Government of Uzbekistan wants to take control over uncontrolled labor immigration. According to the resolution of the government “On registration of the citizens seeking employment abroad” Gastarbeiters, labor migrants, who mainly work in Russia and Kazakhstan, have to come back to Uzbekistan, go through registration, pay custom dues, get the “green flag” and then go to work to Russia and Kazakhstan again. It is reported in news agency Fergana.ru in the article by Novye Izvestiya about new decision of the Uzbek officials.

According to Novye Izvestiya, all responsible government bodies are in charge of implementing the novelty of the Uzbek government.

The Statistics State Committee and Statistics Customs Committee will keep the tabs on everyone leaving the country and make quarterly reports. The Foreign Ministry in the meantime is expected to keep an eye on the Uzbeks abroad. Ministries of labor and social services and economics will issue “work abroad permits”.

So from now on, citizen, who have no other chance to survive but to go to another country to work under unbearable work conditions, where they are often discriminated (even killed), have to go through the tortures of government bureaucracy and “unofficial” taxes in their home country. Moreover, as the government wants to take under control the money that is flowing into the country, labor migrants have to share their income with the state. From what I have heard from labor migrants who are back, the average salary that labor migrant from Uzbekistan gets in Russia is about 250-300 USD. Novye Izvestiya reports:

Uzbek immigrants are upset. They suspect that registration will mean another financial strain. Moreover, the state budget is not going to be the only “recipient”. The State Customs Committee is supposed to see to implementation of the government resolution and everyone in Uzbekistan knows that customs officers never object to having their palms greased.

No one knows yet the amount of custom dues. If it is quite big money and plus money to “greasy palms”, labor migrants will have to sneak out of the country illegally. Though, those, who illegally leave Uzbekistan, may face other problems getting work legally in countries where they go to work, Russia and Kazakhstan, as there is great chance they will not be registered and given work permit, as they will not have work permit from Uzbekistan.

Novye Izvestiya also writes that regional authorities are happy to demonstrate their enthusiasm and loyalty, as according to Uznews.net, the government of the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakia is going to organize the return of 200,000 citizens from abroad. I think tracing labor migrants is a really difficult task. They may not have problems with legal migrants, who are registered in the places where they work, but with illegal migrants it is almost impossible. No one exactly knows how many Uzbek migrants are illegally working abroad and the most important where they are working. Some statistics, like the stats of the Russian Federal Service of Immigration given given in the article of Novye Izvestiya, say that number of illegal migrants are about 1.5 million in Russia.

I think the government should not put too much pressure on labor migrants, as government itself knows the importance of money flowing into country from labor migrants. Any pressure on migrants means the decrease in their numbers. One disadvantage for government in this is that this money is not going to the state’s budget, but to people’s pockets. That’s why Ferghana.Ru Chief Editor Daniil Kislov said to Novie Izvestiya that “there is the budget deficit to consider, and the authorities hope to replenish the treasury at labor immigrants’ expense”.

It is really hard to tell if it is good or not. However, one thing is obvious. It is making citizen much angrier towards the current regime.