Jelena Milincic: yes... I am from Serbia... I have lived in Russia for 11 years... I can say that Russia has become my second home but I still do not have Russian citizenship... if I file for citizenship now the process will take at least 5 or 6 years... but in order to do that I need to own an apartment for example... in order to get an apartment I have to take out a mortgage but I have to be a Russian citizen for that... it is a vicious cycle... so it seems that in the West where this is a more serious issue like you said... Vladimir Putin: it is easier to get citizenship than in Russia... Jelena Milincic: that is why it is a more serious issue because it is easier to get citizenship... will anything change in Russia in this respect?... Vladimir Putin: we have to be very careful here making sure we protect the interests of the majority... our country is Russia... 85% of our citizens consider themselves Russians... other people groups living on our territories are closer to us than those living outside Russia... these are our indigenous people... there are over 120 ethnicities indigenous to Russia... you have lived here for 11 years?... but it takes 5-6 years to get citizenship you said... you should have filed already... Jelena Milincic: I have to have residence registration for that... Vladimir Putin: you could have bought some basic housing... Jelena Milincic: but how can I take out a mortgage?... Vladimir Putin: I think if you really wanted to become a citizen you could have bought a room in an apartment outside Moscow just to meet necessary requirements to file for citizenship... observe the formalities... Jelena Milincic: is not the fact that I have lived/ worked here for 11 years enough?... Vladimir Putin: it is... I think you are right... we do have to adjust our immigration policies in some cases... we have to welcome professionals like you... you are a young/ beautiful woman... I am sorry but it is true that you are a woman of childbearing age... your boss here sets a good example by the way... some countries... Canada for example have special programs to attract certain categories of people from other countries... unfortunately our system is very outdated in this respect... there have been some developments in this area... there are initiatives to make the citizenship procedure easier for certain categories of people from the former Soviet Union... but as a whole, our immigration policy lacks flexibility... it has to protect interests of Russian citizens but it also needs to allow for an inflow of specialists that our country needs... so you are absolutely right... like I said the government is working on that...
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 00:53:47 +0000
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