Over the border (ülepiirile)..

I think a topic that I'd like to write/blog/Twitter/moan on about more often is that of immigration. Alright, I do have a bit of a weak spot for it given two factors - A) It was a central facet in my senior thesis at the University of Minnesota, and B) I am an immigrant (i.e. I have a weak spot because it doesn't empower me or even sight me up as indifferent). One can quickly and easily read where my prejudice lies in the matter.

I've recently been involved in a spate of media coverage (spate in my world means a total of two, which is more than any other coverage I've had at a single time): a quite extended article (with extensive commentary resulting) was written for Eesti Päevaleht, which is a main Estonian daily (well, mine came up on the internet in the middle of a work day). The other stemmed off from this article and was a television interview, aired as the first story on TV3's 19:00 news programme. I've raged on here and there about the ridiculousness of the Estonian Citizenship and Migration Board and will spare any unfortunate reader from another tirade here. To also give a rest to my fingers and your eyes if you so choose, here are links to the original article, my translation, and the TV 3 programme (if it's still posted, which I doubt.. look for "16/09/2009 Uudised") .

Right, so that's the motivation. Well, the sparks for motivation. I'm confident that somehow, after much grinding of the teeth and shaking of heads and soft carressing sounds of the escaping of air from lifted beer caps.. I'll get an extension of my residency permit or, even more likely, an altogether new one. The reason for a new permit and not an extension will be changing the circumstances on which the permit is founded - naturally, I don't earn 24 percent more than the average Estonian salary in 2008 (which includes pre-recession figures) as the Migration Board demands, so it'll have to come by other means. Like I said, I'll find a way through friends or sham companies or board appointments or loans or - if it really, really came down to it - signing certain papers (with the approval of a second party, of course.. again: not a light decision for anyone and not a first choice or thing to be trifled with. No trifling here or there, none of that now.). There is some way, and it'll come clear soon.

What does interest me is the overall struggle which I and so many other foreigners who feel unbound by their location of birth must endure. Freedom of movement is a concept which has fluttered in and out of acceptance with time - those who have felt it worse than I ever could here include the Sámi in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and those alcohol-and-Stalin-ravaged few left in Russia. At one time they followed the reindeer, then lines appeared on paper without taking the concept of nomadism into account, and now finally it has returned to the ease with which it once was for them.. again, excluding Russian policies. Similar lines have been drawn all over in Africa, the Caucuses, Latin America, North America and so forth.. with similar results for those on the 'border'. The case which I have personally encountered is of course nothing like this - mine is of choice and graciously granted by international agreements on movement of people. However, the conditions which restrict and, at times, attempt to eliminate these re-fought freedoms are something of which I have become increasingly critical. Enough to, say, write more articles, refocus my interest in a master's degree or currently set more water to boil for tea and drone on within the realm of this blog. All of the above options remain brilliant and another way to exercise my right to free speech, fuckers.

A suspicion concerning the terms of Estonia's new immigation 'provision' (as if it really 'provides' anything) dawned upon me today while recanting the entire residency permit debacle to a friend. Small detail, yes. Just a number, yes. All numbers still come from something. I want to believe and would love to find out proof of the origin of this specific set of arabic numerals, however. The legal addition states that foreigners living in Estonia on the basis of work must earn at least the average national salary as determined by the Statistics Board from the year previous times a coefficient of 1.24 - basically, nearly 1/4 more than the "average" salary (which does not make amends for the lack of breadth in the middle class). Alright - horrible law, yes.. if Sweden and Finland both enacted such laws (yes, illegal by EU standards but bear with the example), some 60-70 thousand Estonian nationals would find themselves in my situation. Bon-fucking-jour. All the same .. 1.24; almost 1/4, or 25%. Almost. Why almost? What is this, a national version of Nescafe? Almost coffee but disgustingly still not in any interpretation of the word? Why 24 percent more? The number rang a bell, though.. it's dangerously close to the percentage of Russian-ethnicity people living in Estonia. According to the Statistics Bureau, this figure has actually come out to .256 percent of the total population in the last two years. So as for preciseness, it would be ridiculous to claim that the government would use such a snub. However the main problem remains - I and many others believe that the immigration policy is openly hostile to Russian speakers. Given, there are serious problems associated with this. No less, it doesn't call for or justify spray-firing the general immigrant population in order to pressure a reverse migration towards the East.

Estonians are a bit shaky on the 'Estonian-Russian' issue. Most people who know anything about it are. However, the correct solution is not to use the populist targeting of non-nationals which is so deeply entrenched in current policies. If the population fears a loss and diminishing of the Estonian language, make this a requirement for extension of residency permits. As of current standings, this only applies to citizenship and lightly to applications for permanent residency (which also demands the person to have lived here for at least five years on temporary permits). Universal linguistic standards, however basic, would help to assuage those worried about a 'foreign invasion' (also very unlikely, given that permits are only set aside for those from countries other than the US, Canada or Japan in the number of 0.1 percent of the national population) and at the same time promote interest and motivation for acquiring the skills necessary to productively live long-term in the country. Is that so difficult?

I'll work on cleaning these thoughts up and putting them in some sort of coherent logical order, possibly direct it towards some sort of letter, article or other publication. That is, once I succeed in sorting out and securing my own end in the matter. Bring it on, Migration Board. I should go gather some reindeer just to make a statement.. and save money on bus fares.

Aaaand -- cut.

Edasi, вперёд..