New restrictions for migrant children

The State Duma of the Russian Federation has proposed not to admit migrant children to schools on a free basis.

The Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs has proposed to abolish free education for migrant children.

According to TASS, Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR), head of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs, believes that free schooling in Russia for migrant children should be canceled, and the number of attempts to pass the Russian language test should be limited.

“Why should we provide free education to foreign citizens? Let the family, employer, embassy, funds, or their government pay, but not us with our taxes,” said the deputy.

In his opinion, the fees for educating migrant children could be directed towards bonuses for teachers and the creation of necessary infrastructure.

Nilov also proposed to limit the number of attempts to pass the Russian language test required for school enrollment. He also called for the cancellation of the practice of regions allocating funds from their budgets for courses so that children of foreigners could acquire the necessary knowledge and prepare for the test.

He believes that if they are unable to learn the Russian language, they should not be in Russia.

“If they cannot enroll, they should not suffer; they can wait at home for their parents to return to their homeland,” emphasized Nilov.

The parliamentarian suggested encouraging the study of the Russian language in the children’s homeland, opening more Russian schools, and providing remote opportunities to take relevant courses and learn the language. Nilov believes that migrant children should arrive in Russia already prepared and with knowledge of the language.

Russian nationalists welcomed the parliamentarian’s proposal with enthusiasm. Critics, however, argue that the new law violates children’s rights to education.

As of April 1, 2025, new changes to the rules for admitting foreign children to educational institutions in Russia came into effect. According to the new rules, migrant children can only enroll in schools after successfully passing a Russian language test, answering at least 90% of the questions correctly. The results from the first two months showed that only a few applicants managed to pass this testing.

According to the latest data, 2,868 applications for testing were registered in these two months, but only 498 people were allowed to take the exam, which is just 17%. Only 4% of the children passed the testing.

According to authorities, 83% of migrant children were denied acceptance of their documents, including due to the discovery of false information in them.

The State Duma of Russia also previously adopted a bill that proposes to introduce a mechanism for transferring data about migrant children between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and regional and municipal educational authorities. In addition, the authorities will be required to provide the Ministry of Internal Affairs with data on the applications to educational organizations by minor foreign citizens and their legal representatives included in the registry of controlled persons.