Azerbaijan's market alluring for migrants
By Aynur Karimova
Migration policy has always been a main topic of discussion for the world. These discussions become much more convoluted when evaluating policy concerning migrant workers, which could potentially help or damage a country’s economy.
Today migrant workers are spread throughout the territories of CIS countries, including in Azerbaijan.
The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families refers the term "migrant worker" as a person who is to be engaged, is engaged, or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a state of which he or she is not a national.
Chairman of the Sustainable Development Research Center, Nariman Agayev, believes that migrant workers do not pose a risk to Azerbaijan's economy.
"Sometimes, Azerbaijan is forced to use the services of migrant workers. The fact is that we do not have experts on certain profiles. For example, one factory is looking for a specialist engaged in argon welding for several months, however, we do not have such specialists among our citizens and therefore, we have to invite such workers from abroad," he told local media.
Migrant workers flow to Azerbaijan from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Iran. They are generally engaged in the construction sector, in the trade market, and the services sector. There are also well-paid migrant workers in the country's oil sector, but their numbers do not exceed 10 percent of the total number of employees.
"According to our calculations, a migrant worker in Azerbaijan earns 300-800 manats ($286-$763) per month. Each month they sent home around $50 million," Agayev added.
According to a piece of legislation passed in 2013, foreigners and stateless persons arriving in Azerbaijan for a period exceeding three days should register with the Migration Service.
A copy of the person's ID should be submitted to the Migration Service personally, via mail, or email within 3 days.
This service is free and application forms are available at the Migration Service, post offices, and at www.migration.gov.az.
The Migration Service will immediately register foreigners at the place of their stay and present written notification to the receiving party within 1 working day.
Foreigners can be registered for the period allotted by their visas, or for 90 days under the visa-free regime.
After changing the place of residence, registration must be renewed. These easy steps can exempt visitors from penalties and deportation.
Recently, the government has revealed the official figures, which showed that there are about 24,000 migrants in Azerbaijan, half of which are migrant workers.
However, expert Azer Allahveranov believes that the number of migrant workers living and working in Azerbaijan exceeds 80,000.
"Every year Azerbaijan allocates 10,000 jobs within the labor quotas for migrant workers," he told local media. "Azerbaijan's Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of the Population and the Interior Ministry constantly conduct raids to combat the illegal migrant workers in our country. In case of detection, the illegal migrants are deported from the country. Every month some 2,000-3,000 illegal immigrants are being detected in Azerbaijan, some of them are being deported while another part passes the registration and continue working legally in the country."
With the economic crisis in the background, several European countries have started to deport migrants, claiming that their own citizens do not have enough places to work and the outflow of money from the country is not desirable for them, given the difficult economic situation.
"However, there is no need in Azerbaijan to take such measures. We do not have a lot of migrant workers, and all these processes are regulated by government agencies. It is possible that such a need will arise in the future and then the state structures will take appropriate measures," Allahveranov added.
Currently, Azerbaijan's State Migration Service jointly with the International Organization for Migration is planning to implement a pilot project that envisages the return of illegal migrants living in Azerbaijan to their countries.
The plan to deport illegal migrants has been discussed and agreed upon with the IOM. Its implementation is scheduled to begin after a while.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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