A while ago, we posted on our Whatsapp status concerning the admission of children of foreign citizenship into Russian schools. Below is the necessary information on the new bill passed for children in this category.
On April 1, 2025, an amendment of the Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation” came into force, according to which children of migrants, refugees and stateless persons who have not passed the Russian language proficiency test sufficient to receive basic general education programs are not accepted into schools.
The Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, by Order No. 171 dated 03/04/2025, which comes into force on April 1, 2025 and is valid until March 1, 2026, established the procedure for admitting such children to schools, and by Order No. 170 dated March 4, 2025, the Procedure for testing their knowledge of the Russian language.
According to the order, in order to enroll a child in school, the parents (legal representatives) of a child who is a foreign citizen or a stateless person submit an application and a set of documents to the school personally, through the Gosuslugi portal or the regional portal of state and municipal services; by registered mail with a delivery notification.
In the application for admission to study, you must also indicate your consent to take the test.
The set of documents provided includes:
- copies of documents confirming the relationship (between the child and parents or guardian)
- copies of documents confirming the legality of the child’s stay in the Russian Federation;
- copies of documents confirming the completion of the dactyloscopy registration of the child by the government;
- copies of documents confirming the study of the Russian language by a child in a foreign school (from 2nd to 11th grade) (if available);
- copies of the child’s identity documents;
- copies of documents confirming the parents ИНН (Tax Identification Number), СНИЛС (insurance number of an individual personal account”), and СНИЛС of the child (if any);
- a medical report on the absence of infectious diseases in the child that pose a danger to others;
- copies of documents confirming the parent’s (legal representative’s) employment (if any)
All documents are provided in Russian or together with a duly certified translation into Russian.
The completeness of the submitted documents is checked within 5 working days. If the set of documents is incomplete, the application is returned without consideration. With a complete set of documents, their authenticity is checked within 25 working days.
If the authenticity of the documents is confirmed, the child is sent to a testing educational institution for testing. The parents (legal representatives) of the child and the testing school are informed about this. The child is tested in accordance with the established procedure.
The testing organization notifies the school that issued the referral and the parents about the results of the testing within 3 business days after the day the child passes the test.
After the official receipt of information about the successful completion of the test, the head of the school issues an administrative act on the admission of the child to study within 5 working days.
Important! The changes made to the School Admission Procedure do not apply to citizens of the Republic of Belarus, as well as foreign citizens who are officials of international (interstate, intergovernmental) organizations who entered the Russian Federation in connection with their official duties, and employees of representative offices of international (interstate, intergovernmental) organizations in the territory of the Russian Federation or employees of representative offices and officials of other organizations who, in accordance with international treaties of the Russian Federation, have been granted the status of, similar to the status of international (interstate, intergovernmental) organizations, as well as family members of these individuals.
What to do?
Parents should take care to prepare the necessary list of documents provided with the application in order to avoid an undesirable delay in the process of a child’s admission to school.Identify the school and contact its administration for advice on the procedure for admission and preparation of necessary materials, familiarization with the school and its charter documents.
For reference
Testing is free of charge. The test is considered successful if at least 3 points are scored. If the child has successfully passed the test, he is enrolled in school. If the child has not passed the test, then it will be possible to take additional Russian language training and then retake the test, but not earlier than three months later.
Other admission conditions are provided for children whose parents are employees (or their spouses) affiliated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia of foreign embassies, consulates, international organizations and their representative offices, and for citizens of the Republic of Belarus.
Note: This article is intended to provide a general overview of the updated policy. More research and inquiries are needed.
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