Migration Service talks granting citizenship, getting permanent residence permit
Azerbaijan’s State Migration Service talked about conditions for granting the citizenship, changes made with respect to foreigners staying in the country and other issues in an interview with Azernews.
Azerbaijan’s State Migration Service talked about conditions for granting the citizenship, changes made with respect to foreigners staying in the country and other issues in an interview with Azernews.
Last year, a number of new legal acts have been adopted to protect the rights and freedoms of foreigners and migrants, as well as to simplify the legislation.
Deputy Chief at the Public Relations department of State Migration Service Elnur Kalantarov said that the registration of foreigners in their place of residence in the country is now applied to those who are temporarily staying in Azerbaijan for more than 15 days. Previously, the number of days one could stay in Azerbaijan without registration was ten.
Foreigners or stateless persons who have continuously and legally resided in the territory of Azerbaijan for the last five years, have a legal source of income, who are obliged to abide by the Constitution and the laws of Azerbaijan and who submit a document proving the knowledge of the Azerbaijani, regardless of origin, race or nationality, political or other convictions, may be granted citizenship of Azerbaijan upon their own request.
The term of permanent residence of a foreigner or stateless person in the territory of Azerbaijan is calculated since the date of granting a permanent residence permit.
In addition, foreign and stateless persons may be granted Azerbaijan’s citizenship without taking into account the residence period indicated above, if the person has high achievements in the fields of science, technology, culture or sports, as well as if he or she is of particular interest to Azerbaijan and in other exceptional cases.
Persons residing in Azerbaijan apply for Azerbaijani citizenship to the State Migration Service, while persons residing in foreign countries apply to the diplomatic missions or consulates of Azerbaijan. The documents received by diplomatic missions and consulates of Azerbaijan abroad are sent to the Foreign Ministry.
If a person applying for citizenship of Azerbaijan calls for a violent change of the state system enshrined in the Constitution of Azerbaijan, commits actions that harm state security, public peace, health or morality of the population, promotes racial, religious and national exclusivity, and also if this person is associated with terrorist activity, the application for citizenship is denied.
Last year, the Training Center of the Migration Service organized free training courses for foreigners living in Azerbaijan to study their rights and obligations as well as Azerbaijani language, history, culture. Hundreds of people from about 40 countries attended the courses.
Also, more than 1,300 foreigners and stateless persons have been trained in their rights and responsibilities, history and culture of Azerbaijan, as well as psycho-social issues within “Strengthening cooperation for effective human trafficking through capacity building and technical support in Azerbaijan - Phase VI” project carried out by IOM.
The new mobile application of the State Migration Service - MIGAZ was presented to the public in December 2018 to simplify access to electronic services, as well as to minimize the time spent on appeals to the Service and on registration at the place of residence.
At present, the foreigners are provided with the opportunities of the issuance of registration, temporary and permanent residence permits,
The mobile application also allows checking the restriction and appeal status of foreigners visiting or leaving the country, calculating the latest registration history, making online payment, taking a place in online queue, using "ASAN visa" and other services. Requests in this mobile app proceed in Azerbaijani, English and Russian languages.
Taking into account the significant increase in the number of foreigners coming to our country, a large-scale information campaign was launched in December last year.
The cooperation has been established with Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping, Baku International Sea Trade Port, Azerbaijan Railways, Baku Transport Agency, Park Cinema and Cinema Plus cinema network, 189 Taxi, Park Bulvar, Dafne-Dalida restaurant network within the framework of this campaign. The campaign was conducted in two directions: general information through video clips and targeted information for foreigners.
As many as 103,741 phone calls were received by the Service's Call Center (919 telephone lines). Over 3,580 appeals were responded through "Interactive correspondence" via the official website. Answering questions from WhatsApp mobile application is also provided since November 2018.
Touching upon the labor rights of foreigners, the Service’s representative emphasized that the same conditions as defined by law for Azerbaijani citizens, are applied to the migrant workers.
Azerbaijan joined the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in 1998, and in 2010, the Convention on legal status of migrant workers and members of their families of the State Parties of the CIS.
Involvement of foreigners and stateless persons in paid labor in Azerbaijan is regulated by labor quota. In accordance with the quota number, foreigners and stateless persons are granted work permits in Azerbaijan.
Privileges were granted in terms of issuing work permits to foreigners working in Garadagh Industrial Park to ensure sustainable development of the non-oil sector, to support entrepreneurship, to apply discounts to entrepreneurs engaged in the organization of competitive industrial production based on modern technologies and to provide the state support to stimulate the development of this sector.
In the end, the spokesperson of Migration Service spoke about the role of ASAN service in the implementation of migration services.
He noted that in addition to a range of public services, the ASAN service centers also provide relevant services in the field of migration, while improving the quality of service, ensuring transparency and expanding the service network, including the principle of operability, transparency and courtesy in ensuring citizen satisfaction.
These services include identification of citizenship; registration at the place of residence; and issuance of work permits
Answering to the question about the cooperation in the fight against illegal migration Kalantarov stated that over the past year, the State Migration Service has attached special importance to the expansion of bilateral and multilateral relations and participation in international projects.
He underlined that the relations with organizations such as the United Nations (UN), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the European Union (EU), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and international dialogue tools, including cooperation within the framework of the Prague, Budapest and Almaty processes has been expanded.
Furthermore, within the framework of the fight against illegal migration, Azerbaijan has ratified the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime on May 13, 2003, and two of its supplementary Protocols namely, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air and Sea.