Last year, the Russian Federation granted migration amnesty for nearly 122,00 Tajik citizens who had been deported from Russia for violation of Russia’s migration legislation, the Minister of Labor, Migration and Employment of the Population, Sumangul Taghoizoda, told reporters in Dushanbe on February 6.

According to her, nearly 20,000 Tajik nationals managed to legalize their stay in the Russian Federation and 102,000 others were permitted to enter the Russian Federation.  

The migration amnesty for Tajik nationals took place from March 25, 2017 to April 24, 2017.

“It was very difficult to inform all Tajik labor migrants working in Russia because many of them are working in remote regions of the Russian Federation,” the minister said.

The migration amnesty applied on the migrant workers who were deported for not satisfying legal requirements of staying in Russia and did not commit any serious crimes.  

Some Russian experts consider that legal status should be given to those migrants already working in Russia.  If millions of illegal migrants in Russia obtained legal status, they would be able to contribute much more to the country’s economy, according to them.  .

The Russia Federation is reportedly the world’s second-largest host of foreign migrants, following the United States.   

The immigration issue remains a focal point of Russian politics, and polls have shown that most Russians have negative attitudes toward migrants.