The Ministry of Internal Affairs (МВД), Russia’s federal authority responsible for internal affairs and migration matters, reported that from 1 September 2026 the deadline for medical examinations will apply to foreign nationals staying in Russia for more than 90 days. The stated deadline is no later than 30 calendar days after entry. For employers, this is primarily a change in how support for foreign workers is organized, rather than grounds for introducing unverified requirements in advance.
What the Ministry of Internal Affairs Identifies as the Change
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the changes will take effect on 1 September 2026. Medical examinations within 30 calendar days after entry will apply to foreign nationals staying in Russia for more than 90 days. In the material provided, this is described as an extension of a rule that the agency had previously linked to entry for employment.
For a company, it is important to distinguish confirmed information from working assumptions. The source data do not list exemptions, transitional provisions, the law number, or the details of its scope. Therefore, the HR department should not automatically apply the rule to all categories of foreign nationals or change procedures solely on the basis of an agency announcement.
How the Change Affects the HR Process
If the requirement is confirmed by the official wording of the federal law (федеральный закон), a federal statute that establishes the applicable legal requirement, in the stated form, the key control point will be the employee’s date of entry. The 30 calendar days are counted from that date, not from the date the employee is added to the staff, the employment contract is signed, or actual work begins. This makes the accuracy of the initial data essential to HR support.
The practical process risk lies not in the sanctions named by the source — they are not specified in the material — but in the loss of control. When the entry date is stored only in correspondence or known to one employee, the company cannot see the approaching deadline in time. A single process is needed for transferring this date to the function responsible for supporting foreign nationals.
What to Check Before Amending Internal Policies
The first document to check should be the official text of the federal law (федеральный закон). The company should establish its number, exact scope, categories of exemptions, and transitional provisions. These details will show whether the rule applies to a particular employee and from what point it must be taken into account in corporate procedures.
After the legal review, the rule should be compared with actual HR practices. For example, it is useful to check when the company receives entry information, who sees it first, and how it enters the control list. This analysis helps avoid creating a new parallel process and instead integrate the check into the existing support process for foreign workers.
Electronic Certification and Data in the Ministry of Health System
The Ministry of Internal Affairs reports that the examination results may be documented in a medical certificate, including in electronic form. The information will also be entered into the Ministry of Health’s information system (система Минздрава), the state information system referred to in the material. For employers, this means they should not assume in advance that a paper document is the only possible form of confirmation.
At the same time, the material provided does not explain exactly how an employer will be able to obtain or verify the information, what confirmation formats will be used, or what actions will be required from the employee. Until a confirmed procedure is published, additional documents should not be required, nor should employees be promised a specific method of data exchange.
Transfer of Information by the Medical Organization: What Is Known
The Ministry of Internal Affairs’ announcement states that if the examination identifies the diseases or prohibited substances specified in the announcement, the medical organization must transfer the information to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (МВД) and the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Роспотребнадзор), Russia’s federal consumer-protection and public-health oversight authority, within 24 hours. The material does not provide a complete list of these grounds, so it cannot be supplemented with assumptions.
The source also states that the information is transferred to decide the issue of removal from Russia. The consequences directly for the employer are not specified. The correct HR position is not to draw independent conclusions about the person’s status, but to rely on confirmed documents and official decisions when available.
What to Check
- Find the official text of the federal law (федеральный закон) and verify its number, scope, exemptions, and transitional provisions.
- Check which categories of the company’s foreign workers stay in Russia for more than 90 days.
- Update the internal support process after confirming the wording of the law: from the entry date through receipt of the medical certificate.
- Determine who in the HR function records the entry date and monitors completion of the medical examination.
- Reflect in document management that the certificate may be issued electronically and the information entered into the Ministry of Health system (система Минздрава).
- Do not describe to employees consequences or sanctions that are absent from the officially verified text.