RUSSIA: Immigration News
RUSSIA
The Federal Migration Service of Russia has been reorganized.
On April 5, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a Presidential Order reorganizing the Federal Migration Service of Russia. Specifically, it no longer exists as an independent government service. It is one of the departments of the Internal Affairs Ministry.
Previously, the Federal Migration Service had been a part of the Internal Affairs Ministry. It was detached from the Internal Affairs Ministry and established as a separate government service in 2004.
Over the last few years, Federal Migration Service officials complained that the Service did not belong to the so-called “enforcement agencies” and was therefore not able to conduct investigations, arrest people, and overall engage in operational-search activity. The Service constantly required Internal Affairs assistance in such matters. The “merger” is expected to solve this problem.
President Putin also announced that a third of the Federal Migration Service employees will be dismissed. It remains to be seen whether this will affect the efficiency of the Service.
The change is only organizational and no related legislative changes in the immigration sphere have yet been made.
Kirillova Olga Evgenievna has been appointed as the chief of the Federal Migration Service, replacing Romodanovskiy Konstantin Olegovich.
