Tightening of migration policies: Top 10 changes for foreign citizens in Russia in 2025

The Presidential Edict “Concerning Temporary Measures to Regulate the Legal Status of Certain Categories of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons in the Russian Federation in Connection with the Application of the “Expulsion Regime””[2] (“the Edict”) concerns foreign citizens about whom information is required to be included in the list of persons under supervision.

Such foreign citizens must resolve their legal status in Russia by 30 April 2025.

Legal status can be resolved only by foreigners who have expressed the wish to do so and have fulfilled the following conditions:

1. They have provided their biometric data or undergone registration based on personal biometric data;
2. They have undergone a medical examination to test for the use of narcotics or for the presence of infectious diseases which would pose a danger to the public;
3. They have provided a document confirming their knowledge of the Russian language and knowledge of Russian history and the basic principles of Russian law;
4. They have settled any outstanding compulsory payments in accordance with Russian law;
5. There are no grounds to deny or annul the visa, work permit, work licence, temporary residence permit, or permanent residence permit of the persons concerned under the provisions of Federal Law No. 114-FZ “Concerning the Procedure for Exit from and Entry to the RF” and Federal Law No. 115-FZ “Concerning the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the RF”.

In each individual case of a foreign citizen who is in Russia  contrary to migration law, it is essential to analyse whether the Edict is applicable for the purpose of resolving their legal status and to determine what action is needed.

If the offender fails to resolve their legal status, after 30 April 2025 they will be required to leave the territory of Russia. In the future such foreign citizens may be subject to restrictions on entry to Russia.

The administrative deportation of foreign citizens from Russia consists in the forced and supervised transport of those persons out of Russia, and in some cases in the supervised independent departure of foreign citizens.

From 5 February 2025, to facilitate the prompt deportation from Russia of foreign citizens who pose a threat to public security and public order, administrative expulsion orders can be adopted by officials of internal affairs bodies (such powers were previously held by courts and border service officials in relation to foreigners entering Russia).

The conditions for the stay (residence) of foreign citizens in Russia have been reworded from 5 February 2025[4]. According to the amended conditions, foreign citizens are obliged to refrain from activities that are detrimental to the interests of the Russian Federation and to comply with the Russian Constitution and Russian legislation. Among other things, they must:

1. Show due regard for the environment, natural resources and material and cultural valuables of the Russian Federation;
2. Respect the diversity of regional and ethnocultural ways of life of the population of the Russian Federation;
3. Refrain from obstructing the exercise of rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation and the activities of public authorities of the Russian Federation and their officials;
4. Refrain from interfering in Russia’s foreign and domestic policies, including from actions aimed at encouraging the adoption, amendment or annulment of laws and other regulatory acts;
5. Respect traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, including ideas about marriage as the union of a man and a woman and about family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood, and observe the requirement of the inadmissibility of the distortion of the historical truth about the feat of the Soviet people in defending the Fatherland and its contribution to the victory over Fascism;
6. Refrain from financing and otherwise supporting activities that violate the provisions of subsections 1 to 5 of this clause, and from involving other persons in those activities.

If the conditions are violated, a decision may be adopted concerning the undesirability of the foreign citizen’s stay in Russia, which would result in the imposition of the expulsion regime and a ban on re-entry to Russia.

From 1 January 2025, the period of temporary stay in the Russian Federation of a foreign citizen who arrived under a visa-free procedure has been reduced to no more than 90 days in total during one calendar year (instead of no more than 90 days during each 180-day period), except in the case of entry for work purposes or except where otherwise provided in an international agreement[5].

From 5 February 2025, the maximum migration registration period for a foreign citizen temporarily staying in Russia is limited to one year[6].

Previously, it was limited to the term of a rental agreement or a visa.

In any case, a person’s migration registration is cancelled when that person leaves Russia.

From 5 February 2025, an updated form of the notification of the arrival of a foreign citizen or a stateless person at a place of stay must be used.

Foreign national and international driving licences of foreign citizens who received a permanent residence permit or Russian citizenship before 1 April 2024 will cease to be valid from 1 April 2025 for driving vehicles in Russia.

The issuance of Russian national driving licences to such persons based on foreign national driving licences that were issued before 1 April 2024 and have not expired will take place without the need to sit a driving test until 1 April 2025.

• Ekaterina Ukhova, Partner People Advisory services
• Maria Tkacheva, Senior Manager, People Advisory services
• Maria Moskaleva, Assistant Manager, People Advisory services