Russia continues to tighten migration legislation. The latest amendments approved by President Putin oblige foreigners to provide support for themselves and their families at a certain minimum level depending on the region in which they live. In Moscow, for example, the amounts amount to 22,112 rubles for an adult and 19,677 for a child (244 and 217 euros, respectively). It is also planned that in the future the children of migrants will leave the country – if they do not start working independently upon reaching the age of 18.
Most of the new requirements will come into force on January 1, 2027, but already now the fees that migrants must pay to obtain citizenship, a temporary residence permit, etc. have increased significantly.
Ever new barriers for migrants
The rules for the residence of labor migrants in Russia have been tightened since 2024 - after the terrorist act in the Crocus City Hall concert hall, the perpetrators of which turned out to be four Tajiks. According to the Speaker of the Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, since then 32 laws have been adopted regulating the migration sphere. Therefore, the number of migrants on Russian territory is shrinking, and although most of the data is secret, according to the Security Council, they have decreased by 700,000 in a year - from 6.8 to 6.1 million.
In the context of the declining Russian population, erecting new barriers for migrants seems irrational. Moreover, a large part of the workforce is directed to the front and defense plants, which is why the labor market is experiencing an acute hunger for personnel. What is the reason for the restrictive actions of the Russian authorities then?
The essence of Russia's new migration policy
In October 2025, Vladimir Putin approved the new Concept of the State Migration Policy for the period 2026-2030, which is already the fifth document of this nature since 2012.
But if at one time the Russian authorities viewed migrants as “one of the sources of population growth in the country“ and called their attraction a “necessity”, now the focus of migration policy is protection from foreigners who do not share the so-called “traditional Russian moral and spiritual values“.
The concept makes it clear that the Russian authorities are ready to grant permanent residence primarily to their compatriots living abroad, as well as to people “sharing Russian values“ from countries where “neoliberal ideological principles are being imposed“, i.e., apparently primarily from the EU or the USA. At the same time, it is planned that all others will be accepted only temporarily, and if possible without their families.
For countries such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, for example, with which Russia has a visa-free regime, the period of temporary residence has already been reduced from 180 to 90 days a year. Migrant children must necessarily pass an exam in Russian, and the reasons for emigration have increased – including for “petty hooliganism“.
Migrants – under full digital control
So it turns out that in the image of the Russian authorities, the ideal labor migrant is a person who arrived in the country temporarily, at the invitation of a specific employer, worked for a certain period of time under a contract and left. And while in Russia, the authorities monitor his every step – for which a digital control system is currently being established.
From 2026, in order to obtain a SIM card, foreigners will be required to present the operator with a compulsory pension insurance number, confirm that they have a civil registration number and have their biometric data taken. It is also required to register SIM cards to a specific smartphone, and this in itself is enough for the constant tracking of migrants' movements. And the authorities are going even further.
An application that transmits geolocation data
Since September 2025, an experiment has been underway in Moscow and the Moscow region, in which migrants from a number of countries are required to install an application on their smartphones that transmits data about their geolocation. If no information is received for three days, the foreigner is automatically excluded from the migration reporting system. To confirm that the phone is with them, after receiving the corresponding warning, the user must immediately take a selfie and send it to the authorities. In the future, it is planned that migrants will be forced to buy special smartphones with an electronic profile - so that their location can be known at any time. The profiles will be registered in a special state system, which was officially put into operation on June 30.
The official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Irina Volk stated that this system “will ensure the formation of complete, reliable and up-to-date information for assessing the migration situation and increasing the efficiency of state administration“. But independent analyst Konstantin Troitsky stated in a report by the Center for the Protection of Human Rights “Memorial“ the following: such profiling “expands the possibilities for repression, exploitation and discrimination, significantly reducing the possibilities for protest and protection of human rights“.
Author: Oleg Loginov