Labour Migration

IOM Office in Moscow has an extensive experience in the field of labour migration.

Completed Projects

Facilitating Safe and Skilled Migration on the Central Asian – Russian Federation Corridor (2021)

Mobility between Central Asia and the Russian Federation represents one of the largest and most important labour migration corridors in the world. Labour mobility will continue to be critical to the economic development of both the Russian Federation and Central Asian countries as it serves to fill growing labour market and demographic gaps in the Russian Federation while providing employment opportunities and contributing to poverty reduction in Central Asia. The vast majority of migration in the corridor occurs in an unstructured manner with prospective migrants using social networks to plan their migration strategies and seek employment upon arrival in the city of destination. Such types of mobility create challenges for countries of origin and destination, as well as for prospective migrants and employers. 

Given these dynamics, there is a need and interest among stakeholders within the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and countries of origin in Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) to establish more structured labour mobility programmes that facilitate skills matching and recruitment from the country of origin itself.

The purpose of the Inception Phase is thus to understand needs from employer, government, and prospective migrant worker perspectives regarding the development of a managed labour migration system between Central Asian countries and the Russian Federation, as well as to align key stakeholders within the development of managed labour migration systems.

The Inception Phase will include:

(i)    research surveying employers in the Russian Federation to understand their needs and expectations regarding labour recruitment;
(ii)    research surveying prospective migrant workers and recruitment agents in countries of origin to understand needs and expectations to take part in managed recruitment schemes; 
(iii)    meetings bringing together key stakeholders to confirm the methodology of the inception and later assess survey results and co-design implementation plans for managed labour recruitment programmes;
(iv)    recommendations for pilot interventions for action research aimed at improving both the delivery and uptake of financial products.

The project’s specific outcomes and outputs are:

Outcome: Evidence-based understanding regarding the conditions for the design and implementation of the recruitment programme that are required to meet employer, migrant and recruiting agencies’ needs, expectations, and buy-in is enhanced.

Output 1: A comprehensive research on labour mobility dynamics and needs and expectations of relevant stakeholders (prospective migrants, employers and recruiters) is finalized.

Output 2: Recommendations for pilot interventions for action research aimed at improving both the delivery and uptake of financial products are formulated.

Output 3: A broader programme including, inter alia, suggestions on target sectors, institutions and municipalities, design and key conditions of recruitment and training programmes is drafted.

The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Project duration: January – November 2021.

Regional Migration Programme (2014-2015)

This programme concerns labour migration and is a logical continuation of Central Asia Regional Migration Programme (CARM) implemented by IOM, UN Women and the World Bank with a support of UK Aid (DFID) between 2010 and 2013. As such RMP builds on the results of CARM and is designed to ensure longer term sustainability of the CARMP/RMP intervention.

This programme aims to contribute to better protection of rights and enhancing social and economic opportunities of migrant men, women and their families. This is to be achieved through improving the capacity of government and other stakeholders for policy making and service implementation (Output 1 – implemented by IOM and the WB); Improving the services available for migrant workers and their families (Output 2 - implemented by IOM). Support to women and children left behind in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (Output 3 - implemented by UN Women).

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Central Asia Regional Migration Programme (2010-2013)

Central Asia Regional Migration Programme (CARM) is a complex programme in the field of labour migration and joins the efforts of IOM, UN Women and the World Bank with financial support of UK Government (UKAID/DFID) to reduce poverty in Central Asia.

CARM concerns labour migration, which has played a key part in reducing poverty levels in Central Asia. This is particularly so in the two poorest countries: the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Tajikistan. Most communities in rural areas in these countries are affected by migration, mainly to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan.

CARM’s view is that voluntary migration brings positive benefits to the developing countries because it can provide better economic and social opportunities for migrants: whether it is high skilled migration or internal one where rural population moves to urban territories. Furthermore, CARMP shares the view that migration should be viewed more as an important part of the development agenda. The main focus is to allow migrants to maximize the benefits and not make migration the only choice to survive.

Due to the complex nature of the labour migration this programme takes on comprehensive and holistic measures to promote policies and institutional procedures to respect, protect and fulfil labour migrants’ rights throughout the migration cycle.

The overall goal of CARM is to contribute to poverty reduction in Central Asia through the improved livelihoods of migrant men and women.

CARM purpose is to protect the rights and enhance the social and economic opportunities of migrant men, women and their families.

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Central Asia Labour Migration Programme (2007-2009)

This project is designed to assist the RF Government to develop necessary policy and legislative frames, to establish administrative and operational systems, as well as the basis for the administrative capacity building required for the solution of problems in the labour migration area. The successful labour migration management is subject to joint effective interstate management in the CA region and the RF. The project also strives to facilitate the development of transparent and well-coordinated approaches and mechanisms of labour migration management to be applied to all countries sharing a common migration space.

The key activities in the RF are as follows:

• improvement of the labour migration legislation of the RF;
• strengthening of the labour migration management system in CA countries to the RF;
• assistance to the labour migrants through information campaigns and the capacity building for the NGOs providing service to labour migrants;
• organization of expert consultations on migration legislation and policy development and institutional frameworks;
• improving the management of labour migration into Russian Federation;
• development and implementation of labour migration programs;
• exchange of experts in the field of labour migration;
• monitoring of the migration situation and the Russian migration legislation enforcement practices;
• strengthening of migration data collection systems in the Russian Federation;
• conducting research and exchange of public information on migration, in particular, on irregular migration and smuggling of migrants;
• increasing the availability of information on the conditions of immigration to the Russian Federation in foreign countries.

The project is funded by the European Commission and the International Organization for Migration. 

Project duration: June 2007 – December 2009