Republic of Moldova immigration : volume and policy

Migration of Moldovan population has been one of the main issues since Moldova’s independence. Immigration in particular takes place for a variety of reasons: family reunification, study, work, repatriation to homeland, humanitarian reasons to save human life, health, honor and dignity given military, political, religious, racial conflict (refugees and persons who are seeking shelters), etc. It can carry both legal and illegal forms (illegal and illegal transit migration). In terms of volume, number of people, the immigration into the Republic of Moldova is much higher than emigration. Nevertheless, it can help fill in the need for qualified and professional labour-force that Moldova has as a result of mass emigration of its citizens. There is certain specificity in the regulation of immigration processes in Moldova. From the beginning the Moldovan government declared its openness to migration issues, while welcoming legitimate (regulated) and counteracting illegal (irregular) immigration. The immigration policy was based on the principle of "immigration and security". One of the first laws adopted was the law "On Migration" which aimed to counter the mass irregular immigration from other post-Soviet republics. After this, for a long time immigration was out of the real attention of the Moldovan authorities, due to a small number of immigrants and irrelevance of the issue to the national public opinion. Under the influence of European institutions the attitude towards immigration is changing. Governmental agencies are becoming more active in regulating immigration. In an effort to solve the increasing problems of the national labor market, the Moldovan authorities are trying to guide immigration flows to the development of the country, to act on the basis of "Immigration - development". Using co-operation with international organizations, and the aid from the European Union, Moldova takes real steps to unify Moldovan policy framework with the European Union policy framework. At the same time the immigration policy of the Republic of Moldova is becoming more modern, integrated and consistent.Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration (CARIM-East) is co-financed by the European University Institute and the European Unio