The government is developing mechanisms to control the movement of migrants using digitalization

By the end of this year, migrants in the Russian Federation will have digital profiles that will combine all available information about them in a single information system. Vice Speaker of the State Duma Sergei Neverov stated this yesterday after the meeting of the United Russia faction with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. According to the government, this will allow better tracking of the movement of foreign workers and ensure security. However, the problem of uncontrolled movement of migrants can be solved more effectively by targeting them for jobs and subsequent accommodation in specialized dormitories.

Migrants who come to live and work in the Russian Federation will have digital profiles. State Duma Deputy Speaker Sergei Neverov announced this last night on his Telegram channel after a meeting of the United Russia faction with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. “The issue regarding labor migration was raised. The topic is painful, but requires a careful, thoughtful approach. A digital profile of the person who came to work will be created. Where does he move, when his permits expire, where does he live, with whom. Any transfer to another job, dismissal – everything must be under control,” he noted.

Let us remind you that the authorities began to discuss strengthening control over migration after the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall on March 22 of this year – it was committed, according to preliminary investigation data, by several residents of Tajikistan who flew to Russia from Turkey. During this week, law enforcement agencies began random document checks on the streets of Russian cities, as well as at enterprises where migrants work, in particular, in warehouses in the Moscow region (see Kommersant on March 28).

Let us note that in Russia there may be from 7 million to 10 million (5–7% of the population) migrants with different legal status, who entered on the basis of various documents and intergovernmental agreements. Since 2014, the Russian Federation, together with other EAEU member countries, has been building a single labor market for the union, consistently removing mutual restrictions on labor activity – now citizens of the “five” countries do not require either a patent or a work permit to find employment. At the same time, regulations were tightened for migrants from other countries – they needed to obtain patents in order to find employment. Some dichotomy was also observed in later government initiatives – the migration influx was recognized as an important resource for maintaining the country’s population against the backdrop of a demographic decline, but the issue of integrating newcomers into society remained unresolved.

The idea of ​​digital profiles of migrants, which was discussed yesterday in the State Duma, is already contained in the Concept of Migration Policy, approved by the White House in January 2024. According to the document, the digital profile system should be implemented by the end of the year, combining migration registration data that is currently in the databases of various departments, such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. In addition, it is planned to link biometric data to the digital profile – the government plans to introduce biometric collection at airports.

More promising, however, is the idea of ​​regulating the peculiarities of the stay of foreigners in the Russian Federation in the context of their employment. Thus, the Ministry of Labor is actively promoting the idea of ​​​​transitioning to a targeted recruitment of labor migrants, which involves the import of employees from abroad by the employer for specific jobs through the public law company “Work in Russia” created by the department. By 2030, according to the department’s plan, 300 thousand people will be recruited to work through this mechanism. Simultaneously with this idea, the authorities of the Moscow region developed new requirements for the creation of distribution centers that create a noticeable demand for migrant labor: their owners will be required to build dormitories for migrants on the territory of the work site in order to avoid “uncontrolled movement of migrants from their place of residence to their place of work.” (For more details, see “Kommersant” dated March 4).

Anastasia Manuilova