IN BRIEF: Russia’s Security Council details foreign labor situation

MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. Half of foreign workers in Russia are qualified specialists, while employers are increasingly moving away from reliance on a shadow foreign labor force, the country’s Security Council reported.

TASS has gathered the key statements from the council.

Foreigners’ requests for temporary residence

A total of 3,300 foreign nationals who share Russia’s traditional values have requested temporary residence in the country over the past 18 months: "As many as 3,000 requests have been granted."

Foreign specialists

Employers in Russia are increasingly abandoning the use of a shadow foreign labor force: "Statistics reveal a growing number of foreign citizens holding valid documents authorizing them to work in Russia."

Half of foreign workers in Russia are qualified specialists.

Foreign nationals that arrived in Russia based on visa waivers held over 1.7 million valid labor patents as of April 1, 2026: "The tax revenues that Russian regional budgets received from the use of the patent system of taxation rose by 13% to over 35 billion rubles ($464 mln) in the first three months of 2026."

Number of foreign nationals in Russia

About 2.5 million foreign nationals, most of them citizens of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states, and stateless persons entered Russia in the first quarter of 2026, "a 15% decline compared with the same period of 2025."

The number of foreign nationals holding temporary and permanent residence permits dropped by almost one-third in the first quarter of the year.

Decline in crimes committed by foreigners

"A 38.9% decline in crimes committed by foreign nationals was recorded" in the first quarter of 2026.