If Russians Hate the U.S. So Much, Why Do They Want to Move Here?
This is also true of the Chinese too by the way. If Russians or Chinese are rich enough to invest I believe it is either 250,000 or 500,000 dollars in either a home or a business here cash, they can get a green card in the U.S. under present law.
This law was instituted because of the Great Recession and has caused great investments coming into the U.S. in businesses and housing from all over.
Another interesting thing I learned. If a Russian becomes a naturalized American citizen after being born a citizen of Russia and then travels to Russia on an American passport they will be put in jail in Russia. You might get as far as Europe on an American passport but you need to obtain a Russian Passport for entry into Russia or you will be put in jail if you are a Russian born person in the first place. So, basically you have to have dual citizenship to enter Russia even if you are a Russian who naturalizes as an American Citizen if you don't want to go to jail when you arrive there in Russia.
Pedestrians walk across Red Square towards St Basil's cathedral, left, and Lenin's mausoleum, right, …
When pollsters ask Russians if they like the United States, the answer is a resounding nyet. In a survey released this week by the independent Levada Center polling group in Moscow, 71 percent said the U.S. played "a negative role in the world," up from 50 percent who held that view two years ago.
But the number
of Russians trying to emigrate to the U.S. has never been higher. The
State Department says Russian applications for the U.S. green-card
lottery hit an all-time high of 265,086 this year, even though only
about 4,000 of 100,000 slots in the drawing were set aside for
Russians.
Separately,
State Department data show that some 245,638 Russians last year
got visas allowing them to work or study temporarily in the
U.S. That's more than double the number a decade ago, and Russia's
population, estimated at 143 million, hasn't increased since then,
according to the World Bank and other sources. An additional 3,622
Russians were allowed to settle permanently in the U.S. last year for
familial or other reasons, including 56 who were given visas after
agreeing to invest at least $500,000 in job-creating businesses.
"People
I spoke to a few years back, who were happy with Moscow, are now
looking for an exit strategy," said Marina Fooksman, an immigration
lawyer in New York who emigrated to the U.S. from the former Soviet
Union. As the economy sputters and President Vladimir Putin shakes up
his circle of favored business people, wealthy Russians increasingly
see the U.S. as a safe place to "park their money, maybe park their
spouses and children," Fooksman said. Less wealthy Russians simply want
to earn more money, she said—for example, by applying for U.S. visa
programs targeting skilled professionals.
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Those going to the U.S. are part of a broader exodus
of Russians, especially those in academia and in sectors such as high
technology, banking, and law. Putin complained in June that foreign
organizations were "working like a vacuum cleaner" to lure them abroad.
The government's statistics service shows a spike in departures over the
past two years, but its numbers greatly underestimate the total because
they include only people who formally notified the government they were
leaving, which many emigrants don't do.
Besides the quarter
million Russians who got U.S. visas last year, some 75,300
obtained residence permits in the European Union and Switzerland, up 25
percent over 2010. Britain, Germany, and Spain are the top destinations.
Israel says applications for citizenship from Russians are up 30
percent during that period, though the numbers are well below those of
the post-Soviet peak in the 1990s.
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Maxim
Kiselyov, a venture capitalist who has worked with the
government-backed Skolkovo technology-startup incubator in Moscow, said
that project increasingly has become "an incubator of emigrants."
Persuading high-tech entrepreneurs to remain in Russia has always been
difficult because financing is scarce and the local market for
innovative technologies is limited, Kiselyov said. The problem has
worsened significantly as the ruble has plunged and Western sanctions
have frozen Russia out of capital markets.
"For companies in earlier stages of development, it's much easier to find money in the U.S., Europe, even Brazil," he said.
Russia's
increasing isolation and Putin's crackdown on political opposition and
the news media also figure in the exodus. "Kremlin policy is forcing the
educated class to choose: Either line up under the banner of war with
the West or leave," Alexander Morozov, a Moscow political scientist who
recently moved to Germany, told Bloomberg News last month.
Immigration lawyer Fooksman said many of her clients are afraid to talk openly about their interest in emigrating.
"When
you speak to them on Skype, when they're calling from Russia they're
always very careful to say there are no issues, they're just curious. Or
sometimes they'll say they're just calling for a friend," she said.
"Then, when they come in face to face, it's a different story."
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