On the Draft Federal Law on Social and Cultural Adjustment and Integration of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation

Abstract

Introduction.The process of adaptation and integration of foreign citizens in the host country is of high importance to ensure the balance of interests of community members. Representatives of various branches of knowledge (philosophy, sociology, psychology, law, pedagogy, etc.) are engaged in its study. Today social adaptation and integration of migrants are in the zone of special attention of the Russian state since steady development of our society is dependent on successful implementation of such policies. In this article the author analyses certain provisions of the draft Federal Law “On Social and Cultural Adaptation and Integration of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” prepared by the Federal Agency for Nationalities Affairs and submitted for public discussion.Materials and methods.The main research methods used hereinafter are theoretical analysis of the text of a regulatory act, analysis and synthesis of scientifc literature, methods of abstraction and induction, comparison and analogy as well as a formal logical method.The results of the study.An analysis of the content of the Draft Law made it possible to identify a number of provisions that seem to require adjustment. In particular, there is a need: - to clarify the defnition of the concepts of “social adaptation” and “social integration”; - to defne the concepts of “cultural adaptation” and “cultural integration” matching them with the concepts of “social adaptation” and social integration”; - to fnalise and systematise the list of measures set forth in the Draft Law as the conditions necessary for the success of the adaptation process and the integration of foreign citizens in the host country; - to adjust the terminology used by the legislator in relation to the activities carried out by the state. The author makes certain conclusions and provides due reasoning in the course of the analysis of the Draft Law provisions.Discussion and conclusion.Given the complexity of the process of adaptation and integration of migrants, its legal regulation is an extremely diffcult task for the legislator. At the same time such effor ts are vital as the lack of clarity of the legal norm, the ambiguity of the concepts used in the law often lead to a distorted interpretation and perception of the social phenomena.