Migration of Highly Qualified Specialists from Russia: Methodology and Trends

The aim  of the research  is to develop a methodology  and  assess the cross-border flows of HQs from Russia (permanent  and temporary  labor migrants),  taking  into account  the peculiarities of the legislative conditions  established  by the host country  (the criterion  of  the  entry  channel),  on  the  example  of  the  United States  and  South  Korea.

Materials and  methods.  The  focus  is on  the  analysis  of  legal regimes  of  entry  in  terms  of  the  identification   of  the  category of HQs  and  the  calculation  of their number  using a situational approach. The study used general theoretical methods and statistical methods:  analysis  of the dynamics  of absolute  and  relative values.  The  information  and  statistical  base  of  the  study  was made  up of data from the Russian  State  Statistics,  data from the statistical  Agency  – Eurostat,  data  from  the  US  State  Agency for Citizenship  and Immigration, data from the Korean Statistics Agency KOSIS, data  from the Headhunter survey.

Results:

– Three  criteria have  been developed  on the basis of which  the evaluation  of the  number  of migrants-HQs from  Russia  can  be made.  These  are the  following: the  criterion  of the  entry  channel;  the  criterion  of income  and  the  educational  criterion.  The features of each criterion and  the possibility of its application  to estimate  the number  of HQs  who  left the country  are specified.

– Identified  the boundaries  of the category of persons included in the HQs  in accordance  with  the visa regimes of the USA  and South  Korea. This  identification  has distinctive  features in each case and is determined  by the level of development  of the country for  which  the  calculation  of  the  number  of  HQs,  who  left  the country,  in this case – for Russia.

– The  estimation  of the  dynamics  of the  number  of HQs,  who left Russia  to the United  States  and  South  Korea,  based  on the criterion  of  the  channel  of  entry,  that  is,  in  accordance  with the  legal conditions  of entry  of this category of persons in each country  separately.

Conclusion.  The  article deals with  the methodological  problems of accounting  for the  migration  of Highly  Qualified  Specialists from Russia,  analyzes  the volume and dynamics  of their flows to individual  countries: the United  States  and  South  Korea.

Estimates  of the number  of HQs  who  have  emigrated  from Russia to the United States and South  Korea,  have been calculated  based on the identification  of this category of persons in accordance  with legislative modes of entry for different specialists, established in these countries,  and  taking  into account  the peculiarities of determining the HQs contingent for Russia. If the US law provides for a separate entry  procedure  for HQs,  and  the  calculation  of their  number  is not difficult,  the legislation of South  Korea does not have  special types of visas for HQs,  so their identification  and calculation of the number  is carried  out by allocating  a range of visas,  which  were used for the persons entering the country,  representing the category of  HQs  for  Russia.  The  peculiarity  of  the  approach  used  in  the work  is also that the number of HQs,  both in the US and in South Korea,  includes  persons who  have  entered  for reasons of transfers within  companies.  Calculations  similar  to those  presented  in  this paper should be made for a number of other countries – migration partners of Russia,  which  will make  it possible to obtain an overall estimate  of the number  of HQs  who  left Russia  and  to assess the loss of human  capital.

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