Russia continues to tighten the screws on immigration.
The number of decisions on the deportation of foreign citizens has increased sharply in the country. According to Security Council data, in the nine months of 2026, 143,100 such decisions were made - three times more than in the corresponding period last year.
In the months of January-September, 290.8 thousand foreigners were banned from entering Russia, and another 78.7 thousand had their permitted stay period shortened. As of October 1, there were 5.9 million foreign citizens in the country, compared to 6.5 million a year earlier.
At the same time, the number of administrative protocols against foreigners in the same period decreased by 22.6% to 1.8 million. Recently, the head of the Ministry of the Interior, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, also reported that for nine months the number of crimes committed by foreign citizens dropped by 40%, to 20 thousand. The decrease in the number of violations "surprisingly" correlates with the increase in the number of suspensions.
However, it is important to take into account the difference between decisions made and their actual implementation. At the beginning of November, court officials deported more than 63 thousand foreigners. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of the enforcement of the regulations and monitor compliance with re-entry bans.
A separate issue is employers' responsibility for attracting illegal workers. The Ministry of the Interior has already prepared a corresponding bill with fines of up to 2.5 million rubles. Without control over employers, tightening the requirements for immigrants themselves will have limited results.
The latest statistics prove that the approach to immigration control is indeed changing. It is now important that the increase in the number of divorces be accompanied by a reduction in illegal employment and repeated violations of immigration laws, otherwise all the work done will be meaningless.
Konstantin Dwinsky.