Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The growing pace of economic globalization has created more migrant workers than ever before. Unemployment and increasing poverty have prompted many workers in some countries to seek work elsewhere outside their homeland.

Today, migrant workers account for 150 million of the world’s approximately 244 million international migrants.

Azerbaijan, which set out to develop its non-oil sector by creating new jobs in different spheres, is attracting thousands of migrant workers to the country.

Rasim Agasiyev, the representative Office of the Presidium of the ANAS said that the number of labor workers coming to Azerbaijan is increasing for the past several years.

Speaking at the international seminar on “Protecting the rights of migrant workers and their integration into society”, Agasiyev explained the cause of labor migration, by increase of the economic reforms conducted in the country, as well as by the implementation of international projects.

“State Migration Service’s last statistics shows that the number of foreign citizens and stateless persons who have applied for residence registration in Azerbaijan reached 50,082 people. Some 3,800 people addressed for permission of temporary and permanent residence in the country. A total of 4,140 foreigners applied for Azerbaijani citizenship,” he said.

Azerbaijan provides a number of factors for labor migrants to temporarily engage in the country.

One of the factors is business climate in the country, which is going better and better year by year. The government has been taken and continues to take steps for further improvement of the economic situation in the country.

From a geopolitical point of view, Azerbaijan is of great importance for implementation of strategic social and economic projects. Moreover, the government is set favorably towards migrant workers, which cannot be said about other countries where migrants are often subjected to discrimination and moral humiliation.

Migrant workers flow to Azerbaijan from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, Georgia, India, Russia and China. In total, Azerbaijan hosts migrant workers from 118 countries.

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.

Sometimes, Azerbaijan is forced to use the services of migrant workers. The fact is that the county has few experts on certain profiles.

Earlier last September, Chairman of the Sustainable Development Research Center, Nariman Agayev noted that a migrant worker in Azerbaijan earns 300-800 manats ($199-$531) per month. Each month they sent home around $50 million.

Azerbaijan has improved its migration legislation in accordance with international norms over the past few years. According to changes made to the Migration Code in 2013, registration of the migrants at their residences and application for other relevant standards became simplified.

Foreigners and stateless persons arriving in Azerbaijan for a period exceeding three days should register with the Migration Service, providing a copy of the person's ID to the Migration Service personally, or via 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 one working day.

Foreigners can be registered for the period provided in 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.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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