On-line session. The ‘Migration seminar’. Pavel Inozemtsev “Don’t confuse tourism with emigration”: the status of Russian-speaking longstayers in Vietnam

On December 15, 2021 an on-line session of the regular "Migration studies" seminar at the Institute of Social Policy of the Higher School of Economics was held. Pavel Inozemtsev, independent researcher “Don’t confuse tourism with emigration”: the status of Russian-speaking longstayers in Vietnam

Russian-speaking longstayers (the so-called "locals") are citizens of the countries of the former USSR who entered Vietnam when using long-term tourist visas and continued their stay for an indefinite term, periodically updating documents with the practice of "visa-run". For the bureaucratic apparatus of Vietnam and the countries of origin, these people are legitimate tourists. However, many longstayers are involved in unregistered labor activities on the territory of a foreign state, which is contrary to the visa regime and turns people into “illegal labor migrants”. The report will present examples from specific biographies of how longstayers existed in legal uncertainty and went unnoticed officially.

Discussant: Olga Tkach, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Saint Petersburg State University