How many labor migrants from Tajikistan live and work in Russia?

The speech of the President of Tajikistan at the “Central Asia – Russia” summit, which took place in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, on October 14 of this year, immediately became one of the most viewed on YouTube. In particular, this video attracted the attention of most migrants. In the two months following the speech, the video gained over 10 million views just on the YouTube channel “AKIpress news”.

In his speech, Emomali Rahmon addressed two issues at the “Central Asia – Russia” summit: the first – Russia does not invest adequately in post-Soviet countries with weak economies, and the second – a large number of Tajik labor migrants live and work in this country. Since analyzing the two issues raised by Rahmon complicates the material, we will only consider the issue of migrants here. The phrase that attracted the most attention from migrants was:

“We want to be respected…”

Given that Tajik labor migrants face numerous problems in obtaining work permits and other documents for staying in Russia, as well as being subjected to harassment by police and migration service officials in that country, migrants paid serious attention to this issue. However, in the continuation of his speech, Emomali Rahmon made it clear that he meant something entirely different:

“What, are we some kind of foreigners? We do not need a lot of investments. Vladimir Vladimirovich, we ask you that there should be no policy towards Central Asian countries as it was during the Soviet Union.”

Emomali Rahmon has long drawn “attention” to the issue of Tajik migrants in Russia. At the end of 2019, in his address to the Parliament of Tajikistan, he stated: “According to statistical data, the number of our citizens engaged in labor activities outside the country has decreased by almost 60 percent, which is a result of economic development and job creation within the country. The highest number of labor migrants was 1 million 100 thousand people in 2010. This year, this figure is 486 thousand people.”

At the same time, in April of the same year, during a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Emomali Rahmon, the President of Russia stated that the number of labor migrants from Tajikistan in his country amounted to 1.2 million people. However, in his address, the President of Tajikistan said:

“With this goal, by the celebration of the 30th anniversary of state independence, we must improve our activities and, using all opportunities and resources, create at least 100 thousand new jobs for the residents of the country annually, thus reducing the pressure of labor migration.”

These figures are from 2019, and three years have passed since this address by the president. If these words were true and from 2020 to 2022, 100 thousand new jobs were created annually, then by the end of this year, 300 thousand new jobs should have been created in the country. In that case, there would be only 186 thousand labor migrants from Tajikistan.

However, at the trilateral meeting “Russia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan” in Astana, Putin once again openly told Emomali Rahmon that more than 2 million citizens of Tajikistan live and work in Russia. But at the “Central Asia – Russia” summit, Rahmon reacted to Putin’s words: “You said yesterday that there are 2 million migrants. I wanted to, but today I want to say. Not 2 million. More than 2 million of our citizens fly to Russia not only for work. For work – no more than 600 thousand. They fly through you to other countries. We will see, next year their number will decrease by 50% because the road is closed – they cannot fly out.”

It should be noted that under the existing migration system in Russia, it is very difficult to accurately determine the number of labor migrants who entered the country without a visa. The purpose of stay in the country is indicated in the migration card. If a foreigner indicated work as the purpose of stay, they are required to obtain a work permit. The work permit costs 85 thousand 800 rubles per year. Therefore, not all labor migrants indicate work as the purpose of their visit, and write something else. This complicates the counting of the number of migrants. Also, some live and work in Russia without documents. Others only register for three months, and every three months they leave and re-enter the territory of this country. Some, having paid all expenses for the work permit and temporary registration at their place of residence, can stay in Russia for one year. For these reasons, accurately counting the number of Tajik labor migrants in Russia is a challenging task.

However, Russian authorities and some organizations are trying to accurately count their number. For example, in March 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia reported that in 2021, 13.4 million foreigners and stateless persons registered for temporary residence. Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan are among the top three on this list. The number of citizens of Tajikistan amounted to 3 million 76 thousand 781.

The President of Tajikistan rightly states that many citizens of Tajikistan use Russia as a transit country. However, citizens of Tajikistan have the right to stay in Russia for 15 days without residence registration and do not need to obtain this registration. It is clear that in this case, Russian authorities do not register them as labor migrants. Moreover, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan, Sirojiddin Muhriddin, stated:

“…that citizens of Tajikistan are increasingly interested in legal residence and labor activity on the territory of Russia. Evidence of this is the fact that only in 2021 our citizens received over 700 thousand labor permits. In monetary terms, our citizens pay over 4 billion rubles monthly. In total, for 2021, over 48 billion rubles were transferred to the budget of Russia from the permits of citizens of Tajikistan. This is almost 900 million dollars.”

This raises the question: who is lying, the minister or the president? The data provided by the minister indicates that the number of Tajik labor migrants in Russia is more than 700 thousand people. As we mentioned earlier, some Tajik labor migrants do not obtain either a permit or a work authorization, but register as tourists or guests and cross the border of Russia every three months.

Therefore, there were also other important issues regarding improving the working conditions of migrants that needed to be raised. For example, in 2012, when an agreement was signed between Dushanbe and Moscow regarding the presence of a Russian military base in Tajikistan, the Kremlin committed to allowing Tajik migrants to stay without registration for 15 days and work without a permit or work authorization for three months. However, after the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Union, these privileges promised to Tajik labor migrants were revoked. Now Tajik labor migrants are required to apply for a work permit within 20 working days after entering Russia. Obtaining this document costs about 15 thousand rubles, and most Tajik labor migrants do not have 15 thousand rubles upon entering Russia. Usually, they borrow money from their friends, brothers, and acquaintances, which in itself is a problem.

Another problem for labor migrants who have obtained a work permit is obtaining residence registration. This market is tightly controlled by intermediaries and speculators cooperating with the migration service of Russia. For this reason, migrants often face fines or deportation, while Russian authorities believe that Tajikistan loves Russia, and there is no Russophobia here. At the same time, politics in Tajikistan is also subordinate to Russia, and Tajikistan shows its loyalty to Russia in every way. The year 2023 was declared “The Year of the Russian Language in Tajikistan” 32 years after the country’s independence, which confirms these words. The key question in this context will be who will respect us in such a situation? Does the government respect its subordinates?

According to independent experts, the only way to gain respect is to create all conditions for independence, and the current government of Rahmon is unable to fulfill this. This means that the disrespect towards Tajiks, their suffering in Russia, humiliations, and insults directed at a people seeking work will continue. If this is all the government of Rahmon can do to achieve independence, then the number of labor migrants will never decrease.