They live by lies: who helps illegal immigrants stay in Russia
In the Moscow region, the activities of a criminal group that was engaged in the illegal legalization of foreign citizens through forged migration documents and fictitious registration have been suppressed. Seven people were detained, including three former law enforcement officers. Izvestia found out the details.
Paper shop
According to the Investigative Committee, the defendants "for selfish reasons created an organized group" to ensure illegal migration to the Moscow region. In addition to civilians, former employees of the OMVD of Russia in the Tsaritsyno, Dorogomilovo, Novogireevo, Biryulyovo and Vostochnoye districts of the capital, as well as the Balashikha Inter-Municipal Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, were involved in the composition.
The investigation believes that the participants in the scheme helped foreigners obtain citizenship, residence permits, other migration statuses, as well as the right to work in the territory of the Russian Federation for remuneration. For this purpose, forged migration documents were produced, which contained deliberately false information about the border crossing and the place of residence of foreigners.
Operational support of the case was provided by the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. As a result of the complex of events in Moscow and the Moscow region, active members of the group were detained. Searches were conducted at their residential addresses, during which documents and stamps with signs of forgery, as well as other items of evidentiary value, were seized.
According to the Interior Ministry, at least 20 episodes of fictitious registration of foreign citizens who did not actually live at the addresses indicated in the documents have been identified. The authorities continue to check the detainees for involvement in other similar episodes.
Depending on the role of each person involved, they are held accountable under Part 3 of Article 322.1 of the Criminal Code ("Organization of illegal migration"), Article 322.3 of the Criminal Code ("Fictitious registration of a foreign citizen or stateless person at the place of residence in the Russian Federation") and Part 1 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code ("Abuse of official authority"). The investigation establishes all those involved in illegal activities and additional episodes.
It's fake everywhere
On September 23, the Odoevsky interdistrict court in the Tula region sentenced 13 members of an interregional criminal group, which, according to the FSB, organized a large-scale illegal migration channel through the illegal issuance of Russian passports. From 2023 to 2026, the attackers used clandestine polygraphic laboratories to produce fake passports of Ukraine and registration certificates, allegedly issued before the start of their work. These documents were used to obtain simplified Russian passports. The defendants received 3.5 to 11 years in prison, heavy fines, illegally issued passports were cancelled, and foreigners were expelled from Russia.
In the Volgograd region, the FSB announced the suppression of the activities of a group involved in the legalization of 350 foreign citizens who received work patents. The organizer hosted migrants at her home, where they were helped to arrange fictitious registration and civil law contracts. A criminal case has been opened against the woman and four of her relatives who participated in the scheme under Part 3 of Article 322.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and funds, electronic media, seals and documents were seized during searches.
Two organized groups have been suppressed in the Vladimir region. Since May 2024, criminals have been engaged in fictitious registration of migrants and the production of fake employment contracts. Visitors for 5-30 thousand rubles were issued a "residence permit" at addresses where they did not actually live, a package of documents was sent to the MFC and migration units. As a result, several hundred foreigners were legalized. Cases were initiated under Part 3 of Article 322.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, large amounts of cash, documents and forged seals were seized.
In Moscow, operatives discovered an underground printing house for the production of fakes, the workshop was equipped in one of the capital's apartments. Two natives of one of the Central Asian countries were detained, who are charged with manufacturing and selling fake passports, migration cards, patents and documents on registration at their place of residence. According to investigators, orders were accepted through messengers, and the finished papers were sent by mail.
In Yekaterinburg, the investigation of the criminal case on the illegal migration channel has been completed, through which, according to the investigation, about 200 foreign citizens were fictitiously legalized. Three immigrants from neighboring countries and an employee of the city polyclinic produced fake employment contracts, employment notices and medical reports, without ensuring the actual passage of a mandatory examination. The group's organizer has been taken into custody, and his accomplices are on their own recognizance. The materials of the case under Parts 2 and 3 of Art. 322.1 of the Criminal Code have been sent to the court.
It's easier for them that way
According to a law enforcement source, it has become much more difficult to legally obtain the right to stay and work in Russia over the past two years.
— Exams in the Russian language have been tightened, quotas for temporary residence have been cut, and the requirements for employment contracts have become such that a significant part of visitors from visa—free countries cannot physically meet them, - says the interlocutor of Izvestia. — For those who are already in the country with violations — and these are hundreds of thousands of people — there is practically no legal way back. Leaving means a ban on entry, and trying to register on the spot runs into bureaucratic barriers that are impossible to overcome without connections and money.
Against this background, forgery of documents has become almost the only working mechanism for maintaining status in the legal field, although using illegal methods, the source believes. Statistics confirm this: the number of detected crimes related to the forgery, manufacture or sale of migration documents increased by 22% over the year.
It should be recalled that during one stage of Operation Illegal (January – June 2026), the police initiated 235 criminal cases specifically for forgery of migration documents, 430 cases for fictitious registration. The ratio is significant: fictitious registration requires at least nominal participation of the homeowner, while forgery is a turnkey service that can be provided remotely.
Exorbitant demand
Last year, the Moscow FSB uncovered a channel through which 53,197 foreigners were illegally legalized — we are talking about fictitious employment contracts. In St. Petersburg, a group was detained that legalized about 3 thousand migrants through fictitious registration in hostels for 5-7 thousand rubles per person. In Irkutsk— there are more than 1,500 people and over 2,500 forged documents at a price from 1 thousand to 5 thousand rubles. Two clandestine laboratories for the production of fake migration cards and patents have been liquidated in Moscow.
"Accessibility is the key here,— says the Izvestia source. — For a migrant who is already in the "gray zone", paying several thousand for an extension of stay is incomparably cheaper than losing his job, housing and the prospect of staying in the country. While the legal path requires months of waiting, proven income, exams, and housing, a fake solves the same problem in days.
Ex-siloviki as guarantors of "quality"
The most disturbing aspect is the "cadre" of the group organizers. So, in the Moscow case mentioned at the beginning of the material, three of the seven defendants are former employees of the internal affairs bodies. Another arrest in Moscow involved two former police officers from migration units who issued forged documents. Three ex-policemen were convicted in the Rostov region for selling fake Ukrainian passports and certificates of registration in the DPR to obtain Russian citizenship.
— Such a person knows the points of failure of the system: which databases are checked first, which documents raise fewer questions, at what stage it is possible to "insure" the client if the check does begin. He's not just selling a fake — he's selling the knowledge of the "inner kitchen," which makes the fake indistinguishable from the original exactly until someone starts digging purposefully. Without this knowledge, any fake is a high—risk lottery. With him, the result is almost guaranteed," the former UVM inspector tells Izvestia.
Fake migration documents today are a direct consequence of the tightening of migration policy. When the legal route is closed to those who are already in the country, and the demand for workers persists, the market inevitably fills with criminal supply. It is pointless to fight it only with prohibitions: you either need to open real legal corridors, or admit that forgery is not a deviation, but a new norm for those whom the system refuses to see.
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