In the first half of 2025, a total of 5.48 million citizens of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, China and Kyrgyzstan entered Russia, Kommersant reports, citing official statistics from the FSB border service. This is only 2% less than in the first 6 months of last year, when 5.59 million people from these five countries came to Russia.

Experts note that the recent tightening of migration legislation has not affected the flow of arrivals, as citizens of neighboring countries still need work.

Kommersant analyzed data on the entry of foreign citizens into the Russian Federation for the first and second quarters of 2025 (published by the FSB in the Unified Interdepartmental Information and Statistical System).

It turned out that the top 5 countries (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, China and Kyrgyzstan) in terms of the number of visitors remained almost unchanged compared to the first half of 2024.

The flow of visitors from China has increased in Russia: in the first six months of 2025, 767.6 thousand people entered, which is 67 thousand more than in the same period of 2024. For comparison, in the first half of 2023, there were only 263.8 thousand of them, and then China ranked only seventh in the list of countries in terms of the number of entries.

Kazakhstan also showed growth: if 1.51 million citizens of this country visited Russia in January-June last year, then this year it was 1.54 million. At the same time, most of them have a "private visit" in the "purpose of the visit" column (about 1 million people). Only about 120 thousand people indicated a job. Unlike Kazakhstanis, Chinese citizens most often name tourism (317,000), followed by business trips, work and study.

The rest of the top five countries show a decrease in the number of arrivals. Tajikistan has the most significant one. So, if in the first half of 2024 978 thousand citizens of the Republic of Tajikistan arrived in the Russian Federation, then in 6 months of this year – 825 thousand.

The largest number of foreigners came to Russia from Uzbekistan – 1.82 million. At the same time, citizens of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in most cases indicate that the purpose of the visit is work.

According to Alexandra Dokuchaeva, deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries, an organized recruitment system has been actively developing in Uzbekistan in recent years, "when traveling salesmen from Russia come and recruit entire teams to certain facilities."

Despite the strict laws

Migrants continue to come to Russia against the background of stricter requirements for the stay of foreigners. Since February 2025, the "register of controlled persons" has been launched, where violators of the law are included. Getting into it threatens to block bank cards and SIM cards, as well as expulsion.

Starting from June 30, visitors from visa-free countries must submit biometrics through the ruID app at least 72 hours before arrival. Since September, monitoring of the migrants' location will begin in Moscow and the Moscow region: they are required to register in the application and transmit their location data to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. If you try to avoid transmitting geolocation, they will also be entered in the registry.

From January 2025, the stay of citizens of visa-free countries is limited to 90 days per year instead of the previous 180. In addition, since January, a rule has come into force according to which foreigners who have married Russians can expect to receive a temporary residence permit only three years after marriage registration.  

Alexandra Dokuchaeva believes that despite the strict restrictions, the flow of migrants will not seriously decrease:

"The economic situation of our neighbors, who are the main donors of migration, is not improving. The fact that there has not been a sharp decline shows that people accept and understand the need to comply with the new rules."