‘May 25, 2007 was the last day for the regional employers to apply for foreign workers they will need next year; we haven’t been able to process all the figures yet, but what I do know is that there had already been applications for 34,500 people by May 18, 2007,’ director of Sverdlovsk Region Placement Service Vyacheslav Krivel said to UrBC.

‘We’ve cancelled all the quotas for the first time this year; last year, however, 43,000 workers were applied for,’ he said.

After the applications have been processed, data on the number of workers will be transferred to an interdepartmental committee responsible for monitoring foreign workers; the committee is to consult Sverdlovsk Region Union of Employers and Entrepreneurs and the migration services and then to accept or reject each particular application; papers will then be placed with Rostrud (the state employment agency).