The System of Regulation of External Migration in the Far East of the Russian Federation (1991–2020)
Authors: Druzyaka Andrey 
Published: September 2021

The article considers the system of regulation of external migration in the Russian Far East, which consists of bodies ensuring the entry and exit of Russian citizens and foreigners to the territory of Russia, the regime of their stay, registration, labor activity and naturalization. The periodization of the stages of the Russian migration policy in specific conditions determined by the political and economic conjuncture is given. The purpose of the article is to analyze the historical conditions, as well as the characteristic features of the creation, functional formation and organizational transformation of the bodies of the system of state regulation of migration control in the period 1991–2020. The problems of their functioning and the results of the implementation of migration policy in the Russian Far East are considered. This article will briefly present the main aspects of the formation of the system of state regulation of immigration in the 1990s, as well as the associated difficulties that manifested themselves in the implementation of the state migration policy during the period under study. Based on the analysis of the activities of a number of federal and regional social, administrative and law enforcement agencies, the experience of state regulation of external migration in the period 1990–2020 is considered, the analysis of the implementation of the functions of the migration authorities system and the results of their impact on individual external migration flows is given. The opening of borders and the massive influx of migrants from Asian countries in the Far East in the 1990s coincided with the period of reforming the system of state control over migration, which was subjected to organizational changes, received a number of new functions and tasks. In the Russian Far East, the process of reforming this system was complicated by regional difficulties associated with the development of relations between federal and regional authorities with entrepreneurship and local self-government. The weakness and insufficient coordination of the activities of migration control bodies, their lack of common and understandable goals, the transfer of the competence of naturalization and registration of migrants into the hands of law enforcement agencies, the loss of social orientation in working with migrants have largely caused failures in social policy towards migrants, the formation of closed criminal communities in their environment, which are the basis for the formation of extremist practices and xenophobic attitudes in the host Russian society on the territory of Russia. As a result of the analysis of the results of the activities of the migration authorities system, general conclusions are made about the effectiveness of its work in the Far East, the successes achieved. At the same time, the article offers a number of proposals on improving work with foreign workers and immigrants, aimed at compensating for the loss of population and labor resources in the region. The results of the study can be used to improve the migration control system, to develop the foundations of migration policy in the region. The issues raised in it can become the basis for a more in-depth study of the processes related to the activities of state, municipal and public bodies involved in the regulation of migration, in order to attract, settle and adapt migrants necessary for the Far East.