About two thousand compatriots have already returned to the Angara region under the resettlement program, and Irkutsk Oblast has become one of the leaders among Siberian regions. A new 2013 to 2015 program is being prepared here to help settlers with housing, medical care, Russian language study, employment, and social support. Over the next three years the region plans to accept another 1.5 thousand people, offering them the chance to choose any settlement to live in.

About two thousand people have returned to the Angara region under the compatriot resettlement program. From 2007 to 2012, Irkutsk Oblast, as one of 12 pilot regions of the Russian Federation, participated in the implementation of the state program to assist the voluntary resettlement to the Russian Federation of compatriots living abroad.
During this period, in terms of the number of arriving compatriots, Irkutsk Oblast ranked 3rd among the constituent entities of the Siberian Federal District.
At present, the ministry has developed a draft long-term target program, “Assistance in the Voluntary Resettlement to Irkutsk Oblast of Compatriots Living Abroad for 2013–2015.”
The draft provides that program participants may choose any locality in Irkutsk Oblast as their place of residence. As part of the project, measures are planned for program participants and their family members to provide medical care, offer Russian language instruction services, as well as social support measures (targeted financial assistance, child benefits, preferential medication provision for rehabilitated persons and home front workers), assistance with employment and job placement, organization of advanced training, and professional retraining for specialists in the healthcare sector, including in state educational institutions of secondary vocational education (with full reimbursement of financial costs for tuition and transportation expenses).
The list of measures in the draft program includes partial reimbursement of expenses for paying the cost of temporary housing rental until obtaining citizenship of the Russian Federation.
As part of the implementation of the draft program, it is planned to accept another 1.5 thousand compatriots into the territory of Irkutsk Oblast during 2013–2015.
Based on materials from the press service of the Government of Irkutsk Oblast