Russia proposes 382,800 visa-country worker quota for 2027 as hiring from India and Bangladesh surges

This piece has two parts: the news with links to sources, followed by the Sardaana News editorial position.

What happened

Russia’s Labor Ministry (Mintrud) has drafted a government decree setting the 2027 quota for work permits for foreigners from visa countries at 382,800 people — about 0.5% of all employed, according to Interfax and The Moscow Times. The document is still a draft put up for public discussion, not a final decision.

The 2027 quota is 37% higher than in 2026 (278,900), roughly 1.6 times the 2025 figure (234,950) and about 2.5 times the 2024 figure (155,900). According to Mintrud, employers use this mechanism mainly to hire citizens of China, India, Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

Where the workers would go

Employer applications cite construction of large oil-, gas-chemical and logistics facilities, plus production of ethylbenzene, styrene and polystyrene in Tatarstan and in the Alabuga special economic zone, where Russia’s largest strike-drone production continues to expand (The Moscow Times). Permits are issued only after a regional interagency commission confirms the enterprise cannot find staff within the region.

Employers say about 92% of requests are for skilled migrants; the rest accompany skilled teams for full-cycle work without a language barrier or at remote sites with a harsh climate (Lenta.ru).

The Moscow Times reports that 56,500 workers from India came to Russia in 2025 (36,200 in 2024) and 9,300 from Bangladesh (2,800) — highs since at least 2017. In the first half of 2026, Sri Lankan citizens received 2,000 work permits.

Sardaana News editorial position

If Russia keeps raising quotas for South Asian labor while birth rates stay low, mortality stays high, the population ages and young people keep dying in the war against Ukraine — which the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” — then by 2050–2060 Russia will host one of the world’s largest diasporas from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Labor imports on this scale are not a temporary patch for construction sites. This is demographic substitution: the state is burning its own youth in a war of aggression against Ukraine, cannot reverse the collapse in births, and plugs the holes in its labor market by importing people.

That the Alabuga zone is expanding strike-drone production while receiving workers from visa countries shows the quota feeds the war economy, not just “civilian” industry.

Our criticism targets the policy of the Russian state — war, demographic failure and quotas — not the workers who travel there to earn a living. They are not to blame for the Kremlin choosing war over its own country’s future.