Ideological migration to Russia: administrative and legal aspect

• Published in: Административное и муниципальное право no. 3; pp. 1 - 20
• Main Author: Yasilevich, Yurii Petrovich
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.03.2025
• ISSN: 2454-0595; 2454-0595
• DOI: 10.7256/2454-0595.2025.3.74520

A special place in the migration policy of modern Russia is occupied by certain categories of migrants, whose treatment by the authorities and other social institutions involves tasks aimed at simplifying migration procedures and accelerating their integration into society. Typically, these categories of migrants reflect a special connection to Russia, particularly those with a similar ethnic background who speak Russian, or highly qualified specialists of particular value. The focus of the analysis is on provisions of domestic legislation that establish changes in administrative-legal regulation related to the introduction that defines the legal status of foreign citizens immigrating to Russia to assist individuals who share traditional Russian spiritual and moral values. The aim of the research is to study the essence of the legal mechanism for attracting ideological migrants in relation to the general legal status of other categories of migrants and its significance as a direction of migration policy. The results, in the form of understanding the positive aspects and clear deficiencies of the examined migration mechanism, may serve as a basis for scientific refinement and deeper public discussion of legislative immigration initiatives. The methodological framework of the study consists of general scientific methods: analysis, synthesis, and analogy, as well as specific scientific formal-legal and comparative-legal methods. The novelty of the study lies in the conclusions that characterize the constituent elements of the mechanism of ensuring a new migration inflow, conditioned by the needs for solving domestic problems and designed to perform an instrumental role in the Russian foreign policy influence. It has been found that the feature of the innovation is that it does not require potential migrants to meet ethnic origin or other familial ties, but must comply with a number of conditions, the main of which is the fact of self-identification by the subject. The normative action of this principle, in the absence of other requirements in the law, not only equalizes foreign citizens in terms of protection of interests with compatriots abroad but, in a certain sense, provides them advantages at the initial stage of naturalization. The article highlights the emerging problems of determining the loyalty of potential migrants, as well as issues within the migration policy itself, characterized by a certain bias against different categories of migrants.