Foreign workers at the Kaluga Region department of the Russian Federal Migration Service
Photo: Dmitry Lebedev
| Other Photos |
 |
|
 |
Senators Want Migrants to Speak Russian
Deputy speaker of the Russian Federation Council Alexander Torshin and deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Industrial Policy Vladimir Slutsker have prepared amendments to the law “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation.” The amendments are intended to encourage the study of the Russian language. The senators are proposing that workers who show the migration service that they have passed a Russian-language proficiency examination be granted work permits for longer periods and be allowed easier renewal procedures for those permits. The Russian examination will not be mandatory.
There are plans to organize Russian classes for migrant workers at foreign student centers at institutions of higher education. There are about 250 such centers now and well as in group residences, such as dormitories. Employers will pay for the instruction. The migrant workers will be expected to meet the same requirements as students of Russian as a foreign language, who are tested with the Test of Russian as a Foreign Language (Russian abbreviation TRKI). The test, which was developed in 1998, establishes six gradations of knowledge, from elementary to fluent.
Elementary knowledge of Russian will be sufficient for migrant workers. The TRKI defines that as knowledge of about 780 words and the ability to form and answer simple questions. The exam also requires at that level the reading of a text of 250-300 words, delivery of a seven-phrase monolog and the writing of a seven-phrase text. A similar bill was introduced into the State Duma in 2007. That bill would have made the test mandatory, however. Roszarubezhtsentr, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s cultural exchange arm, has also developed a system to certify foreigners’ knowledge of Russian.
www.kommersant.com
|
|
|
