Immigration to Russia

Immigration to Russia involves both temporary workers and those seeking permanent residence in the Russian Federation. Historically, the Russian Empire was one of the world's leading destinations for immigrants, starting with the reign of Peter I (1682–1725) and especially after the ascension of Catherine II in 1762, until the October Revolution in 1917. Some regions, such as Novorossiya, Slavo-Serbia, Volga, and Bessarabia were specifically designated for resettlement of immigrants.

Immigration to Russia was relatively low during the Soviet period (1922–1991) and through the early post-Soviet years (1992–2005). Russia experienced a considerable population decline during the latter period due to a decreased birthrate, lowered life expectancy and growing emigration. To combat these demographic problems, the Russian government adopted in 2006 the "Program for the return of compatriots to Russia", which was made into a permanent law in 2012. The law defines "compatriots" as individuals who are direct descendants (either matrilineal or patrilineal) of people who had lived within the current territory of Russia. In February 2024, in order to expedite and to simplify the immigration process the requirement for conversational ability in Russian was waived.

Due to these policy changes, Russia has experienced an overall population increase starting in 2012. According to Rosstat, the federal statistics agency, and the United Nations, the number of legal immigrants in Russia between 2000 and 2015 fluctuated between 11 and 12 million, or about 8% of the population. In 2020, Russia ranked fourth globally by the largest number of immigrants, after the United States, Germany and Saudi Arabia. At the same time, Russia ranked third worldwide by the number of emigrants, after India and Mexico.

The majority of recent immigrants to Russia come from former Soviet republics, especially Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Although the Russian government actively encourages immigration of ethnic Russians, most immigrants from the former Soviet republics in recent years were not ethnic Russians. By 2018, Ukrainians constituted the largest immigrant group outside Central Asia, exceeding 2 million; in 2024, according to Rosstat, Russia hosted 8.5 million refugees from Ukraine. Legal immigrants in Russia receive both grant money and repayable low-interest loans issued by Rossotrudnichestvo.