DUSHANBE, September 20, Asia-Plus - Tajikistan intends to reduce a number of offices for issuing Tajik passports for foreign travel in the Russian Federation, Anvar Boboyev, the head of the State Migration Service within the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, said.  

According to him, since Tajik citizens staying in Russia are not so active in getting passports from these offices, the Russian side has proposed to reduce of number of them from five to three. 

“According to our Russian colleagues, at present some 120,000 Tajik nationals staying in Russia use internal Republic of Tajikistan passports,” said Boboyev, “More than 750,000 Tajik citizens have to date received passports for foreign travel; of them, only 15,000 have received passports from the offices opened in Russia.”

The Russian side has suggested that offices for issuing Tajik foreign passports should remain in those Russian regions, where the majority of Tajik labor migrants are working: Volgograd, Astrakhan and Moscow regions. 

In the meantime, 4,800 Tajik nationals have been deported from Russia since the beginning of the year for violation of rules of staying in the Russian Federation.  Over the past two years, more than 9,000 Tajik citizens have been deported from Russia for these violations, according to Boboyev.