Reducing the access of foreign children to Russian schooling: likely consequences for integration policy

Children born in the host country or brought in at preschool/school age represent a special contingent of migrants with increased integration potential compared to firstgeneration migrants. At the same time, education plays a key role in the process of integrating such children into the host society. In recent years, migrant children’s access to Russian schooling has improved, and the educational environment has become more and more friendly towards non-native children. Despite the difficulties faced by foreign students in Russian educational institutions, by the senior grades they managed to overcome them and achieve high integration rates in the socio-economic, cultural and identification spheres. However, the Federal Law of 12/28/2024 No. 544-FZ, as well as legislative initiatives in 2025 aimed at completely or partially closing the access of foreign children to Russian schooling, are capable of negating these achievements. The article, based on an analysis of scientific literature, data from mass surveys of foreign citizens conducted in 2011, 2017 and 2020, draft laws of 2024–2025, statistical information on Russian language testing of foreign children wishing to enroll in Russian general education institutions, examines the indicators of integration of children of foreign citizens, their access to Russian school education before and after 2025. The possible consequences of the partial or complete abolition of the right of such children to free school education in Russia for them, local host societies and the destination country as a whole are considered. It is concluded that the deprivation or restriction of the right to receive free schooling for foreign children will not solve the problem of admission to general education institutions for students who do not speak Russian well enough. To effectively solve this problem, measures are needed to expand the access of such students to preschool education, socio-cultural and language adaptation courses, and professional development of teachers working with them.