New rules for entering Russia

On the basis of the provisions of the Federal Law No. 114-FZ of August 15,1996 “the Procedure for Leaving the Russian Federation and Entering the Russian Federation” and the Federal Law No. 242-FZ of December 3, 2008 "About the State Genomic Registration in the Russian Federation" it is planned to conduct an experiment in the Russian Federation on testing the rules and conditions of entering the Russian Federation and leaving the Russian Federation by foreign citizens and stateless persons (hereafter – the Experiment). The Rules of conducting the Experiment are approved by the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1510 of November 7, 2024 (hereafter – the Decree No. 1510, the Rules of conducting the Experiment).

The Experiment is being conducted in order to create a digital profile of a foreign citizen (here and hereafter a foreign citizen means stateless persons as well), which represents a set of information provided by a foreign citizen as well as by authorized bodies and organizations, participating in the Experiment, to the state information systems in the amount and manner set by the Rules of conducting the Experiment. 

The Experiment will include two regimes of crossing the state border of the Russian Federation, which differ by the time period of their implementation, the territory coverage and set of information provided. 

The first regime is set for the period from December 1, 2024 till June 30, 2026 at the Russian air state border checkpoints at the international airports of Moscow (Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo) and Moscow region (Zhukovsky) and at the automobile checkpoint Mashtakovo (Orenburg region). The collection of biometric personal data (the photographic image of face and papillary pictures of person’s hands’ fingers) of foreign citizens will be carried out in the Experiment. 

The second regime is enacted for the period from June 30, 2025 till June 30, 2026 at all Russian state boarder checkpoints and supposed to implement the Rules of conducting the Experiment except for the collection of biometric personal data. Meanwhile foreign citizens planning to enter the Russian Federation under a procedure which does not require getting a visa must before that undergo registration in the unified system of identification and authentification with the use of the unified portal mobile application and at least 72 hours before the planned entry into the Russian Federation submit a statement in a digital form with the use of the unified portal mobile application regarding the purpose of entry into the Russian Federation and stay (residence) in the Russian Federation (in case of emergency – not later than 4 hours before the entry). 

The experiment is compulsory for foreign citizens crossing the state border of the Russian Federation during the period of the Experiment through the respective checkpoints, except for the following categories of foreign citizens: 

1. citizens of the Republic of Belarus;
2. heads of diplomatic representative offices and heads of consular offices in the Russian Federation, as well as members of their families;
3. workers of diplomatic representative offices and workers of consular offices in the Russian Federation, as well as members of their families;
4. officials of international organizations (representative offices of international organizations), which have concluded an agreement with the Government of the Russian Federation on the conditions of stay on the territory of the Russian Federation, and members of their families, as well as officials of international organizations, entering the Russian Federation and leaving the Russian  Federation due to carrying out their official duties;
5. owners of diplomatic and official passports as well as other valid documents, which indentify their personality and are approved as such by the Russian Federation, if there is a diplomatic or official visa in them, who enter the Russian Federation and leave the Russian Federation due to carrying out their official duties or as members of official delegations, as well as members of their families; 
6. foreign citizens, entering the Russian Federation or leaving the Russian Federation with the valid documents, which identify their personality and are approved as such by the Russian Federation, if there is a diplomatic or official visa in them;
7. foreign citizens and stateless persons under the age of six years old.

The procedure of application for a Russian visa, including a unified electronic visa, by a foreign citizen stays the same. 

The digital profile of a foreign citizen and a stateless person will be created: 

• by authorized federal bodies of executive power of the Russian Federation – only in regard of persons, entering the Russian Federation on the basis of visa; 

or 

• by a foreign citizen, planning to enter the Russian Federation, themselves with the help of a special mobile application (for those who enter the Russian Federation on the basis of visa the procedure is voluntary, for foreign citizens, entering the Russian Federation from June 30, 2025 without a visa it is compulsory). 

Among other things the creation of a digital profile aims at significantly simplifying the solution of a whole range of matters for foreign citizens, requiring the application to Russian state, municipal and other bodies, namely: 

•  notifying on their visit to Russia; 
• gaining information on the procedure of receiving services on the territory of the Russian Federation and/or applying in the digital form for services and facilities (for example, applying for a certificate of voluntary medical insurance, signing a contract with a Russian telecom operator and getting a SIM card, making an appointment at the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia);
• providing documents from the digital profile in form of a QR-code along with a passport or any other identity document. 

The full text of the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1510 of November 7, 2024 “On conducting an experiment on testing the rules and conditions for entry into and exit from the Russian Federation of foreign citizens and stateless persons” is available on the official web-site of legal information on the link: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/0001202411130026.