OREANDA-NEWS. According to the data of the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, in the period from January till April 2019, the immigration increase in the population of Russia grew and exceeded the values ​​of 10 previous years. At the same time, the share of immigrants legalized in the labour market has decreased.

In the first 4 months of 2019, the immigration increase in the population amounted to 98 thousand people. In the same period of 2018, this figure was 57.1 thousand people. The number of departures remained almost unchanged.

The number of immigrants from Armenia and Ukraine increased the most. The growth of immigration from Belorussia and Moldavia fell.

On June 1, 2019, there were 4.4 million labour migrants (people who indicated employment as a goal of entry) in Russia, 0.2 million more than on the same date a year earlier. 97 % of them arrived from the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Compared to 2018, there are more immigrants from Central Asia, and fewer citizens of Ukraine and Moldavia.

The immigrant workers had 1.7 million valid work permits and patents (1.85 million a year earlier). Over 1.1 million people had the right to work without such documents. Thus, about 64 % of labour immigrants potentially had the opportunity to find a job in Russia legally. A year earlier, the share of such workers was 69 %.

The volume of migration within Russia fell. Compared to the first months of 2018, the number of long-term migratory movements within the country decreased by 38.3 thousand people (3.2 %). The centres of attraction for migrants, as in previous years, are the Moscow and St. Petersburg agglomeration, and Krasnodarskiy Kray.