EDITORIAL ⟩ The return of the ghettoization plan

Karikatuur: «The government wants to allow foreign workers into our forests to herald spring. Do you think they will go back home once they’ve finished heralding spring?»​ Illustration by Urmas Nemvalts. Illustration: Urmas Nemvalts

• Increasing the number of residence permits will result in problems.
• The experience of other countries shows that this leads to ghettoization.
• Workers may not leave here when their employment contract ends.

As the old saying goes, if you can't get in through the door, you must try the window. Or the chimney. Some topics are simply so viable, such as the Estonian immigration quota issue, the topic of abolishing or easing of which keeps coming up every now and then.

The proposal to ease the quota was last made in February of last year, at the urging of the Estonian Employers' Confederation, by Tiit Riisalo, then minister of economic affairs in the ranks of Estonia 200. Now, with a new minister, the same ministry wants to amend the Aliens Act again, adding an exception for skilled workers, which would allow the number of residence permits to be doubled in areas suffering from labor shortages, to 2,600 foreign workers per year.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Industry Erkki Keldo (Reform) has already spoken out on the subject on the Postimees website, seeing the proposal as an opportunity to alleviate the chronic labor shortage in some areas. According to him, the activity would take place «in a controlled manner, based on very specific rules and on the condition that the person arriving here must respect our language, cultural space and customs.»

The idea of respecting language and cultural space is entirely commendable, but how have we fared with it so far? We are increasingly encountering people with no language skills in the capital's services. There is no point in even talking about app taxis. How have we managed to integrate Ukrainian refugees? Or Syrian refugees? Individual success stories do not give grounds to speak of general success in this area.

Postimees believes that doubling the number of residence permits for foreign workers in Estonia will ultimately lead to the emergence of ghettos.

As we said in response to Riisalo’s plan, we also say about Keldo’s plan: it will lead to ghettoization. For example, somewhere in a Tallinn prefab area, Little Uzbekistan will emerge, where Uzbek workers who brought their families along are living compactly together and not worrying too much about their Estonian language skills. The example is not abstract: Uzbekistan has already risen to the top three in terms of residence permit recipients after Ukraine and India. However, the Internal Security Service considers Uzbekistan a risk country in terms of Islamic extremism.

Considering the family members brought along, the Estonian population would increase by about 6,000 people per year, according to forecasts. Considering our declining birth rate, the question of who would integrate whom would arise in a couple of decades. Although the minister of economic affairs says that people coming to Estonia with a temporary residence permit must leave when their employment contract ends, we cannot be sure. The Turks brought to Germany as temporary workers did not leave.

In short, increasing the quota to this extent is not a good plan, and the mantra that these are skilled workers should not make us happier. Practice has shown that Estonian state services – for example, the education system – have a limit for the acceptance of immigrants, if exceeded, the quality of the service drops dramatically. Do we have the relevant analyses and would companies that benefit from immigration be willing to contribute to the associated costs? As the old saying goes: measure twice, cut once.