Number of migrants growing in Tatarstan
The number of foreigners permanently residing in the republic has increased by 26%
Since the beginning of the year, the number of foreigners permanently living in Tatarstan has risen by 26.2%, reaching 18,000. As of 1 June, there were 110,500 migrants in the republic, only 4,500 of whom were undocumented. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, despite the increase in arrivals, no interethnic conflicts have been recorded in the region, and crimes committed by migrants have no significant impact on the overall crime situation. More details are available in the report by Realnoe Vremya.
Migrants arrive for study and work
As of 1 June, 106,000 foreigners were legally staying in Tatarstan, which is by 13,000 more than in 2024. This was reported at a press conference by Marat Galeev, head of the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the republic.
The number of foreigners permanently residing in Tatarstan has also increased — there are now 18,000, a 26.6% year-on-year rise. The number of temporarily residing migrants stands at 5,000. A total of 794 people have been granted Russian citizenship.
In the first four months of this year, just over a thousand invitations were issued for entry to Russia based on requests from educational institutions. Visas were extended for 7,700 students. Another 3,000 permits are planned to be issued before the new academic year.
Tatarstan remains attractive for labour migrants as well — nearly 1,500 foreigners hold work permits, and 38,000 have patents. More than 12,000 citizens of the EAEU countries (Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus) have signed special agreements.
4,500 foreigners are undocumented
There are far fewer undocumented migrants in Tatarstan — 4,500, Galeev continued. According to him, these figures are recorded in the register of monitored individuals:
In total, more than 9,000 individuals and legal entities have been held administratively liable for violating migration laws in 2025 — over 5,000 of them are foreigners.
“Organisations face sanctions up to the suspension of company operations. Nevertheless, such violations do occur. We see the highest number of cases in the construction industry. There are deadlines and volumes to meet for construction projects, and, as always, there is a shortage of labour. Because of this, subcontractors are interested in hiring migrants willing to work for lower wages without legal authorization,” the spokesperson explained.
In 2025, 603 foreign nationals were expelled from Russia, specifically from the territory of Tatarstan, and 48 were deported. Entry to the country was barred for 1,400 individuals.
“Foreigners often do not take up work, in part due to a lack of Russian language skills. The second issue is that foreigners do not fully understand our legislation. In working with representatives of diasporas, we try to convey that their rights will not be violated if they come to us. We grant the right to engage in labour activity upon presentation of the necessary documents. However, not all of them believe these assurances,” Galeev added.
No interethnic conflicts recorded
This year, 215 cases of illegal migrant labour were identified in Tatarstan. As a result, 138 administrative protocols were drawn up against employers.
Galeev specifically noted that no interethnic conflicts have been recorded in Tatarstan.
Foreign nationals committed 223 crimes this year. However, these do not have a significant impact on the overall crime situation in Tatarstan.
Among crimes committed by migrants, there were 147 offences, including:
- 41 cases of fraud;
- 33 cases of theft;
- 5 cases of intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm.