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[expatella_girl]

Duma Looks to Give Foreign Teachers a Break
11 March 2010
By Irina Filatova

State Duma deputies will hear a bill in a key second reading later this month that would streamline the current process for employers to register foreign teachers.

Regulations put in place last year by the Federal Migration Service have made it extremely difficult for Russian universities and language schools to hire foreign teachers.

Since November, employers have had an additional administrative hoop to jump through: Language schools must request permission from the migration service to hire a certain number of foreign teachers and then receive permits allowing such hires.

But if the bill is passed, employers would be able to bypass regional employment services by sending hiring requests for foreign teachers directly to the Federal Migration Service, service spokesman Konstantin Poltoranin said.

Previously, foreign teachers working in Russia only needed work visas, which could be automatically extended if their employment contracts were renewed.

But the Federal Migration Service had to tighten regulations after the Prosecutor General�s Office initiated a nationwide check when a Turkish extremist group called Nurdzhular was discovered in Tatarstan in May.

Members of the group had been teaching at schools in the area for more than 10 years. Alarm was raised when pupils started idealizing Turkey and decrying Russia, said Vyacheslav Sizov, head of the extremism watchdog at the Prosecutor General�s Office, RIA-Novosti reported.

As part of a series of measures created to prevent further extremist ideas from being spread by foreign teachers, the government sent a bill to the Duma excluding teachers from the list of foreigners who do not require work permits.

The first reading of the new bill was scheduled for last fall, but consideration was delayed because the bill �wasn't compatible with the democratic norms,� said Grigory Balykhin, a United Russia deputy who heads the State Duma's Education Committee.

After clarifications were added, deputies passed the bill in a first reading on Feb. 26, he said.

"The new version of the bill is aimed at putting things in order and supporting qualified foreign teaching staff. It also proposes that employers should provide accommodation for the foreign teachers they hire," Balykhin told The Moscow Times.

The bill also stipulates that language schools will not have to report the number of teachers they want to hire, a requirement in line with the country�s work permit quotas for foreigners.

"Language schools will have to file a request explaining that they want to hire native speakers to improve the quality of the educational process. Based on this request, we'll give work permits and work visas," said Poltoranin, of the Federal Migration Service, adding that the whole procedure would take a month.

Even if the bill is passed, language schools would still have to prove that there are no qualified Russian candidates who could fill the positions, Balykhin said.

But while the Duma is considering the bill, Moscow language schools say they can neither employ new foreign teachers nor prolong work visas for those whose contracts will expire soon.

"The Federal Migration Service has stopped the procedure of giving out and extending work visas to foreign teachers, saying the interpretation of the existing law has changed," said Anastasia Pokhilko, an HR director at BKC-International House. "Foreign teachers can't extend their work visas and have to leave the country once they expire. Some of the foreign teachers working at our school have already left."

"Language schools will have to request permission to hire a certain number of foreign teachers before the State Duma passes the bill,� Poltoranin said.

But the situation is getting even more complicated since language schools have missed the deadline for reporting the number of foreign teachers they intend to hire.

To hire teachers in 2010, schools should have reported these figures to the Federal Migration Service between January and May last year.

Yelena Yuzhina, human resources director at Big Ben, a company operating a number of language schools throughout Moscow, said that last year, her company only hired foreigners as consultants, not teachers.

�But when we decided to hire native speakers to teach at our school, we found out that the old scheme � when it was enough to obtain work visas for them � didn't work anymore," Yuzhina said.

To report the number of foreign teachers they plan to hire, language schools say they have to get approval from the Moscow Labor and Employment Department�s joint commission, which meets twice a month and has the power to adjust the quotas for employers to hire foreign staff.

The city cut the quota for work permits this year by almost half to 1.94 million people, compared with 3.98 million people a year earlier, Yury Gertsy, head of the Federal Labor and Employment Service, said last month.

Such a significant drop was the result of the economic crisis and the country�s subsequent increased unemployment rate, he said.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/duma-looks-to-give-foreign-teachers-a-break/401365.html

[maruss]

it will be very interesting to see what happens this time..and also how long before they decide to change the rules once again!

[jpvanderwerf2001]

I certainly hope that they make the process easier and faster. Our school has been waiting for a long time for our quota, if we are to get one. We are very, very lucky to have two native speakers with residency on staff, or it'd be really tough going.
We shall see what happens!

[coledavis]

As I think I've said before, I don't think the laws change just to annoy English teachers. What happens is that the government changes the law in a sweeping way - immigration is something that bothers much of the populace - and different people get caught up in the changes before they make the necessary adjustments. Also, they don't currently seem to have a decision-making process relating to whether or not legislation is applied retrospectively.

As an example, I posted some books and clothing that I wanted to keep from Siberia to England (as very much cheaper than taking on the plane with me). Apparently, a new postage law came into force while the parcel was in transit between Novosibirsk and Moscow and my parcel was returned to the snowy wastes. After I sent a document testifying to my ownership and asking them to make any necessary changes, the post office apologised and have re-sent my parcel. Let's hope the current law stays in force for the duration of my parcel's journey.

[Sashadroogie]

Ah! Is there anything so moot as speculating on future changes to the law in a land that is essentially lawless?

[coledavis]

Oh the law definitely applies to most people..

[Sashadroogie]

Yes, there is the key word - most.

Many laws are arbitrarily applied in Russia, and only so as to assist the criminal activities of the people who do not comprise the 'most'. The legal system is quite weak here, as I'm sure you know well, and there is not much faith, even by the locals, in the hope of getting justice. And let's not forget the law enforcers who are above the law...

The best one can hope for is that whatever authorities you appeal to can selfishly benefit from doing something resembling their duty - as when a TEFL teacher reports school tax evasion. Of course nobody would care about teachers directly, or their rights, but the thought of being able to shake down a company is usually very appealing to the powers that be, so any invitation by a disgruntled staff member would likely be seized upon.

This current visa mess is only the latest of many others - it will pass. There are always crooked ways...

[coledavis]

Sorry, but although I did indeed imply that the law doesn't apply to some people, I do think that contributors have a tendency to make sweeping generalisations based upon political analysis. On the ground, plenty of people abide by the rules and stick by the rules.

If I remember, a lot of the teflers who have criticised government interventions have been the same individuals who wanted to come in on business visas (illegal), who resent paying tax (illegal) and generally act in their personal lives as if the law of another country is somehow irrelevant.

[Sashadroogie]

Well I for one have a healthy respect for the law. Not just out of fear of retribution, but out of good conscience. However, the very idea of a disinterested legal system that protects a state's citizens, and its 'guests', this is an alien idea here. Not such a sweeping generalisation. Laws change, seemingly randomly, get applied retroactively, thus making criminals of even the most law-abiding of us.

Yes taxes have to be paid, but it is employers for the most part who fail to do this. Yes, working full-time on a business visa is/was illegal, but again this occurred because schools operated that way as much as freelance teachers did. When pressed, most school owners can only say they cannot operate otherwise. It's a little like the environmental regulations that exist (they do, really!) Were they actually enforced, most businesses would have to shut down. But protecting the environment is not their true purpose anyway. Instead, they provide an excuse to extract bribes.

Any of us could be found guilty of unwittingly breaking countless petty regulations if we were placed under scrutiny. However, when you look at the force that is supposed to uphold the law, I think it is easier to see why lots of locals believe that their land is basically lawless

[coledavis]

[Sashadroogie]

Dear Coledavis

Hey old chap, don't worry about it. I didn't think you were saying anything untoward at all. Despite your feeling under the weather and all. Just don't agree with a few minor points.

Anyway, to quickly reply to a few issues raised - 1. It is my business whether or not my school is paying the tax on my salary. They deduct it from me, so I'd hope that it actually does get passed on to the government. This can easily be checked. 2. You are quite right that there are many self-interested teachers out there abusing the system. I'm not excusing that. But the system itself seems designed to stifle anything approaching a civil, stable society. Whatever aspect you look at, no forethought seems evident. The new immigration and visa issue is just one case in point. An absolute, sweeping, one-size-fits-all rule resulting in valuable foreign employees no longer being eligible to work here (not EFL teachers, heh heh.) No foresight. No interest. 3. The wider politics of what? The police? This does have a direct bearing on life as a TEFLer in Russia. Sadly, they have even less of a clue as to what's going on re visas than the average teacher they stop on the street to have his documents inspected. Doesn't stop them from trying it on, though.

Please don't get me wrong. I am fully aware that we as teachers are fantastically pampered compared to other sectors of society here. But that is because we are basically ignored by the authorities, thank goodness. I personally like to keep it that way by keeping my head down. However, I am under no illusion that were push to come to shove, then I'd have no recourse to the law at all. It doesn't really exist to protect me or you. Forgive me for saying, but we've both been graced by good luck so far, and I hope neither of us ever has our vulnerability demonstrated to us.

[coledavis]

A couple of minor points, Sashadroogie. Having been in the cells in Russia, I have had the old vulnerability exposed (fortunately little else). Re. tax: yes, one would like to be sure that tax deducted has gone to the right place, but have you got any proof that the company itself has truly taken the risk of tax evasion. The government under Mr Putin's presidency became quite aggressive in pursuing tax, so I think it a rather brave company that operates in public and fails to pay its whack.

[Sashadroogie]

What schools deduct from the actual earnings of staff, and what they what they then pay to the state on the declared income are often two different sums. Proof is hard to come by, but the whole point is one doesn't need to find it directly oneself. Merely the suggestion that one might contact the authorities is enough to sort any matters or dispute out. No employer wants to deal with 'the law'. More criminal activities like bribery would ensue.

Curiosity is mounting. I'm trying hard to refrain from asking how you came to be in a cell. My first thoughts are that you committed the crime of the century and didn't have valid registration, those pointless documents that the law cares so much about...

[coledavis]

No, I always get registered. This small-time offender forgot to carry his papers. "Why haven't you got your papers?" "Well, in my home country, we don't need them." "Well, you're not in your home country, are you sunshine?" "Yes, sorry." "You will be; we've got anti-terrorist powers." (Loose translation from the Russian.)

[Sashadroogie]

Yes, as I was saying about the absence of the rule of law... quite different from the workings of a police state which subverts laws for its own ends.