Key Takeaways:
- Russia will trial an organised recruitment of foreign workers from 1 January 2027 with registries for employers and migrants.
- The draft law proposes new state fees, tax provisions and amendments to Labour, Budget and Tax Codes.
- Authorities expect roughly 22 billion rubles in annual budget revenue and exemptions for Eurasian Economic Union participants.
- The government will set detailed conditions and oversee the scheme through the experiment period.
Russian authorities have proposed a government-run experiment to streamline the organised recruitment of foreign workers, with the pilot scheduled to start on 1 January 2027 and run until 31 December 2029, according to a draft ministry bill published by the Interior Ministry.
Organised recruitment of foreign workers: what the experiment will test
The draft law grants the cabinet powers to carry out an experiment on the targeted recruitment and use of foreign employees by employers and contractors. The document foresees the creation of registries containing data on participating employers and foreign workers and envisages detailed rules and conditions to be set by the government.
Under the proposal, the Interior Ministry would supplement the Labour, Budget and Tax Codes with provisions on personal income tax treatment and other aspects of employer-worker interaction specific to participants in the scheme. The ministry said the measure aims to adapt the legal and administrative framework ahead of broader changes to the way foreign labour is engaged on Russian territory.
Officials estimate the experiment would generate around 22 billion rubles in annual revenue for the federal budget. At the same time, citizens of the Eurasian Economic Union would be exempted from certain tax liabilities during their participation, reflecting existing regional integration arrangements.
Administration, costs and state fees
The Interior Ministry argued the move responds to significant expenses the authorities currently face in managing migration. These costs include production of secure documents, protective laminating elements, staff time for verification, and the operation of databases that record the status of foreign nationals. To offset anticipated shortfalls resulting from the change in recruitment procedures, the draft proposes introducing state fees for foreign nationals and their employers.
The ministry said the new fees and targeted exemptions are intended to prevent a material decline in tax receipts across all budget levels as the process for hiring foreign workers changes. The government will determine the precise conditions, procedural steps and eligibility criteria for the pilot.
Implications for employers and migrants
Employers participating in the organised recruitment scheme would be entered into official registers and would need to comply with specific reporting and administrative requirements. Foreign workers would also be registered and subject to the rules tested during the experiment. The bill leaves open how quotas, sectoral priorities or regional allocations will be handled, noting that such details will be specified in subordinate regulations.
Legal amendments to tax and social rules indicate an effort to balance budgetary needs with incentives to attract workers where labour shortages exist. Observers will watch how exemptions for Eurasian Economic Union nationals and the imposition of state fees on others are calibrated, since these choices could shape employer behaviour and migration flows.
As lawmakers and ministries review the draft, the government’s authority to conduct the experiment would allow officials to trial new administrative mechanics before any permanent legislative overhaul. The experiment is presented as a managed approach to modernising labour migration, with both fiscal and operational dimensions that the authorities say will be refined during the pilot period.
