Russia increases crackdown on foreign residency status

Russia sharply increased the number of revoked residence permits for foreign nationals in the first quarter of the year, according to data from the country’s Security Council cited by Russian media.

Nearly 8,300 decisions were made to annul residence permits, marking a 90% rise compared with the same period last year.

The data also show that 581,000 foreign nationals currently hold residence permits in Russia. During the first quarter, around 2.5 million foreigners and stateless individuals entered the country, a decline of 15% year-on-year. Of those arrivals, approximately 1.8 million, or 72.4%, were citizens of countries belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Separately, the Russian government this week submitted a draft law to the State Duma proposing a significant increase in the fee required to obtain Russian citizenship. The proposal would raise the fee from about $53 (4,200 rubles) to roughly $662 (50,000 rubles), based on current exchange rates.

By Tamilla Hasanova