Immigration to Russia is an entry process of foreign citizens for permanent residence in the territory of the Russian Federation. The standard immigration procedure consists of the following steps: obtaining a temporary residence permit; obtaining a permanent residence permit and obtaining Russian citizenship. Under current law, the citizenship of Russia can be received after five years of residence and after passing an exam in Russian language. The immigration to Russia is regulated by the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs. The immigration plays an important role in modern Russian demographic processes, since it is the cause of the increase of the population from 2011. Russia maintains one of the world's most liberal immigration policies; anyone who works in Russia for five years and develops fluency in the Russian language can become a citizen, provided he or she has not committed a crime. Almost anyone who is hired by a Russian firm can stay in the country and work indefinitely This reflects a policy change on the part of the government of Vladimir Putin from the more restrictive policy enacted after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, in response to declining birth rates. The large non-Slavic immigrant populations arriving in response to Putin's liberal policy have sometimes been met with xenophobia. To counter this, the Russian state has shut down various anti-immigrant group pursuant to Russian hate speech laws, such as the Movement Against Illegal Immigration. Russian language native speakers, those married to Russian citizens, highly qualified specialists, businessmen and refugees are eligible for a simplified immigration procedure. It allows to get citizenship in 3 years or sometimes to skip temporary or permanent residency.
Statistics
Recent trends
Foreign population
As of June 2019, there are 10.13 million foreigners residing in the Russian Federation, with the vast majority being citizens of CIS countries. Central Asians make up the most numerous group, followed by Ukrainian citizens. Temporary migration from Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan increased after a marked decline in 2015-2016. Two countries—Moldova and Ukraine—have steadily demonstrated a decrease in the number of migrants. Foreign residents from the CIS in Russia:
