Since the beginning of the year, court bailiffs have had 133 illegal immigrants deported from the country; 17 more people are now awaiting the court’s decision. Plane tickets for the deported cost 495,000 RUR to the region’s budget, with rates varying from 6,000 RUR for a flight to Kyrgyzstan to 32,000 RUR for a flight to Iran, Head of Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Court Bailiffs Service Sergey Schebekin announced at a press conference today.

Out of these 133 illegal immigrants, 72 arrived from Tajikistan, 42 from Uzbekistan, 21 from Kyrgyzstan, 5 from China, 4 from Armenia, 3 from Azerbaijan, 2 from Georgia, and one person each from Iran, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.

Schebekin pointed out that the deportation process might be accompanied by some trouble. For one, the immigrant might have no passport or their passport might have expired, which means that embassies and local expat communities must be appealed to in order to speed up the procedure. It means deportation might take up to two months to complete, and the deportee is supported throught the budget money all the while. Schebekin also said it would be good if the five-year ban on entering the country could be extended to ten years for deported immigrants.