The Russian government has approved the quota for temporary residence permits (TRPs) for foreigners in 2025, setting the limit at 5,500 permits, TASS reports, citing relevant order.

This represents a significant reduction compared to 2024, when the quota was 10,600.  The total number of permits will be distributed among Russia’s regions based on their requests.

As in previous years, Moscow and the Moscow oblast will receive the highest number of permits, with 1,000 and 350 permits respectively in 2025 (down from 1,500 and 750 in 2024).

The quota for St. Petersburg will drop from 300 to 200 permits. Regions like Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, which were allocated 250 permits each last year, will receive only 100 this time.

This marks the fifth consecutive year of quota reductions.  In 2021, the government issued more than 39,000 permits, which decreased to around 19,000 in 2022 and 13,500 in 2023.

According to materials accompanying the decision, regions have used only a small portion of their allocated quotas. Data from Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs shows that only 20.4% of the quota for the current year has been utilized over the first seven months.

The TRP quota is determined based on proposals from Russian regions, which assess the migration situation and economic conditions. The government also sets a reserve quota, which will be 1,650 permits in 2025 (down from 3,178 in 2024).