The Republic of Azerbaijan .png)
A press conference dedicated to the results of the six months of the current year held at the State Migration Service
During the six months of this year, the State Migration Service continued to ensure full transparency in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, to improve the regulatory framework and administrative proceedings in line with the best international practice and to provide satisfaction of the applicants.
It was widely reported at the press conference dedicated to the results of the first half of 2018 at State Migration Service (SMS).
At the event, where media and civil society representatives attended the Chief of State Migration Service, Vusal Huseynov made a presentation about the activities of the organization – registration of foreigners and stateless persons upon place of stay, extension of temporary staying period, permits for temporary and permanent residence, admission and restoration of citizenship, as well as establishment of citizenship and determinaton refugee status, also obtaining work permits for labor activity and extension of existing work permits.
Statistical data on the activities of the Service and the work done have been reflected in the presentation.
Thus, 827,352 foreigners and stateless persons in 1,324,075 cases was registered in the country during 6 months of this year. (This number in the corresponding period of 2017 was 747.107 persons in 1,199,770 cases). This indicates a 10% increase in the number of foreigners coming to the country.
Chief of the Service highlighted that, 347,767 foreigners and stateless persons were registered upon place of stay during the reporting period (During the relevant period of 2017 number was 315.736). This means a 10% increase compared to last year.
During the first half of the year, the Service received 38,360 applications on obtaining of stay and residence permissions in the country, work permits for carrying out paid labor activities, refugee status, adoption, restoration, revocation and establishment of citizenship of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
25% increase was recorded in the number of foreigners and stateless persons granted permanent residence and this figure was 1,859 (During the relevant period of 2017 number was 1.487)
According to the information as of July 1 of this year, while 32,648 foreigners and stateless persons reside temporarily in the country 11,288 persons resides on a permanent basis.
During the reporting period, 13,341 applications (during the relevant period of 2017 number was 15,675) were received by the Service for establishment of the citizenship.
There were 322 requests for 640 persons related to the readmission of Azerbaijani citizens living in an uncertain situation in foreign countries. Readmission of 206 citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan implemented.
V.Huseynov emphasized that one of the main directions of activities of the Service is the fight against illegal migration, the relevant decisions were made about 9,603 foreigners and stateless persons, as well as citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan who violated the requirements of migration legislation (during the relevant period of 2017 number was 9,396). This means a 2% increase compared with the previous period.
In the country 23% increasewas observed in number of persons residing on the basis of refugee status (Registered at SMS). Currently, the number of these persons is 75 (46 applicants with 29 family members), (in the appropriate period of 2017 (43 applicants with 18 family members) number was 61 persons).
The number of calls to the "Call Center" has increased by 10%, which was 51,394 in the first half of the year (in the appropriate period of 2017 number was 46,992). 18% (9.377) of calls answered in live mode was related to permission for temporary residence and 10% (5.383) related to registration upon place of stay.
At the moment, work is being done in order to expand the possibilities of e-services related to migration. Another electronic service has been launched by State Migration Service - a system that allows to check the existence of travel ban.
The official website of the Service has been improved in terms of content, technical capacity, visual and accessibility, as well. New sections and subsections have been created. User interface have been simplified. The social networking capabilities of the service have also been widely used. The official Facebook page of the organization was created in May of this year, where information is regularly updated and the questions are promptly answered.
A hotline has been created at the Service, which provides direct access to the Chief of State Migration Service for consideration of work permits. An electronic labor visa was provided via ASAN Visa system.
Preliminary business discussions were held with the initiative of the SMS about ensuring transparency regarding work permits, establishment of the Advisory Council under the State Migration Service with the participation of representatives of local and foreign entrepreneurship confederations, representatives of large companies applying for work permits in order to analyze the difficulties encountered by employers. At present, regulatory basis for the Advisory Board's activities are being developed.
The legislation has been amended during the reporting period in order to improve migration processes in the country in line with the modern requirements.
The State Migration Service conducts regular work for the purpose of informing the public, foreigners and stateless persons in different languages. Thus, in connection with the registration upon place of stay, the duration of which was recently increased from 10 days to 15 days according to changes recently introduced in the legislation, informative leaflets are prepared by the State Migration Service in a new design in Azerbaijani, Russian and English languages and presented to foreigners and stateless persons entering our country at checkpoints of state border. Also a new video tape was produced in 3 languages in order to inform about the registration of foreigners and stateless persons upon place of stay, which is demonstrated in the receptions of the Service, the airport and other relevant places.
Chief of the Service noted that 6 months of the current year focused on enhancing bilateral and multilateral cooperation with international organizations operating in the field of migration and related organizations of foreign countries for more effective regulation of migration processes and the development of international relations of the State Migration Service. The service has continued a number of successful projects with partner countries' migration authorities, as well as international organizations. Meetings with representatives of international organizations, as well as with the ambassadors of several countries in our country were held and prospects of cooperation were discussed.
V.Huseynov stated that additionally, the opportunity to apply for registration upon the place of stay was expanded, the opportunity to register at "ASAN service" centers has also been created. Work is being done in the direction of preparing a mobile application for registration upon place of stay.
During the reporting period, a total of 34 awareness-raising events, 14mobile services including regional conferences in the field of awareness raising in the fight against statelessness were organized in the regions and cities covered by the regional migration departments of the SMS.
140 information posted on the website of the Service (www.migration.gov.az) (in the appropriate period of 2017 number was 87).
Indicators of the past six months allow us to say that in 2018 SMS will succeed fulfillment of all the tasks.
