Legality for sale

What makes the Russian migration regime unique is the blurred boundary between legality and illegality in the status of migrants, which is the principal source of uncertainty and precarity in their everyday lives. Despite possessing a valid visa, work permit, and residence registration, many Vietnamese in my study do not consider themselves documented migrants. Without exception, they all have entered Russia legally, with a tourist, student, business, or dependent visa. Illegality often presents itself in three main forms: overstaying the original visa; living at a place different from the registered address; and engaging in paid employment without a work permit/patent. In situations where the migrant is able to acquire a valid document, such as a work permit or a long-term dependent visa in Russia, it is largely obtained via informal channels with the assistance of commercial go-betweens. The possession of these documents, however, does not guarantee legal status because the migrant is neither sure about their authenticity nor able to demonstrate that they are currently living at the registered address. Document forgery is common across the brokerage networks catering to Vietnamese communities. Migration documents, as such, do not necessarily protect migrants from abuse, money extortion, or arbitrary detention by police or FMS officers. The complex and corrupt bureaucratic system dealing with migrants’ right to work and residence in Russia opens up lucrative income-generating avenues for commercial brokers as well as Russian bureaucrats. The migration industry thrives on the lack of transparency, red tape, and increasingly restrictive regulations regarding migrants from outside the CIS.

The most common channel for acquiring a work permit is through a legally registered business with a quota for foreign workers. The introduction of a foreign labor quota in 2002 created an additional source of profits for small and medium enterprises, who could sell their quotas to migration brokers instead of granting them to their workers as required by law. Liva of the Lion Group – once the largest and most successful Vietnamese garment company in Russia – became the subject of a police investigation in 2013 due to such violations. Liva had been employing thousands of Vietnamese workers prior to the investigation and, as a result, was entitled to a sizeable quota for foreign labor. This meant the company was able to provide the visas, work permits, and residence registrations for their foreign workers at no cost.