What Decree 821 actually says
On November 5, 2025, the President of the Russian Federation signed Decree No. 821, titled "On the temporary procedure for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation and for the issuance of residence permits in the Russian Federation." It entered into force the day it was signed and was published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on November 7, 2025.
The decree approves two separate regulations: one governing admission to citizenship, the other governing the issuance of the permanent residence permit (VNZh, vid na zhitelstvo). Both apply the same rule: legally capable men aged 18 to 65 may file an application only if they produce one of the documents the text lists.
The decree also repeals Decree No. 10 of January 4, 2024, which had organised naturalisation for foreign nationals who signed a military contract, along with its amendment No. 534 of July 31, 2025.
The decisive point: the RVP is not covered
The temporary residence permit (RVP, razreshenie na vremennoe prozhivanie) appears in the decree only in a secondary role, as a document that exempts the holder from producing certain medical certificates. Neither annex makes its issuance conditional on any military commitment.
The practical consequence is direct: a man aged 18 to 65 can still obtain an RVP, including outside the quota system through the traditional values decree No. 702 or through marriage to a Russian citizen, without ever approaching a recruitment office. That permit grants three years of legal residence, the right to work in the region where it was issued, and free entry and exit.
What Decree 821 locks is the next step: the move to permanent status.
Decree 821 covers the VNZh and citizenship only. The RVP stays open to men aged 18 to 65 with no military contract, notably through Decree 702 and through marriage. The barrier sits at the permanent-permit stage, not at the point of entry.
Which VNZh grounds are covered
The residence permit regulation applies to applications filed under paragraph 1 and under subparagraphs 4, 12 and 23 of paragraph 2 of Article 8 of Federal Law No. 115-FZ. That covers the general route, meaning a VNZh applied for after holding an RVP, plus three family-based routes that skip the RVP and rest on a parent or a child holding Russian citizenship.
Every other legal ground in Article 8 is absent from the decree. Moscow immigration practices treat them as unaffected.
| VNZh ground | Covered by Decree 821 |
|---|---|
| After one year holding an RVP (general route) | Yes |
| Parent, son or daughter holding Russian citizenship | Yes |
| HQS status (highly qualified specialist) | No |
| Russian degree with honours ("red diploma") | No |
| Student RVPO after graduation | No |
| Investment in Russia | No |
| Birth on the territory of the RSFSR | No |
| Direct ancestry born or resident in Russia | No |
| IT specialist in an accredited company | No |
| Repatriate status | No |
That table is the reading key to the decree: settling in Russia is not closed to men aged 18 to 65. Some of the roads to the permanent permit are.
The citizenship side
The second regulation applies the same logic to naturalisation. Legally capable men aged 18 to 65 applying for citizenship through the general procedure (Article 15, part 1 of Law No. 138-FZ of April 28, 2023) or through certain simplified procedures (Article 16, part 2, points 3 to 5, and part 7) must attach either a discharge order predating February 24, 2022, or the decision certifying their unfitness for service.
Simplified routes the decree does not name remain open with no military condition, in particular naturalisation based on a Russian degree with honours, and naturalisation based on vocational training followed by one year of work in Russia.
Who is covered, who is not
The requirement targets foreign nationals and stateless persons meeting three cumulative criteria: male, legally capable, and aged 18 to 65. Women are not covered at any age, and neither are men over 65.
Point 3 of each regulation expressly excludes citizens of the Republic of Belarus. That is the only nationality-based exemption in the text: no list of exempt "partner countries" exists.
Marriage to a Russian citizen, contrary to a widespread belief, appears nowhere as an exemption. It opens the RVP outside the quota, which is not covered, but the VNZh subsequently applied for on the basis of that RVP falls under the general route, and therefore under the decree.
The three alternative conditions
For the VNZh, the decree opens three doors, and only one of them is needed:
- A military service contract with the Russian Armed Forces or with the rescue formations of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, for at least one year.
- A discharge from military service on one of the grounds set out in points a, b, c and d of Article 51, paragraph 1 of Federal Law No. 53-FZ of March 28, 1998: age limit, expiry of contract, health grounds, or loss of service nationality.
- A certified unfitness for service, established when applying to enlist, by the joint commission of the recruitment centre and the military commissariat, or by a unit attestation commission.
The third route deserves attention: it involves no commitment at all, only presenting oneself for selection and being declared unfit, a decision that is then issued in writing.
Terms of the military contract
Duration and posting
The contract runs for a minimum of one year. It is governed by Federal Law No. 53-FZ of March 28, 1998 on military duty and military service, as amended in 2022 and 2023. The signatory serves in units designated by the command, with postings driven by operational needs.
Link to mobilisation
Signing places the contract soldier under Decree No. 647 of September 21, 2022 on partial mobilisation. As long as that text stands, a one-year contract can be extended unilaterally by the Ministry of Defence. That is the central risk of this route: the stated duration is not the guaranteed duration.
Compensation
Firms that broker these enlistments advertise a signing bonus of 20,000 to 30,000 US dollars, then a monthly payment of 2,000 to 3,000 US dollars for the duration of service, with amounts varying by recruitment region and unit. These figures come from intermediaries' commercial offers, not from a published Ministry of Defence pay scale.
Consequences in the home country
For Western nationals, enlisting in a foreign army is not a neutral act. French law, under Articles 23-8 and following of the Civil Code, provides for loss of French nationality where a citizen holds a post in a foreign army and does not resign it despite a government injunction. Comparable provisions exist elsewhere. This is verified before any step is taken, not after.
What it means in practice
For a man aged 18 to 65 from a Western country, the practical reading fits in three lines.
Entry and settlement remain open. An RVP through Decree 702 or through marriage is obtained with no military contract. It is valid three years and cannot be extended, but nothing prevents applying again once it expires, by leaving Russia within fifteen days of the expiry date and returning on a fresh visa, as long as the legal ground still exists.
The permanent permit requires a workaround. A man targeting the VNZh without enlisting has to position himself on a ground the decree does not cover: HQS status, a Russian degree with honours, a student RVPO carried through to graduation, investment, documented Russian ancestry, or the "foreign national of interest to Russia" status created by Decree No. 883 of December 2, 2025.
Women are not covered. Within a couple, the foreign wife of a Russian citizen follows the RVP then VNZh route untouched by Decree 821.
a man aged 18 to 65 keeps three years of legal residence through the RVP with no military strings attached. To go beyond, he needs either a VNZh ground the decree does not cover (HQS, degree with honours, RVPO, investment, Russian ancestry), or one of the three conditions in the text, including certified unfitness, which involves no enlistment.
How this changes settlement strategy
The calculation changed in nature in November 2025. Before the decree, the question was which route gets you in. It is now which route lets you stay beyond three years.
Anyone planning a move is therefore better off choosing the basis of their RVP according to the VNZh they will later target, rather than the reverse. A student graduating with honours, an executive hired at the HQS salary threshold, an investor, a descendant of a family born in Russia: each has a continuity that the holder of a plain "traditional values" RVP does not.
In every case, staying in legal status remains the first priority, against a backdrop of record expulsions in 2024. Since February 2025, foreign nationals in irregular status are entered in a centralised registry that triggers immediate restrictions on civil rights with no court decision. Never falling out of status, not even for a single day, is the absolute rule for any foreigner living in Russia.
Looking ahead
Both regulations are described as "temporary" in their titles, yet neither carries an expiry date. Their repeal will depend on a new decree, on a timetable nothing currently allows anyone to predict.
The open questions concern the treatment of files submitted before November 5, 2025, and the exact reach of the listed subparagraphs of Article 8, which the MVD applies through internal instructions. Regional practice varies on both points, which makes a check with a Russian immigration practitioner essential before filing.
