According to a top Moscow migration official, about a million foreigners could be currently working illegally in the Russian capital.

      In her interview for the Moscow TV-channel, Olga Kirillova, head of the Federal Migration Service’s Moscow branch, said that the number of migrant workers working in the city legally can be estimated over 415,000.

      Kirillova also said that the overall demand for work permits and licenses for foreigers was however much higher, totaling about 1.5 million applications, and suggested that not all of those whose applications were unsuccessful gave up on the idea of finding work in Moscow.

      She criticized the existing system of quotas in place for companies hiring foreign employees, saying demand for work permits has always exceeded the quota available, thereby pushing migrant workers toward gray market jobs.

      According to the country's Federal Migration Service, some 14 million foreigners arrive in Russia every year, about one-third with the goal of finding a job. Most of them come from neighboring former Soviet republics.