For Russians living abroad, they are going to introduce a mandatory account
The Russian government has approved a plan of measures related to the conception of the state migration policy for 2024-2025. In particular, it provides for the introduction of mandatory consular registration for Russian citizens living abroad, and for foreigners coming to Russia – the creation of a digital profile in a single biometric system.
“Digital profile of a foreign citizen” must include not only passport data, but also biometric data. In addition, as part of the experiment, Moscow airports will conduct “genomic registration” – the collection of DNA material of arriving foreigners and voice recording.
“Digital Profile” will combine data of migration records from several agencies. The Ministry of Statistics of Russia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Education and Science will work on its creation. They must present the results of joint work by December 10 of the current year.
In addition, by March 2024, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB must present ideas on strengthening responsibility for violations of the laws of the Russian Federation by foreigners. The Federal Agency for Nationalities, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and the Ministry of Education have been instructed to develop a standard adaptation course for foreigners entering Russia as labor migrants by September 2024.
It is planned to expand the list of countries whose citizens will be able to issue a single electronic visa. The list of types of residence permits that can be obtained in electronic form should also be expanded to include work and student visas.
The document also states that consular registration will become mandatory for Russian citizens living abroad. The concept of “citizen permanently residing outside of Russia” will be legally defined, and the legal status of such Russians will also be specified. Concrete measures, with the help of which it would be possible to force Russians living abroad to register at the consular register, are not specified in the document.
- The decree “On the conception of the state migration policy of the Russian Federation for 2019-2025” was signed by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in 2018. Since then, the Russian government adopts a new, revised plan for its implementation every two years.
