What changed on June 10, 2026
Federal Law No. 162-FZ of June 10, 2026 amends Law No. 115-FZ on the legal status of foreign citizens and Article 34 of the law on sanitary and epidemiological welfare. It comes down to one sentence: a foreigner planning to stay in Russia for more than thirty days must complete the medical examination within thirty days of entry.
Before that text, the regime was looser and split in two: thirty days for those arriving to work, ninety days for every other purpose. It is that second category that has just been cut to thirty.
The rule applies to any entry, on a visa of any type as well as visa-free. It does not apply to holders of a temporary residence permit (RVP) or a permanent residence permit (VNZh), who fall under a different regime.
a one-year visa does not buy a year of peace. A short visa, a family visa, a business visa and a long-stay tourist visa all trigger the same duty once the stay passes thirty days, and the clock starts at the date of entry, not the date you settle in.
Who has to take it, who is exempt
The duty covers foreign nationals and stateless persons entering Russia whenever the planned stay exceeds thirty days. It comes paired with fingerprinting, the official dactyloscopy, and a state photograph. The three formalities go together and result in a document certifying they have been completed.
One confusion comes up constantly: the fingerprints taken automatically at the border on entry and exit do not count. They belong to border control, not to the mandatory procedure, which is carried out at an authorised body once you are in the country.
Exempt are:
- holders of an RVP, a VNZh or a student RVPO;
- people staying less than thirty days;
- children under six;
- citizens of Belarus;
- diplomatic and consular staff, officials of international organisations, military attachés and trade missions, together with their family members;
- holders of diplomatic and service passports.
Everyone else takes it, including foreign spouses of Russian citizens who arrived on a family visa, and including retirees on long stays.
What the examination covers
This is not a wellness check. It screens for a set of conditions whose detection governs the right to stay: HIV infection, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, leprosy, and screening for narcotic and psychotropic substance use.
In practice you move through several consulting rooms within the same facility, usually five, with blood tests, a chest X-ray and a urine sample. Allow half a day on site.
Children are covered from the age of six, with a pathway adapted to their age.
A positive result on one of the listed conditions is not a trivial matter: it can ground a refusal of a permit or a shortened stay. That is the point to anticipate for anyone on long-term treatment, particularly where it involves molecules classified as narcotics in Russia, codeine, tramadol or pregabalin among them, whose mere possession without a translated prescription is already an offence.
Where to take it, and why the choice of clinic decides everything
Only facilities on the official list of accredited bodies are accepted. An examination taken at a private clinic that is not accredited, however good, produces certificates the migration service will reject. This is one of the two most frequent errors Moscow firms report.
The second is more insidious: inconsistent personal data. If, after the examination, you change address or obtain a new notarised passport translation worded differently, the transliteration of your name or your address will no longer match the certificates. The certificates then have to be redone from scratch. The practical rule is to have the passport translation made first, the examination second, and to leave it alone thereafter.
Certificates are filed with the migration office of the place of stay or at a migration centre branch. In Moscow, fingerprinting is done at the Sakharovo centre or at its representation, whose address changed on June 22, 2026 to the OKO tower, 1st Krasnogvardeysky Proezd.
How long it takes, what it costs
| Item | 2026 benchmark |
|---|---|
| Full medical examination | around 7,000 ₽ per person |
| Time on site | half a day, one working day |
| Issue of certificates | 5 to 6 working days |
| Support by a firm | from 12,000 ₽, plus 3,000 ₽ per additional person |
| Validity of certificates | 1 year |
The price of the examination varies by region and by family composition. Paid support is only worth it for those who do not speak Russian: it covers booking, an assistant present through the circuit, and a check of the data printed on the certificates before it is too late.
The one-year validity is not a formality. Certificates must be renewed within thirty days of expiry if the stay continues. A foreigner settled long-term on a long visa therefore retakes the examination every year, until they obtain an RVP or a VNZh, which exempt them.
What you risk by skipping it
The main sanction is not a fine, it is a reduction of the authorised period of stay. The Ministry of Internal Affairs can decide that your stay ends earlier than your visa's validity, leaving you a few days to leave the country.
The other possible consequences are cancellation of the visa or work permit, an administrative fine, and in the heaviest cases expulsion.
In practice the gradation depends on how long the breach has run and whether it is isolated. One firm documents the case of a US national who arrived on a three-year tourist visa and stayed beyond ninety days without knowing the examination applied: the answer rests with the inspector, between a fine for a first violation and an actual reduction of the stay. The only sound advice in that situation is to put things right immediately, because elapsed time weighs in the assessment.
There is finally a knock-on consequence, often the costliest: without these documents, the next steps are blocked. Migration registration, an RVP application, a VNZh application and a citizenship application all assume the examination and fingerprinting have been done.
Frequently asked questions
My visa runs a year, do I have a year to take the examination? No. The clock runs from the date of entry and the window is thirty days, whatever the visa's length.
Do the fingerprints taken at the airport count? No. Those belong to border control. Mandatory dactyloscopy is carried out at an authorised body inside Russia.
I am the spouse of a Russian citizen, am I exempt? No, not while you are on a visa. The exemption covers holders of an RVP, VNZh or RVPO only.
Can I use the private clinic I normally go to? Only if it is on the Ministry of Internal Affairs list of accredited facilities. Otherwise the certificates will be rejected.
Are last year's certificates still valid? One year from issue, and renewal must happen within thirty days of expiry.
From what age is a child covered? Six. Below that they are exempt.
In short
Thirty days from entry, no more. An accredited clinic, never another. A passport translation settled before the examination, so the data match. Certificates valid one year, to be renewed as long as the stay continues on a visa.
It is a short, inexpensive formality whose omission produces disproportionate effects: a stay cut short by administrative decision, and every later migration step blocked. It belongs in the first week, not the first month.
