt spontaneously and independently, which leads to isolation or conflicts at the domestic level," she said. — On the other hand, Russia has historically developed a relatively high degree of tolerance and patience towards foreigners, especially those from the former Soviet Union, who learn Russian faster and integrate more easily into social structures.
At the same time, a number of companies are already engaged in the adaptation of migrants. Sergey Nuzhdin cites as an example the program implemented by the SEZ Alabuga.
— Foreigners who have arrived settle in a limited area, settle down so that there is no more than one person of a certain nationality in one room and communication takes place in Russian, — says Sergey Nuzhdin. — For two years they have been taking Russian language courses, studying the laws and norms of behavior accepted in Russia, and studying their specialty. They take exams at certain intervals. Failure to pass one exam leads to termination of cooperation and departure to the country of origin.
He admits that this is a very expensive method of hiring and few people practice it yet, but it is "much more effective than the now generally accepted use of migrant labor."
Nikolai Kurdyumov, Chairman of the Commission on labor Migration of the Council of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation for Foreign Economic Affairs, notes that now the specifics of the flow of migrants are such that they mostly come to Russia on their own and are already looking for employers on the spot. Intermediaries who help them look for work, their own compatriots who have already established themselves in Russia, become an authority for them.
"Decades of this, in our opinion, erroneous approach have formed migration enclaves in Russia, which internally form services for their compatriots," he said. — It is useless to offer adaptation programs to such migrant workers — neither the Federal Migration Service nor the local authorities are authoritative for them, since they have already found ways to access the workplace and solve all issues here.
The expert calls the targeted organized recruitment the solution to the problem. This approach excludes the possibility of a migrant entering Russia without an already registered employer, who will have to be responsible for the foreign employee. Without an orderly system, the effectiveness of proposals for adaptation centers is questionable, Nikolai Kurdyumov believes.
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