On March 18, the State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament) passed two significant bills concerning labor migration in their first reading.
The State Duma’s official website says that under the new regulations, migrant children who reach the age of 18 will be required to leave Russia within 30 days unless they obtain their own patent (work permit). Additionally, labor migrants will now be required to pay a fixed advance tax not only for themselves, as is currently the case, but also for all family members who depend on them and are residing in Russia.
The patents or work permits of migrants will be revoked if there is no information about their income or if their income is below a threshold, calculated by multiplying the regional living wage by the number of family members dependent on the migrant.
The new measures also propose stricter conditions for foreigners who have received temporary residence permits or residence permits. These permits will either not be issued or will be annulled if the migrant worked for less than ten months in the preceding year.
During the session, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin noted that "in addition to the two bills discussed in the area of migration, four more are under review."
