Trends in the Development of Migration Legislation in the Context of Modern Challenges
Authors:   Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation, Andrichenko L. V. , Plyugina I. V. ,   Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation
Published: January 2021

Introduction. The change in the paradigm of regulating migration processes in the Russian Federation in the early 1990s, the liberalization of the general approach to ensuring the right to freedom of movement, the choice of place of residence; they all dictated the beginning of the current stage of development of migration legislation. For nearly thirty years, the general array of legal acts grew, individual institutions of migration legislation were modernized under the influence of political, socio-economic and other factors, and the legal means of counteracting current challenges and threats was improved. Materials. Methods. The complex nature of migration legislation is due to both the versatility and the multi-level character of the relationships that develop as a result of various relocations of population. Like any other branch or institution, migration legislation is not without its flaws; it has its own problems and defects that need to be resolved. Nevertheless, it can be stated that today its setting up has, in general, been completed, and this allows us to formulate a scientifically- based assessment of its effectiveness and identify key trends for further development. The purpose of this study is to analyse the overall dynamics of the development of migration legislation, to identify the main trends in the legal regulation of its individual sub-sectors, as well as to develop recommendations aimed at overcoming the identified problems. Results. The study showed a close relationship of the state migration policy with its economic, demographic and ethnocultural policies. The role of external migration, as the most important compensatory mechanism for reducing the population of the country, is noted. At the same time, migration can be considered not only as a particular resource of a country’s economic and demographic development, but also under certain conditions it can be perceived as a security threat to the state, its population, territory, especially if the migration policy is inconsistent, or if there is a significant gap between conceptual grounds and migration management practices. Discussion and Conclusion. The factors that influence the development of Russian migration legislation are revealed, among which a special role is played by the openness of migration space and the intensity of migration flows, the associated active involvement of Russia in world migration processes, the participation of the Russian Federation in interstate integration, the preservation of uncontrolled migration, etc. The article examines the details of the development of individual sub-sectors of migration legislation, the allocation of which is associated with the regulation of basic directions and types of migration, especially of foreign labour migration as the main mass migration flows; voluntary resettlement to the Russian Federation of compatriots living abroad; forced and educational migration. Summing up, it can be stated, that the increase in efficiency in the development of migration legislation is connected with the need for its precise systematization, including the perceived shortcomings of a categorical and conceptual apparatus, the chaos and imbalance in the use of legislative forms by which it develops – all of which which prevent migration legislation from becoming a fully-fledged branch of Russian legislation.