The efficiency of labor immigration regulations: approaches and methods of assessment

Popova Svetlana Mikhailovna ORCID: 0000-0002-1348-4492 PhD in Politics Leading Research Associate, Institute for Demographic Research of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences Fotievoi Str., 6/1, Moscow, 119333, Russia sv-2002-1@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Yanik Andrey Aleksandrovich ORCID: 0000-0002-1599-6280 PhD in Technical Science Leading Research Associate, Institute for Demographic Research of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow, Fotievoi Str., 6/1, Moscow, 119333, Russia cpi_2002_1@yahoo.co.uk Other publications by this author

IntroductionModern migration policy operates in conditions of instability and unexpected changes, which significantly affect both the migration flows themselves and the position of States regarding migration and migrants.

A responsible migration policy should be ready to respond promptly to new challenges and changes, but at the same time remain stable and predictable. A proper balance of adaptability and sustainability of migration policy is a formal condition for its effectiveness. A meaningful assessment of effectiveness is based on an analysis of a specific set of tasks that migration policy is designed to solve in specific areas of state interests (ensuring security and stability guarantees, economic development, mitigating the consequences of the demographic crisis, etc.).

This work is devoted to the analysis of a number of foreign and Russian approaches to assessing the effectiveness of labor immigration regulation, which is understood as the ability of regulatory mechanisms to ensure timely, differentiated and orderly attraction of desirable migrants to the country's economy in such a way that this resource brings maximum benefit in solving current problems of socio-economic development and does not threaten national security.

In relation to the context of the Russian Federation, the state policy in the field of regulation of labor immigration is proposed to be defined as "a system of regulatory measures (instrumental approach) aimed at providing the national economy with labor resources by attracting foreign citizens in conditions of temporary inability to solve this problem due to the mechanisms of natural reproduction of the population" ^[1].

The source base of the study was an array of official documents of the Russian Federation, European Union countries and international organizations in the field of migration regulation (strategies, reports, results of evaluation procedures, statistics), as well as relevant scientific literature. The work uses general scientific methods, as well as comparative approaches.

Modern approaches to assessing the effectiveness of migration regulation in the field of labor

International labor migration is most closely related to the economic priorities of a particular region of residence and more than other types of cross-border migration flows is subject to strict control by public authorities when deciding which foreign citizens to let into the country, on what conditions and for how long. Dynamic management of labor migration is now a central element of migration policy in all member countries and partners of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Over the past decades, a lot of practical experience has been accumulated in the world, especially in the European Union (EU29), to assess the effectiveness (sometimes the term "adequacy" is used) of labor migration management ^[2-6].

Diversity in the design and tools of national migration policies is a challenge for experts, as it creates difficulties for developing approaches that allow assessing and comparing the effectiveness of migration regulation in different countries. An analysis of official documents of EU countries, international organizations and scientific literature has shown that formally two common approaches to assessing the effectiveness of migration policies can be distinguished (conditionally, "bureaucratic" and "academic"), between which there are many intermediate options.

The "bureaucratic" approach is based on the principles of project management and is associated with the development of procedures for external independent assessment (in fact, external audit) of specific measures (projects) of migration policies. The methodology of external audit involves a qualitative and quantitative analysis of various components of migration policy as a project so that, as a result, reasonable expert opinions are obtained on the adequacy of the purpose, objectives and activities of migration policy to the challenges facing it, as well as assessments of its principal feasibility and effectiveness (outcome) in terms of compliance with the resources spent the results obtained. This methodology is most in demand and successful in assessing the effectiveness of specific (individual) migration management projects (both in the framework of preliminary and subsequent audits). Such methods, in particular, are used by the International Labour Organization (ILO), which regularly clarifies and improves its solutions in this area ^[7].

The "academic" approach is less pragmatic and is aimed at finding common theoretical models and universal methods that allow comparing the results of migration regulation in different countries on a single basis. Usually we are talking about the development of a system of certain performance criteria and corresponding indicators (numerical or ordinal) that reflect the degree of compliance of a specific migration policy with theoretical concepts of an effective migration policy.

The construction of various kinds of analytical models of migration makes it possible to make comparative assessments and form on their basis ratings of the effectiveness of tools (policies) used by various states to regulate migration flows, or methods for improving regulatory mechanisms.

Below, to illustrate the essence of the described approaches, examples of two evaluation projects implemented by the ILO in 2016 (Example 1) and an international group of researchers in 2019 (Example 2) are given.

Example 1. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the project to improve the management of labor migration in South Asia (2016)As an example of using the methods of external project audit, we can consider the details of an independent medium-term assessment of measures to stimulate the growth of the effectiveness of labor migration management from South Asia.

This procedure was organized by the ILO following the results of the South Asia Labor Migration Governance Project (SALM).

The project was implemented in 2015-2016. Its goal is to increase the efficiency of managing migration flows of economically active population of India, Pakistan and Nepal to the territory of the countries that are members of the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf (in particular, to Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE). The total budget of the SALM project was 2.4 million euros (80% of which was provided by the European Commission, the main donor of the project); the cost of evaluation procedures did not exceed 1% of the specified budget ^[8].

The SALM project, in fact, was experimental in nature and was aimed at solving the following tasks:

- providing migrants with reliable information about employment opportunities abroad and building on this basis the potential for the selection of qualified applicants in accordance with the demand from foreign employers;

- reducing migration costs and reducing abuse by hiring job seekers both directly in the countries of origin and destination, including by improving recruitment services and strengthening the protection of migrant workers during employment;

- improving vocational training, developing the most appropriate skills (portability) for departing and returning migrant workers, as well as promoting the impact of migration on their overall development.

The ILO office in Nepal became the leader of the project, and national coordinators in India, Nepal and Pakistan also participated in the management. Project management committees were formed, which included representatives of the executive authorities of Nepal, Pakistan and a number of non-profit organizations, which became the main stakeholders and junior donors of the project. In India, the project was handled by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs (Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, currently part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India).

According to the ILO methodology, the key criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of the project were:

- Relevance and strategic feasibility: assessment of the extent to which the objectives of intervention in the migration process are consistent with the requirements of beneficiaries, the needs of countries, global priorities and policies of partners and donors;

-       Validity of the intervention plan: assessment of the extent to which the design of the project is logical and consistent;

-       Progress and effectiveness of intervention: assessment of the extent to which the immediate objectives (output) of the project have been achieved;

- Resource efficiency: an indicator of how economically resources/costs (funds, experience, time, etc.) are converted into results;

- Effectiveness of management mechanisms: assessment of the extent to which the created management capacity and mechanisms contribute to the achievement of results;

- The direction of the impact and the sustainability of the intervention: strategic orientation of the project to make a significant contribution to broader, long-term, sustainable changes in the field of development (outcome, impact).

Evaluation procedures, for the most part, were of a qualitative nature and were based on the use of methods of various social sciences, in particular, economics (for example, analysis of labor balances) and sociology (in-depth interviews and focus groups with the main stakeholders of the project).

Example 2. A scientific study devoted to the analysis of the effectiveness of migration regimes of EU states (2019)The work was carried out by an international group of researchers (specialists from Russia and Vietnam) ^[9].

To assess the effectiveness of migration regulation, a comparative analysis of the current migration regimes in the states of the European Union (EU29) was carried out. The authors formulated the concept of the adequacy of the migration regime as a key condition for effective migration management. An original methodology for assessing the adequacy of modern migration regimes in the EU is proposed, including using available statistical data. It is concluded that the migration policy of a country following the priorities of its own development and at the same time responding to the challenges of world markets can be called adequate if it is sufficiently differentiated, selective and strict ^{[9, p. 3884]}.

The analytical research model proposed by the authors is based on modern ideas about the trends in the development of the global economy, the economic benefits of international labor migration, especially with the involvement of highly qualified specialists ^[10-13]. It is interesting to identify six key areas of modernization of migration policy in the EU and related tools used in different countries:

1. Stimulating the influx of foreign intellectuals(for example, a quota system for highly qualified specialists in Germany, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands; a points system for evaluating candidates for labor migration in the United Kingdom; government programs to support labor migration of highly qualified specialists in Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom; etc.)

2. Encouraging business immigration(for example, support for investors and business people who would like to start a business in the United Kingdom).

3. Support for temporary/seasonal labor migration(for example, the establishment of bilateral cooperation between donor countries and the agricultural/tourism sectors of the recipient country in Germany and the United Kingdom).

4. Rational family reunification schemes(for example, limiting the list of relatives eligible for a visa for family reunification in Italy; increased requirements for the income level of the sponsoring person in Denmark, the Netherlands and France; etc.).

5. Restrictions on asylum applications

(for example, a person awaiting the determination/revision of an asylum decision cannot remain in Germany; reduction of social benefits for people awaiting an asylum decision in Germany; the practice of "closed doors" and collective responsibility for the policy governing the influx of refugees to the EU and Switzerland; countermeasures in case of repeated requests for asylum, as well as in the case of simultaneous requests for the same thing submitted to several EU countries – in the EU and Switzerland).

6. Combating illegal labor migration(for example, strict requirements for all applicants for work, business, student, immigration and tourist visas to the EU; digitalization of border control (biometric data verification, fingerprinting, screening) in the EU, Iceland and Norway; signing of bilateral cooperation agreements with border and migration services of neighboring countries in Germany, Italy and France; etc.).

In order to obtain a qualitative assessment of the adequacy of migration regimes in the EU28 and Turkey, interviews were conducted with experts based on detailed lists of closed questions (only "yes" or "no" answers are allowed).

Examples of questions: "Does the country's migration regime allow more than one residence permit and more than one type of work permit?"; "Is a residence permit the only way for a foreigner to gain legal access to the national labor market?"; "Do foreign workers have access to the local market only if they have a residence permit and work permit?"; "Does the country officially have visas for seasonal work?"; "Does this country have agreements on migration cooperation with non-EU countries?" and many others, up to "Can the ownership of a commercial organization (self-employment) serve as a basis for obtaining a work permit?".

The answers received were summarized, as a result of which a kind of "adequacy rating" of migration policies was created. The migration regimes in Germany, Poland and France are the most adequate to the current economic development in the EU, while the migration regimes in Belgium, Cyprus and Romania are the least adequate ^[9].

Forecasting methodsForecasting methods play a special place among approaches to assessing the effectiveness of labor migration regulation, which help to "look into the future" and form recommendations for improving migration policy, taking into account possible changes in external and internal challenges.

It seems that in the modern globalized world, the importance of economic reasons as incentives for international labor migration is constantly decreasing. There are new challenges (for example, climate) that change the movement of migration flows, including labor. Accordingly, an effective migration policy should not only be adaptive (promptly respond to changes), but also proactive, able to anticipate future changes.

The development of methods for assessing the effectiveness of the migration policy of the future seems to be a particularly difficult task, since here we enter the field of probabilities. Nevertheless, the use of forecasting methods helps to reduce the degree of uncertainty and form the scientific basis for further improvement of labor migration regulation.

As an example of this kind of work, the OECD project can be cited, aimed at identifying the capabilities of countries to develop effective policies for managing migration in conditions where there are no reliable forecasts about the future consequences of both well-known megatrends and little-known factors that can change the rules of the game (game changed). We are talking about a special foresight session for the period up to 2035, held in 2020 ^[14].

As a result of the project, two guidelines for the development of migration and integration policies for the future were formulated. The first guide is a list of megatrends that have already manifested themselves and will obviously change the policy-making environment. The second guide presents weak signals of potentially possible transformations and forecasts what may happen if the identified "harbingers" become the main factors changing the rules of the game. In particular, scenarios are considered that include technological changes; transformations of people's ideas about the essence of "migration" and "integration"; the emergence of new stakeholders in migration and integration policy; the consequences of the growing influence of non-OECD countries.

In particular, the foresight session made it possible to identify three interrelated megatrends that in the next 10-15 years may have a significant impact on the processes of migration and integration, although the exact scale and direction of these impacts remain unclear:

1. Environmental changes and extreme weather events are expected to displace millions of people. Even if the vast majority of this kind of migration takes place in adjacent local areas, it can cause major social upheavals and conflicts, which, in turn, can provoke unforeseen waves of large-scale migration over long distances.

3. Geopolitical instability and conflicts have been a traditional cause of the outflow of migrants due to factors such as growing inequality, youth unemployment and political corruption, as well as terrorism and insecurity. Many of these drivers will persist and even strengthen if a set of interrelated measures aimed at preventing unwanted migration, supporting the reception and integration of desirable migrants, as well as developing the legal foundations of multilateral cooperation in regulating migration is not implemented.

3. In the coming decades, global population aging will lead to serious demographic shifts around the world, although at different rates in different regions. The most rapidly aging countries may be tempted to use migration as a factor slowing down the general aging of the population and helping to solve the economic problems associated with the aging of the population. However, it is unclear how much migration will be required by rapidly aging economies, especially in the context of digital transformation, which is accompanied by an increase in labor automation, virtual employment, and the expansion of employment opportunities for older people. In addition, it remains unclear whether the labor supply of the donor countries will match the demand for professions and qualifications in the recipient countries ^[14].

Russian approaches to assessing the effectiveness of migration regulation

The development of Russian research in the field of assessing the effectiveness of migration regulation is closely related to the processes of reforming the public administration system in general and migration management in particular.

As you know, in the 2000s, Russia began the transition to result-oriented budgeting, and the foundations of state strategic management were created on the basis of the principles of program-targeted planning, results-based management. This, in particular, presupposed the establishment of not only direct, but also feedback links between the processes of goal-setting, task implementation and results ^{[15, pp.136-138]}. In this context, various methods of evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of resource expenditure on the basis of project approaches have been developed, legal frameworks and institutional mechanisms have been created for conducting a systematic assessment of the effectiveness of the executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation (see, for example, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 825 of June 28, 2007 (ed. of 13.05.2010) "On evaluation the effectiveness of the activities of the executive authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation").

Migration policy became one of the elements of the strategic management system with the adoption in 2003 of the Concept of Regulating Migration Processes in the Russian Federation, which for the first time systematically formulated the goals and objectives of the state in migration management (Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 256-r of March 1, 2003 <On the Concept of Regulating Migration Processes in the Russian Federation>). Along with the consolidation of ideas about the importance of the migration source for solving the problems of socio-economic and demographic development, meeting the needs of a growing economy in labor resources, the doctrine of the relationship between migration control and national security was laid as the basis for the activities of state authorities ^[16]. The introduction of program-targeted approaches in public administration has led to an increase in demand for scientific support for reform processes in all areas, including migration regulation ^[17-21]. During the creation and improvement of feedback loops between subjects and objects of public administration, various evaluation tools were developed, various institutional mechanisms were developed. In particular, the Accounting Chamber of the Russian Federation has become one of the centers for analyzing foreign experience in performance auditing, developing and putting into practice advanced evaluation methods.

As for the actual tools for analyzing the effectiveness of migration policy, in relation to the regional context, in the period 2007-2014, there was an industry Methodology for assessing the effectiveness of the use of foreign labor, on the basis of which an annual assessment of the contribution of foreign workers to the socio-economic development of regions was carried out in Russia (Order No. 604 of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated September 17, 2007 "On approval of the Methodology evaluation of the effectiveness of the use of foreign labor"). A number of subjects of the Russian Federation (in particular, national republics) continued to conduct such assessments based on their own methods until 2015 inclusive (see, for example: Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan No. 345 dated August 28, 2015 "On assessing the effectiveness of the use of foreign labor in the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan").

Since 2015, the indicators "The number of foreign citizens engaged in labor activity" and "The share of attracted foreign workers in the number of economically active population (labor force) of the subjects of the Russian Federation" have been taken into account as part of monitoring the situation on regional labor markets (Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 15, 2015 No. 1106 (ed. of 10/13/2017) "On approval of the Rules for Monitoring the situation on the Labor Market of the Russian Federation in the subjects of the Russian Federation").

However, the evaluation of the effects of attracting foreign workers to regional labor markets is carried out in the context of increasing/decreasing social tension in the subject of the Russian Federation, taking into account the indicator "unemployment rate among the local population" ^[22]. As a result, in practice, there is a certain contradiction between the requirements of the Federal Center to the authorities of the constituent entities of the Federation to minimize social tension in the regional labor markets (by ensuring a balance between the number of unemployed and the number of attracted migrants) (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated November 14, 2017 No. 548 "On evaluating the effectiveness of the executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation") and the provisions of the Concept of the Migration Policy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025, which involves stimulating the entry of certain categories of foreign labor migrants, especially highly qualified youth (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated October 31, 2018 No. 622 "On the Concept of the State Migration Policy of the Russian Federation for 2019 - 2025"; List of instructions on the implementation of the Concept the State Migration Policy for 2019 - 2025 (approved by the President of the Russian Federation on 06.03.2020, No. Pr-469)). Apparently, more detailed indicators are needed, in particular with the use of structural models of the relationship between migration and unemployment, both taking into account the additional qualifications of workers and assessing the "elasticity" of job replacement by migrants ^[17]. The multidimensionality of the situation and the unpredictability of its development are also connected with the fact that relations in the migration sphere in the post-Soviet space are characterized by the presence of many informal norms, customs, unspoken rules ^[23]. The influence of informal institutions can sometimes be not only stronger than the action of legal regulators, but even change the rules of the game.

In the domestic literature devoted to the problems of assessing the effectiveness of regulation in the field of migration, two main directions can be distinguished, differing in priority criteria, according to which the adequacy of migration policy is determined. In the first case, we are talking about the dominance of the economic interests of the country (assessment of the effectiveness of political and institutional measures of public authorities of the Russian Federation to regulate the labor potential of Russian society). In the second direction, the priorities of public safety and strengthening the unity of the multinational people of Russia are put at the basis of the ideas of efficiency.

The development of the economic direction is focused on the search for methods that allow assessing how much the state migration policy allows taking into account the needs of regional labor markets, which, due to the specifics of the economic development of the subjects of the Russian Federation, are very diverse. The "protective" direction is mostly associated with the development of tools that allow assessing the impact of the migration component on the state of socio-political stability and security in the regions, taking into account the issues of adaptation and integration of migrants.

However, in practice, the authorities of the host regions need to ensure security equally, and therefore the development of evaluation methods is objectively related to the search for integrated solutions that allow "linking" competing priorities.

As an example, we can cite the experience of scientists of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who, based on a scientific analysis of socio-demographic and economic security problems ^[24-25], developed a methodology for assessing the effectiveness of regulating international labor migration in the region ^[26-28]. Within the framework of the proposed methodology, effective international labor migration in the region is understood as the attraction and use of foreign labor in the region in quantity (number) and quality (gender, age, health status, ethnicity, education, profession, qualifications, etc.) necessary to achieve an optimum between the conflicting interests of its sustainable and safe development ^{[27, p. 265]}.

The proposed methodology is based on an indicative method of analysis. In accordance with this approach, the effectiveness of the regulation of international labor migration is assessed according to a set of indicators grouped into a block of migrant labor potential and a block of the level of migration threats, each of which is divided into directions.

The assessment of the labor potential of migrants takes into account three indicators: covering the shortage of labor resources by foreign labor, broken down by professional qualification groups; the ratio of the number of highly qualified and average qualifications of foreign specialists to the number of qualified and unskilled foreign workers; the level of education of migrants.

The level of migration threats is assessed in five areas: the labor market; the economic situation; law and order and public safety; ethnic balance of the population; sanitary and epidemiological well-being.

In addition, to obtain estimates, the authors identify different levels of the socio-economic and demographic situation in the region, as well as migration threats. Clustering of territories is carried out by correlation of actual values of specific indicators with their extremely critical (threshold) values established on the basis of empirical data. To obtain specific estimates of the labor potential of migrants and the level of migration threats in the directions and blocks of selected indicators, the data are converted into an index (normalized) calculation form ^{[29, p. 15-17]}.

According to the authors, the sustainability of the region's development should be achieved by selecting, attracting and using foreign workers whose number, level of education and professional qualification composition correspond to the current and future needs of the region's economy in labor resources.

To increase the efficiency of international labor migration, the authors propose to introduce tools for selective selection of migrants, reflecting the needs of regional labor markets. As a sample, researchers have created a variant of the regional catalog of scarce professions, following the example of the Spanish catalog of professions with a shortage of labor ^{[6, pp.88-92]}.

Another basis for assessing the effectiveness of migration policy (in the context of the growing needs of regions for foreign labor) is compliance with the goals of preserving national identity, adaptation and integration of migrants ^[30-31]. As part of the modernization of the migration control system in Russia, which started in 2012 (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 602 dated May 7, 2012 "On Ensuring Interethnic Harmony"), a State information monitoring System in the field of Interethnic and Interfaith Relations and Early Warning of Conflict Situations was created (hereinafter – the monitoring system), the operator is the Federal Agency On Ethnic Affairs (FADN) (Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of October 28, 2017 No. 1312 (ed. of 17.02.2022) "On the State Information System for Monitoring Interethnic and interfaith Relations and early warning of conflict situations").

By the beginning of 2018, all subjects of the Russian Federation were connected to the specified monitoring system, and in 48 of them the municipal level was also connected. The database of the monitoring system contains information about 90 thousand media resources, more than 200 thousand. NGOs and more than 2 thousand communities of indigenous peoples of Russia. The system also allows you to generate early warning signals about conflict situations, especially in the field of interethnic and interfaith relations. However, this resource is departmental in nature, is intended for the needs of public authorities in Russia and is not available to the public.

In the current situation, domestic researchers are developing their own systems for comprehensive monitoring of the effectiveness of migration policy. For example, the regularly updated "Multicultural Barometer" developed by scientists of the Karelian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences ^[32] is of interest, which makes it possible to link and quantify the situation on the regional labor market with the level of interethnic harmony and the spatial distribution of migration tensions.

The practice of using "barometers" (based on specialized longitudinal sociological surveys) well known. One of the most popular is the Eurobarometer project, launched back in 1970, which is now used to analyze components of pan-European self-awareness and well-being ^[33], including in the context of migration problems ^[34].

The Karelian Multicultural Barometer was first proposed as a tool for monitoring migration policy in 2015 within the framework of the project "The Concept of Development of Interethnic Harmony in the Republic of Karelia: a joint platform for NGOs and authorities" (2014-015). Subsequently, this development was recommended by the FADN of Russia and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives in 2017 as the best regional practice for further implementation throughout the Russian Federation.

The sources of information for the creation of the barometer are data from the Federal Migration Service for the Republic of Karelia; Karelian Statistics; the Ministry of Labor and Employment of the Republic of Karelia; Centers for Interethnic Cooperation in Karelian municipalities; as well as the results of a representative pilot survey of migrants and representatives of the host community.

The described "Multicultural barometer" includes four modules ("Labor market", "National identity", "Social adaptation of migrants", "Integration of migrants"), which are characterized by various quantitative and qualitative indicators. On the basis of regularly updated data, an infographic tool has been created that allows visualizing the level of migration tension in the context of all municipalities on the example of the Republic of Karelia ("tense", "positive" and "neutral").

The project was implemented in the Republic of Karelia and three other Arctic regions of the Federation (Murmansk Region, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)) ^[35], and was also supported by the RNF under the grant "Institutional engineering of single-industry towns of the Arctic zone - modernization and sustainable development (2021-2023)".

ConclusionsIt can be stated that today the effectiveness of the implementation of migration policy is determined by two main criteria: the prospects for the growth of its economic impact (for example, by ensuring that the profile of immigration flows meets the real needs of the economy, attracting investment, stabilizing business conditions and balancing national and regional labor markets) and the ability to guarantee a reduction in the potential damage from immigration to the economy and the security of the country (primarily by countering illegal labor migration and trends of destabilization of national and regional labor markets).

From this point of view, the migration regime that provides the most differentiated and selective approach to the admission of potential labor migrants to the territory of the country, and at the same time creates reliable barriers against illegal immigration and illegal employment of foreigners, is considered the most effective (that is, it best meets the current requirements of a particular country or region).

The analysis shows that among the many different models of labor migration management operating in the world today, it is impossible to single out any one dominant one ^[36]. A universal, equally effective migration management model for all countries simply does not exist. The key trend is the growth of uniqueness and diversity of migration management methods, based on the specifics of the context of different countries.

In Russia and the world, there is a constant search for methods to fine-tune immigration policy: as a result of the use of various programs and tools that provide temporary and permanent flows of migrant workers, it is becoming more complex, diversified, selective, capable of serving a wide range of economic goals. Accordingly, the array of legal acts establishing or legalizing new management practices is constantly expanding, clarifying, and changing. According to experts, the regulation of labor migration, the management of this sphere is in a state of continuous innovative change. This process of continuous improvement is objectively necessary in order for the policy of attracting migrant workers to become more effective, be able to quickly adapt to changing conditions, solve new problems and respond promptly, including to changes in the policies of other countries ^[37].

Developments that take into account several competing priorities at the same time as benchmarks for conformity assessment are able to give more comprehensive ideas about the effectiveness of migration policy, but this approach is quite difficult to implement.

Improving the migration policy of Russia, taking into account the internal competition of its principles, requires the development of more detailed and multidimensional indicators of the effectiveness of the authorities in this area, as well as expanding the circle of stakeholders involved in determining the priorities of migration policy and criteria for its evaluation.