Listen to the article
Russia’s Labour Ministry has drafted a decree that would ban foreign workers from driving taxis in eight regions of the country, according to Vedomosti, which cited the text of the proposed government resolution. The document has already cleared the Russian Tripartite Commission, which approved it in late October, and now awaits the signature of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The eight regions named in the draft are the republics of Mordovia, Chuvashia, Tatarstan and Udmurtia, along with Sverdlovsk, Orenburg and Ulyanovsk oblasts and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. A separate provision targets Kaluga Oblast, where labour migrants would be barred not from taxi driving but from courier work.
Citizens of Uzbekistan working in Russia under a labour patent — the standard permit for nationals of countries outside the Eurasian Economic Union — would fall within the scope of the restrictions unless they qualify for one of the exemptions set out in the draft. The decree would not apply to nationals of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, all of which are EEU members. Foreign nationals who hold a temporary residence permit or permanent residency in Russia would also be exempt, as would highly qualified specialists.
Road safety cited as justification in Mordovia
The draft document offers specific statistical justification for the Mordovia restriction. According to data from the republic’s Interior Ministry cited in the decree materials, 24 road accidents involving foreign nationals were recorded in the region during 2024 and 2025, six of which resulted in fatalities. The document also references violations of traffic rules and instances of taxi work carried out without a licence.
The decree does not detail the evidentiary basis for the restrictions in the other seven regions.
If signed by Mishustin, the measure would represent one of the more targeted sectoral restrictions on migrant labour that Russia has introduced in recent years. Previous steps have included broader regional bans on migrant employment in specific industries, but the taxi sector has been a recurring focus of debate given its visibility and the scale of migrant participation in ride-hailing platforms across Russian cities.
The practical effect on Uzbek workers would depend on how many of those currently driving taxis in the affected regions hold patents rather than residence permits. Uzbekistan is Russia’s largest single source of labour migrants, and the taxi and logistics sectors have absorbed a significant share of that workforce, particularly in mid-sized regional cities of the kind represented by several of the regions listed in the draft.