DUSHANBE, January 10, Asia-Plus -- 50,000 Tajik labor migrant deported from the Russian Federation over the past three years for not satisfying migration requirements will not be granted “migration amnesty,” Yevgeny Semyonov, head of representative office of Russia’s Federal Migration Service in Tajikistan, announced at a briefing in Dushanbe on January 10.    

However, Qurbonali Mahmadov, head of the Tajik Interior Ministry department for combating illegal migration,  told journalists that a draft official letter to Russian authorities on “amnestying” deported Tajik migrants had been drawn up and sent for consideration to the government.   Tajik law enforcement authorities hope that the Russian side will take into consideration that the Tajik migrants were deported, primarily, for not satisfying legal requirements of staying in Russia and did not commit any serious crimes in that country, according to him.   

According to Tajik law enforcement authorities, some 7,000 Tajiks were deported from Russia last year.  According to official statistics, at present nearly 500,000 Tajik labor migrant are currently staying in Russia, while unofficial sources say that actual number of labor migrants staying in Russia is much higher than official figures show.

Some Russian migration officials claim that Tajik migrants working in Russia annually remit some $2 billion to their homeland.