Azerbaijan, Baku, July 23 /Trend, I.Khalilova/
The preparation of the draft Migration Code will be finalized in Azerbaijan by the end of 2010, the head of the migration department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Azerbaijan Rauf Tagiyev said on July 23.
"Today there are dozens of laws that govern the migration processes, and they will be assembled in a single paper - Code, Tagiyev said. The work on the draft Code is being completed completed".
The main task in the preparation of the Code is to bring legislation into the conformity with the signed conventions, mainly the European standards, after which the legislative acts will be included in the Code.
Preparation of the Code was launched in accordance with the tasks set within the State Migration Programme, designed for 2005-2008, which is aimed at improving the legislation.
Under current law, non-residents may obtain the status for temporary residence in Azerbaijan for a period of one year, which is renewable four times.
Permits may be issued in cases when a foreigner marries a citizen of Azerbaijan, has close relatives in the country, gets education at Azerbaijani universities, engages in labor activities on the basis of individual authorization, invests in Azerbaijan's economy more than 500,000 manat, has accounts in Azerbaijani banks in amount of 50,000 manat, if foreign nationals are leading specialists in the field of sports, culture, science and economy.
Under the current rules, foreigners and persons without citizenship may temporarily stay in the country not more than 90 days (exceptions are cases of implementation of international agreements). If prolonged for the second time, the period may be extended for 90 days (for persons over 18 years of age).
The list of persons, who have the right to extend the period of temporary residence in the country, includes foreigners and persons without citizenship who arrived in the country to urgently seek treatment, foreigners and persons without citizenship in the case of serious illness or death of loved ones, with request from the respective organizations to prolong the period of stay of foreigners or persons without citizenship, for official purposes, to complete any work.
All of these persons may apply to the State Migration Service not less than seven days before the expiration of the authorized period of stay in the country.
According to Tagiyev, during the first half of 2010 the total number of employees in Azerbaijan, foreign nationals grew by 55 percent to 7,091 people compared to the same period of last year. Also during the year, the number of persons who are issued permits increased by 29 percent up to 2,751 people, the permission was extended for 1,371 foreigners (with growth of 97 percent during the year).