STATISTICS OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION IN THE CIS COUNTRIES

1. STATISTICS OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION IN THE CIS COUNTRIES Olga Chudinovskikh Moscow State Lomonosov University

2. Overview • CIS-1991-2006: 15 years of collecting statistics under new conditions 2. Functions and responsibilities of • administrative and • national statistical bodies in migration statistics collection 3. Towards population registers- a better future or new problems? 4. Concluding remarks: problems and possible solutions

3. “…a number of countries (including major countries , such as ……the former USSR) have no statistics whatsoever”….. “they are mostly low-immigration … countries” • (Tapinos George. Can one really talk of the globalization of migration flows? In: Globalization, migration and development. OECD, 2000.)

4. CIS 1991-2006 Data collection in transformation • 12 more countries with incomparable statistics • New institutes andbodies, responsible for new flows regulation and new data collection. Redistribution of responsibilities (problems of interaction) • Necessity in new systems of data collection to register and measure new trends in international migration processes (refugees, forced migrants, labour migrants, “new foreigners” (former compatriots ) • New legislation: freedom for move, international migration, status of foreigners, citizenship, refugees, labour migration, registration and data collection (Laws ans derivative acts) • Revision of previous system of population registration – Georgia, Moldova, other countries. Less control, 2 types of registration: place of stay or residence (Armeina + factual residence). • Technical progress – new possibilities in data collection and processing – (background for population registers establishment) • Access to data that were not available earlier • Changes in Censuses-2000 questionnaire • Targeted sample surveys (in some of the CIS countries) to investigate new problems

5. Migration related data in the CIS countries

6. Data collected by National Statistical Institutes: similarities and peculiarities,common background – different future • Current (annual) statistics of flows (Except Georgia and Moldova) • Similar – paper carriers received from police or Min. of Justice agencies • Different – criterion of migrant identification • Similar – low coverage and quality • Censuses programs – difference in migration related issues- special questions to measure labour out-migration, forced migration, etc . Migrant stock definitions: if the “foreign born” criteria works? • Surveys (households, labour force – Especially Tajikistan, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia) • Other data (Received from administrative authorities for processing and/or publication- refugees, labour migrants, etc.)

7. Principles of current migration statistics formation in the NSI’s (except Georgia and Moldova) • In the USSR – since 1930-ies till 1991 - one type of population registration (in a place of residence) time criteria: 45 days for the USSR citizens, 90 days for foreigners: • primary statisitcsl forms are to be filled in and forwarded to regional departments of Central statistical division . 2 types of forms – arrivals and departures Now forms are collected for migrants registered in a place of residence, but as a rule there is no time criteria (except Kazakhstan and Ukraine – 6 months) POLICE (or –ministry of justice agencies in some of the CIS countries) NSI Input, processing, publication

8. Primary form for statistical registration of a migrant (RF)

9. Address form of arrival /departure used for police registration proceduresUkraine – uses police form with limited number of variables

10. Some definitions of place of residence and criteria used for statistics collection (may differ for nationals and foreigners)Importance of details.

11. Registration in a place of residence: Primary statistical from to be filled in Registration in a Place of stay (No time limit of stay, number of registrations is unlimited!) primary statistical forms should not be filed in Case of the RF1995: New rules of RF citizens registration and collection of statistics of migration(both internal and international)

12. Arrivals in and departures from the Russian Federation (including migration to and from the former USSR republics). 1971-2005, persons. Rosstat data. Changes in rules of data collection – the basic reason for inflow ‘decline’

14. Immigration to the RF (citizenship composition) Rosstat data. Data on foreigners: result of inaccuracy in data collection (according to the law no data on foreigners should be collected for Rosstat)

15. Residence permits issued by the RF migration service and international migrants observed by Rosstat. Uncertainty of methodology and criteria.

16. Coverage of current statistics of flows: inaccuracy in registration and deregistration • No strict control over / or strong stimulus for both • Registration in better than deregistration • Deregistration : stimuli based on necessity to sell the dwelling • (Practice in administrative sources– a person is deregistered by registration period expiry) • Consulates partially collect information about emigrants

17. Deregistration in the country of origin requirement in 29 selected countries (RF MFA information)8- need, 21-does not need

18. Comparison of data on international migration between RF and selected CIS countries. 2005, CIS Statistics Committee data

19. Surveys:To measure processes that could not be measured with the help of the other sources • Labour force and employment (some of the CIS countries conduct such surveys, but not all include migration related questions) • Households (in all the countries, but not all include migration related questions into the program. Moldova, Armenia, Tajikistan conduct targeted migration surveys) • At the borders (Tajikistan, Georgia)

20. Administrative and other sources (Is it a possible alternative to poor NSI-s data?) • Data collected at the borders (incorrect interpretation) • Work permits /or employed foreign labour force .(visible part of an iceberg) • Visa : issued abroad, in the country (not available) • Residence permits (temporary, permanent) (double count if a year of status acquisition is not defined) • Data on citizenship acquisition (hardly available) • Registration of population in the place of stay or residence (procedures rather than persons)

21. Statistics collected at the borders: problems of interpretation • Main problem – underestimation of foreigners that • do not need visa • travel by train (no immediate access to the database) • Lack of regular or available information tempts to use any source that is available • Unprofessional interpretation or political considerations? Ukrainian and RF authorities’ interpretations of the border statistics: residual between entries and exits is considered to be “illegal net migration”, when multiplied by several years shows hundreds of thousand or even millions of “illegal migrants stock”. Consequences – increase in xenophobia and social instability • Migration cards – good alternative or temporary (desperate) remedy? (RF, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Moldova, Belarus …)

22. Ukrainian and RF authorities’ interpretations of the border statistics: residual between entries and exits is considered to be “illegal net migration” • Ukraine – “In 2002-2006 there were more than 34 000 000 entries of foreigners to Ukraine • Did not leave from Ukrainian territory - 123 140 from thecountries-main suppliers of irregular migrants”: - (web-site of Migration affairs Committee )

23. Migration cards (RF and Kazakhstan patterns)

24. Administrative data on registration of the RFnationals in the place of residence - Registration of procedures rather than individuals . Blue curve shows registration of new passports during the passport change campaign in 2001-2003, although the title of the table is as follows ;“Number of registrations of place of residence”

25. Consequences of poor quality or lack in availability of statistics: Impossibility to measure basic parameters of national economies: • Labour force • Employment • GNDP • National accounts • Without reliable statistics of international migration policy-makers do not have “way marks” for adequate decisions in the sphere of migration policy • Use of defective statistics makes migration policy risky, costly and inefficient • Society does not have adequate information and public opinion may not correspond with real processes

26. Population registers in CIS: great opportunities for population statistics or new problems? • From paper forms and catalogues - towards e-data bases and from hand work towards new technologies: basic challenges • Staff qualification • Equipment maintenance (case of RF) • Individual data protection • Limited number of variables • Centralized or decentralized? • Besides Moldova – other countries also have some experience in DB creation – passport change campaign in RF and Ukraine, Foreign population Data bank in RF, etc.

27. Variables to be collected in the RF foreign population register • Full name • Date and place of birth • Sex • Citizenship • Purpose of arrival • Profession • Period of intended stay • Previous registration of a place of residence (address and date of reg. and deregistration) • Previous registration of a place of stay (address and date of reg. and deregistration) • Reference persons data in the RF (parents, adopters, guardians) • Deportation data (if there was) • Decision on deportation • Info on law violence in the RF • Data and place of death in the RF • Reason for registration

28. Processing and publication: sharing of responsibilities between administrative bodies and NSI’ s • Variety of data to be published • Access – free or chargeable, to individuals or legal entities, etc. • National statistical institutes are more likely to publish data that administrative authorities are • No data on residence permits, visas, citizenship acquisition etc. • No or poor information in the web-sites of NSI’ s and Immigration authorities (even if they have a web-site)

29. Foreign citizens registration data bank(Planned to be created by January 2006), Responsibleauthority – Federal Migration service Stage 1 (Ministry of home affairs data) • Migration cards information on arrivals and departures of foreigners • Data on refugees and asylum seekers • Labour migrants data (work permits data) Stage 2 (Ministry of home affairs data) • Residence permits, temporary residence permits and stay permits • Information on crimes committed against foreigners and by foreigners Stage 3 (other ministries data) • Federal border service data • Visas and invitations statistics • Customs Committee data • Ministry of taxes data • Other ministries and authorities data on foreigners Stage 4 Information exchange and distribution (rules are not defined)

30. Concluding remarks1: • Management: (almost everywhere) frequent redistribution of responsibilities and reshuffle of administrative authorities inevitably causes problems in capacity building (new staff to be trained, data bases to be shared, etc.) • Quality: not ideal almost everywhere, especially data on flows • Availability: better access to NSI’ s data problematic to administrative data Underdevelopment of certain tools of data collection (registration - surveys) • Data exchange – if only IOM is interested in the process? • ! All recommendations are addressed to a National Statistical Institute, but as a rule other bodies are decision makers in the sphere of registration and data collection • Coordination in statistics harmonization – is it necessary, possible and who could be a coordinator?

31. Concluding remarks 2: • In spite of obvious problems and a certain “centrifugal” trends in international policies in the CIS countries, there are still strong economic considerations to manage migration process and labour market development in the area of the CIS countries together; • It is one more argument to revise national systems of international migration statistics collection, to discuss common problems and to look for solutions that could be advantageous for everybody.

32. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

33. Additional information

34. Foreign born population in selected CIS countries/ period of migration (before the break-up of the USSR migration occurred within the same country)

35. Main categories for migrant stock identification in selected CIS countries. Censuses 2000 round data [1] including 580 persons that did not specify place of birth

36. Visa statistics: availability is the basic problem • Two ways of application for visa (as a rule) MFA and MOI • MFA data – not available • MOI data – better availability (application and registration of foreigners) • Basic problem – underestimation of migrants that do not need visa • (purposes for move asked in migration cards do not coincide with types of visa) -

37. Labour migration data • Overall problem – considerable underestimation of in and outflows (and stocks as well ) • Double citizenship- problems of labour migration underestimation • Irregular component in foreign workers stock is possibly 5-10 times more numerous (RF- quota for 2007 – 6000000 workers (that do not need visa), >300000 – that need visa) • Number of emigrant-workers is unknown Tajikistan – quite a few percents of out-migrants are employed legally, The Russian Federation: in 2005 only 60.000 labour out-migrants were recruited by licensed agencies within the country for work abroad. • Number of work permits = foreign workers? • Period of work is often not defined • Remittances

38. Residence permits and temporary migrants registration, status • Differences in legislation – differences in definitions ( temporary and permanent residence permits , difficulties in application of the UN 12 months criteria) • 90-days period • Extension of stay • Types of visa private business tourism study job scientific, cultural, sports, religion contacts

39. Immigration to the RF