Starting September 1, Moscow will introduce a digital program for monitoring migrants, modeled after the social registration system used during the pandemic, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Under the system, police officers will be able to scan a QR code to access key information about a migrant – including the date of arrival, length of stay, place of employment, and any migration violations.
“If the violation is marked red, the officer must detain the individual. If it’s green, there are no issues,” Sobyanin explained.
Experts believe that the new system could transform migration oversight by streamlining police work, reducing bureaucracy, and enhancing transparency regarding the status of foreign nationals in Russia. At the same time, issues arise regarding the protection of personal data and the potential for its use beyond monitoring migrants, extending instead to a much broader scope of state functions.
Some experts view this as a step toward establishing a more extensive system of digital surveillance. If the initiative proves effective, its application could go far beyond migration control, encompassing areas such as the labor market, housing rentals, or even access to public services. Such a development would essentially bring Russia’s model of digital governance closer to that of China, where similar technologies underpin social rating systems.
According to Sergei Khestanov, economist and associate professor at RANEPA, this is an interesting initiative that has a vast growth potential.
“China has long implemented something similar, albeit only in one special administrative region. The actual question is how soon such measures will extend beyond migrants,” the expert notes. “The trajectory of IT regulation in Russia is highly similar to that of China. While China began this process much earlier, Russia is now gradually adopting what has long been established there. This gives us a fairly clear picture of the future path of supervision and control.”