Starting in September, most immigrants living in and around Moscow will need to download an app that automatically sends geolocation data to the government, under a new law enacted earlier this month. Individuals who refuse or fail to send in their information every three days could be added to a new register for those without legal status, thus becoming eligible for deportation. Immigrants will also need to submit biometric information such as fingerprints and a photo. Launched as a four-year experiment, the new law is the latest turn for Russia’s immigration system, which has simultaneously become more restrictive for certain categories of migrants and more open for others. Since the March 2024 terror attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue, allegedly carried out by Tajik nationals, Moscow has ramped up scrutiny of the millions of Central Asian migrants working in Russia. As Caress Schenk wrote in the Migration Information Source, some of these labor migrants have been compelled to join the Russian military to fight in Ukraine. At the same time, Moscow has begun offering a new “shared values” visa to Russophiles unhappy with conditions in their own countries; “unfriendly” countries on the list include most EU Member States, the United Kingdom, and the United States. On a more global level, the Russian surveillance law is the latest iteration of authorities’ turn to digital tools to keep near-constant tabs on immigrants and more thoroughly scrutinize visa applicants. The UK privacy regulator last year deemed illegal a Home Office pilot program requiring hundreds of asylum seekers to wear ankle monitors providing continuous location tracking. The United States has long relied on alternatives to detention that include methods such as electronic tracking (via ankle monitor, watch, or phone) to monitor unauthorized immigrants, including those pursuing asylum cases. Under the Trump administration, immigration authorities have dramatically ramped up their data-gathering and surveillance powers, aiming to create a vast digital net to aid arrests. In other realms, the social media histories of visa applicants or visa holders are now widely seen as containing a font of information for immigration officials. German authorities, for instance, recommend “intensive” screening of applicants’ social media and other readily available information. In recent weeks, the U.S. State Department has begun monitoring some international students’ social media activity. Russia’s new law might be particularly expansive, but it is in many ways just a further embroidering on these other efforts. As more of our lives play out in the digital realm, the trend points to a future in which immigration enforcement, too, relies on digital screenings and surveillance as a primary monitoring tool. All the best, Julian Hattem
Editor, Migration Information Source
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