Russia received 321 billion rubles from migrants

In a year and a half, the Russian state budget received income of 321 billion rubles (about 4 billion dollars) from migrants.

This was reported at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin by the head of the Department for Citizenship and Registration of Foreign Citizens of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Andrey Kikoty.

Kikoty noted that this is 30% more compared to previous figures, and the majority of the income came from payments for work patents.

Kikoty also stated that approximately 9 million foreign citizens arrive in Russia each year for various purposes. At the same time, between 6 to 6.5 million foreigners are in Russia, about 3 million of whom are labor migrants. The share of labor migrants among foreigners has increased from 45% to 50%.

Despite the increase in income from migrants, Russian authorities are increasingly restricting access for labor migrants to the country. In particular, Kikoty reported that starting January 1, 2027, foreign migrants will have to pay a tax for each non-working family member residing in Russia. He described this initiative as part of a policy to reduce the presence of non-working family members of migrants.

According to Kikoty, the tightening of conditions for the admission of foreign children to schools, including a test on knowledge of the Russian language, has contributed to a decrease in the number of such children. He stated that if previously there were 1.7 million non-working family members of migrants in the country, after the implementation of these measures, this number has decreased by 20%.

At the same time, Russian authorities are preparing a new project to attract foreign workers, under which employers will submit requests to the migration service, a special operator will select workers, bring them to Russia, and prepare documents for employment.

If the project is approved, large and medium-sized companies will be required to provide foreign workers with special housing and transportation to their workplace. After the end of the labor contract, migrants will be returned to their homeland through this system.

Putin also supported this project, which is currently in the process of being approved by the government. Putin also called for issues related to preparing migrants for life and work in Russia, including knowledge of the Russian language, to be addressed before their arrival in the country.