Citizens of Tajikistan are the least interested in the resettlement program

The Russian authorities noted that the interest of citizens from Central Asian countries in the resettlement program to Russia has fallen to a minimum.

In 2025, 26,700 people moved to Russia under the “Voluntary Resettlement Program for Compatriots.” This is the lowest figure in the last 15 years.

According to Russian media citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a total of 37,000 applications for participation in the voluntary resettlement program were received in 2025. In the same year, 26,700 people moved to Russia and registered.

According to government calculations, interest in this program was higher even in 2022, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began and most migrants were afraid to enter the country. At that time, 112,700 applications were registered, and 64,800 people moved.

At the same time, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, only 2,400 people moved to Russia from Tajikistan under the resettlement program in 2025. However, as early as 2019, representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Republic of Tajikistan on migration issues reported that more than 9,000 citizens of Tajikistan had applied for resettlement to Russia in the first nine months of that year.

Statistical data for 2025 show that the interest of citizens of Tajikistan has fallen the most. While in 2024 the republic ranked second among Central Asian countries in terms of the number of citizens participating in the resettlement program to Russia, in 2025 it dropped to last place, that is, fifth place.

Experts believe that the decline in interest among citizens of Tajikistan in participating in the program is related to a number of factors. In particular, they believe that one of the key factors is the current political and economic situation in Russia, as well as the tightening of migration legislation in recent years. Additionally, the strict attitude of Russian law enforcement towards labor migrants and the introduction of a mandatory Russian language exam may also have affected the desire of Tajiks to move to live in Russia.

Andrey Yakimov, an expert from the Migration and Interethnic Relations Foundation, believes that “many who wanted” have already moved to Russia as compatriots.

The expert believes that the social base of the resettlement program is gradually being exhausted.

“The program was mainly designed for people born in the USSR and who lived there for some time. Now, those who were 20 years old at the time of the collapse of the Union are already 55 years old. And only people of working age can participate in the resettlement program,” Yakimov stated.

At the same time, a number of experts believe that one of the reasons for the decline in interest among citizens of Tajikistan in this program is the change in the conditions for providing social support in Russia.

Until 2024, social support for relocating families was considered one of the key incentives for participation in the program. However, since last year, the legislation has changed: now only families with Russian citizenship, provided that their children were born on the territory of the Russian Federation, are entitled to receive this support.

Until 2024, the process of relocating citizens of Tajikistan to Russia raised concerns. Most of those wishing to leave the country wanted to do so with their families due to the difficult economic situation.

However, after the bloody attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in 2024, in which predominantly citizens of Tajikistan were suspected of involvement, the attitude of Russian law enforcement agencies and public opinion towards immigrants from the country noticeably changed.

As a result, tens of thousands of citizens of Tajikistan were expelled from Russia without official explanation of the reasons and with a ban on re-entry for extended periods. This, in turn, led to a decrease in interest among citizens in the resettlement program.