According to new migration rules in Russia, residents from former Soviet republics arriving to seek a job will have to carry a foreign passport and possibly have their fingerprints taken when entering Russia.

      Currently, residents of former Soviet republics are allowed to enter Russia with only a so-called domestic passport, which is more like ID than a passport for foreign travel.

      Foreign passports will be registered separately and Russian border guards will be able to stamp it in order to keep track of such incomers’ cross-border movements, which is now almost impossible with a domestic passport.

      That regime will come into force in 2015, Russian Labor and Social Development Minister Maxim Topilin announced.

      “Fingerprinting will possibly also be introduced,” the minister added. He noted, however, that there were no plans to impose a visa regime for such states.

      There are currently about 5 or 6 million foreigners working in Russia, and only 2 million of them are legally employed, the minister said. It often stimulates mass public discontent over rising numbers of foreign workers and repeated crimes linked to them.