Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06MOSCOW10665
2006-09-22 13:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Moscow
Cable title:  

THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE IN MOSCOW, PART TWO

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM RS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7230
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHMO #0665/01 2651327
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 221327Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2802
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 010665 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM RS
SUBJECT: THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE IN MOSCOW, PART TWO


Classified By: Political M/C Alice Wells. Reasons: 1.4(B/D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 010665

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KDEM RS
SUBJECT: THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE IN MOSCOW, PART TWO


Classified By: Political M/C Alice Wells. Reasons: 1.4(B/D).


1. (C) SUMMARY. This is part two of a two-part series on the
typical experiences of immigrants in Moscow. The first cable
described the experiences of a partly disabled Chechen male
who has lived on and off in Moscow for the past 20 years. The
current cable relates the experiences of a Kazakh female who
is a newcomer to Moscow. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) The subject of this cable, Dinara, is a highly
educated Muskie alumnus from Kazakhstan. She moved to Moscow
with her 11-year-old son in the fall of 2005 to be closer to
her mother and brother and his family, all of whom are
Kazakhs who have held Russian citizenship for many years.

--------------
Registration Hassles
--------------


3. (C) When Dinara moved to Moscow, she traveled by train, as
many Kazakhs and other Central Asians do to save money. She
explained that to stay in Moscow legally, a Kazakh citizen
has to receive temporary registration within five days after
crossing the Russian border. Traveling by train takes almost
two days, so by the time she got to Moscow, only three days
remained for her to get registered. In those three days, she
had to have her application approved by her landlord, by the
building administration, and by a district police officer,
and then submitted -- together with a copy of her passport
page, a receipt confirming she had paid the fee, and her
Migrant Card (MC),which she received when she crossed the
border -- to the district branch of the Federal Migration
Service (FMS). Each of the three offices -- building
administration, police station, and FMS -- have different
working hours, are not located near each other, and usually
have very long lines. She said even if a person didn't have
any other commitments their first few days in Moscow and knew
exactly which papers are required and where all the offices
are located, being able to make the deadline would be quite a
challenge. She joked that if she had known all this before
she arrived in Moscow, she would have taken a plane.


4. (C) The registration itself is a stamp that an FMS officer
puts on the MC. However, it is not done on the spot, but
takes three working days (i.e., another week since the FMS is
only open three days per week) to get the MC back. Even
then, it might take one or two more days because the lines
are so long that the FMS sometimes closes before a person can
reach the head of the line. People usually begin queuing two
to three hours before the office opens. The temporary
registration is only good for 90 calendar days. After that,
one has to leave and re-enter the country in order to receive
a new MC and start the registration process all over again.
There is a website forum (www.nelegalov.net) where people
discuss the closest and most convenient places to cross the
border, as well as many other immigration issues.


5. (C) Dinara's temporary registration expired before she had
the chance to cross the border to get a new one. If you are
caught leaving the country with an expired temporary
registration, the consequences can be harsh: either a large
ruble fine or a several-year ban from re-entering Russia.
However, most border guards do not levy the fine, but pocket
a bribe instead. Dinara tucked 1500 rubles into her passport
in case the border guards stopped her. Luckily, they did
not. Dinara thought Uzbeks and Tajiks are singled out for
closer scrutiny than Kazakhs. Her current temporary
registration expires on November 5, and she is in the process
of figuring out when and where to go to renew it. For many
blue-collar immigrants, repeating this procedure every three
months is prohibitively expensive and the time away from work
required could cost them their jobs, so they let the
registration expire and take their chances with the police.

--------------
"Simplified" Citizenship Procedures
--------------


6. (C) Since Dinara came to Russia intending to settle
permanently, instead of seeking temporary residency and work
permits, she decided to immediately apply for citizenship.
Kazakhstanis, as former citizens of the Soviet Union, are
permitted to apply for citizenship under a "simplified"
procedure. She said that, in theory, it does sound simple:
one needs to submit an MC with a valid registration stamp,
proof of registration with the Kazakh Consulate in Moscow, a
birth certificate, and several other documents, and then wait
for up to three months until the application is considered
and a decision is made. Ideally, citizenship could be
awarded within the 90-day temporary registration period,
without having to worry about leaving the country to get a
new MC and re-register. However, the reality, she said, is

MOSCOW 00010665 002 OF 002


quite different.


7. (C) The first real challenge was that a complete list of
documents required for the citizen application package is
only obtainable from an authorized officer at the local FMS
office. In Dinara's local FMS branch, there was only one
such officer, and that officer had left for a month-long
vacation shortly before Dinara tried to apply. Dinara said
she argued fiercely with the deputy chief of the FMS office
and, in the end, was able to briefly meet with the officer in
the middle of her vacation to obtain the list of documents.
(Dinara said that most immigrants would not dare stand up to
the bureaucracy like that for fear of repercussions.) Dinara
spent the rest of the officer's vacation preparing the
documents for submission on the only weekday (Tuesday) that
they were accepted. After waiting in line until 6 p.m., she
submitted her documents, but was told she would have to wait
six months, even though the law explicitly states "no longer
than three months." However, she was happy just to have
completed the process and decided not object. As a
sidenote, she mentioned that by the end of the day, a few of
the FMS officials were clearly inebriated and noticeably more
friendly and helpful.

--------------
Discrimination In Society
--------------


8. (C) Dinara's impression is that men get stopped more
frequently than women (she has only been stopped once),
especially those who look like construction workers. She
said her brother hasn't been stopped by the police in several
years, but that is because he has his own car and rarely uses
the metro. Even if he used the metro regularly, she said he
wouldn't be stopped because the police don't often stop
people who are dressed professionally. Uzbek workers
renovating her apartment told her that it usually cost them
100 or 200 rubles to bribe a policeman. However, once, one
of them was carrying several thousand rubles and the police
noticed. They demanded 2000 rubles from him and when he
refused they detained him, did not allow him to make any
phone calls, and only released him six or seven hours later
when he gave up and handed over the money.


9. (C) Dinara maintained that the law governing immigration
violations was written in such a way that it almost
encourages bribery: the police cannot fine either Russian
citizens or foreigners for registration and immigration
status violations, but they can stop anyone and detain them
for up to 48 hours solely on suspicion of commission of a
crime or an immigration violation. This is why most illegals
willingly pay a bribe on the spot. Otherwise, they would be
placed in detention and have to pay the bribe in any case.


10. (C) Dinara said that her son has not faced any
discrimination in school from teachers or other students.
She ascribes that partly to the fact that he looks more
Russian than Kazakh (his father is Russian). However, the
administrators were reluctant to enroll him at his first
school, saying he would lag behind because of the
"differences in curriculum between Russia and Kazakhstan."
She said their attitude was condescending and borderline
prejudiced, so she enrolled him in a school farther away from
their apartment, but with a much warmer and welcoming
administration.


11. (C) COMMENT. An August 2006 poll by the Levada Center
found that 17% thought the idea of "Russia for Russians"
should have been implemented long ago, while another 37%
supported that idea "within sensible limits." Just 28%
rejected the idea, branding it as "fascism." Dinara worries
about the future for her son when she sees these kind of
polls, and is not overly optimistic that problems will be
resolved in the near or medium term. While her case is less
dramatic than Adam's, it nevertheless highlights the
widespread corruption and discrimination immigrants face when
they come to Russia.
BURNS