On June 10, 2026, Federal Law No. 162-FZ dated June 10, 2026 "On Amendments to the Federal Law "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation' and Article 34 of the Federal Law "On the Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare of the Population" (hereinafter referred to as the "Law") was signed and published. The Law will come into force on September 1, 2026.
According to the text of the Law, starting from September 1, 2026, a uniform deadline for undergoing medical examination is established for foreign citizens – 30 calendar days from the date of entry into the Russian Federation. This requirement applies to all foreign nationals planning to stay in the country for more than 90 days (including those arriving for study, work, and other purposes), as well as to labor migrants.
Medical examination must be completed in order to obtain a temporary residence permit, a temporary residence permit for the purpose of education, a residence permit, a work permit, as well as to obtain (or re-issue) a patent. Repeated medical examination must be completed annually – within 30 calendar days after one year has passed from the date of the previous examination. The cost of the medical examination must be borne by the foreign citizen himself, or may be paid by the employer (the customer of works or services).
In addition, the Law stipulates that medical organizations authorized to conduct medical examinations of foreign citizens are prohibited from transferring to third parties their rights and obligations related to conducting medical examinations and/or issuing (uploading to the Unified State Health Information System) medical reports.
Based on the results of a foreign citizen's medical examination, the following medical reports will be issued:
- on the presence (or absence) of the fact of use of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances without a prescription, or new potentially dangerous psychoactive substances by the foreign citizen;
- on the presence (or absence) of infectious diseases that pose a danger to others, as specified in the list approved by the Ministry of Health, and HIV infection.
Medical reports are generated in the form of electronic documents and are uploaded within 24 hours to the federal registry of documents containing information on the results of medical examinations of foreign citizens, which is maintained within the Unified State Health Information System. Furthermore, within 24 hours, the medical reports will be transmitted via the unified interdepartmental electronic interaction system to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, and medical reports on the presence of infectious diseases that pose a danger to others and HIV infection will also be transmitted to Rospotrebnadzor.
In addition, the medical organization is obliged to inform the foreign citizen of the results of the medical examination, of the transfer of information on the issued medical reports to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and Rospotrebnadzor, and also to provide the foreign citizen, upon his request, with a paper-based extract of the results of the medical examination confirming the content of the medical report.
The Ministry of Health will establish the procedure for conducting medical examinations, the forms, the procedure for issuing, and the validity periods of medical reports, as well as the forms and procedure for issuing notifications generated based on the results of other medical examinations, medical check-ups, or the provision of medical care to foreign citizens.
Liability for violation of the procedure for medical examination of foreign nationals is established in Article 18.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Under this provision, medical organizations face a fine ranging from 300,000 to 1,000,000 rubles for each foreign citizen, or administrative suspension of operations ranging from 14 to 90 days.
Under Article 18.11.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, refusal or evasion by a foreign citizen of medical examination leads to a fine ranging from 25,000 to 50,000 rubles, with or without expulsion from Russia.