Immigrate to Canada from Russia

The January 2026 change, and what it means for you

Canada stopped issuing visas at its processing centres inside Russia on 28 January 2026. The visa application centres have not closed, but they no longer accept passports or documents for visa processing.

The process now works in three places rather than one. You apply online through the IRCC portal. You give biometrics inside Russia — the centres in Moscow, St Petersburg, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Rostov-on-Don continue to collect them. And once approved, you collect your documents outside Russia, with reporting pointing to Canadian visa processing in neighbouring countries including Armenia, Georgia and Kazakhstan.

Canada has characterised this as part of a government-wide cost and modernisation exercise rather than a change in policy toward Russian citizens. Either way, the planning implication is concrete: an international trip is now part of the process, and it needs to be in your timeline and your budget from the beginning.

Arrangements in this area have changed more than once. Confirm the current position on the official IRCC and VFS Global pages before you book anything — including any travel.

Are Russian citizens still eligible?

Yes. No Canadian immigration program bars Russian citizens as a nationality. Applications are assessed against the same criteria that apply to everyone.

Restrictions attach to named individuals. Canada has acted to make foreign nationals under Special Economic Measures Act sanctions inadmissible — a list of roughly a thousand people across Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. If you are not on a sanctions list, this is not about you.

Where Russian nationality matters is indirect but real. Sanctions have reshaped banking, and banking touches an immigration file in two places: paying government fees and evidencing funds. Those are practical obstacles rather than legal bars, and they are covered below because they derail more applications than eligibility questions do.

This area continues to move, and we cannot confirm the final status of every legislative change from public sources. Check your own position against IRCC's current guidance and Canada's consolidated sanctions list rather than any summary.

Banking: the obstacle that catches people out

Since 2022, Visa and Mastercard cards issued by Russian banks have not functioned outside Russia. For an immigration application that creates two distinct problems.

**Paying IRCC fees**, which are collected online by card. What works from Russia depends on your bank, your card and current rules, and it changes — so we will not state a method here that could be wrong by the time you read it. Confirm with IRCC what it accepts before you reach the payment step rather than discovering the problem mid-application.

One caution stated plainly: informal arrangements advertised for making foreign payments carry genuine fraud risk, and some may themselves breach sanctions rules. Anything presented as a workaround warrants professional advice before you rely on it.

**Evidencing funds**, where a program requires it. Russian bank statements can prompt questions about the source of funds and whether the money is genuinely available to you. Prepare documentation that traces where it came from, not merely what the balance is. Large recent deposits attract scrutiny in any application and more so here.

If you have already relocated

Many Russian professionals have moved since 2022 — to Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Serbia and elsewhere — and for them the process is frequently simpler than for those applying from inside Russia.

With legal status in your country of residence, you may be able to apply from there, give biometrics locally and collect documents without the separate trip the Russian process now requires. In several cases that country is the same one Russian-based applicants are travelling to anyway.

Banking is often easier too. An account in your country of residence can resolve both the fee payment and the proof-of-funds difficulties in one step.

What matters is status, not presence. Your right to apply from a country depends on holding adequate status there, and an application filed from a country where you lack it can be refused on that ground alone. Confirm your position before filing.

Pathways that realistically apply

• **Express Entry.** Open to Russian applicants on the same terms as anyone else. Language results and credential assessment drive the score; neither is affected by nationality.
• **Work permits.** Including the Global Talent Stream, which offers employers a much faster process for technology roles and is the most relevant route for the many Russian IT professionals considering Canada. Covered in detail on our work permit page for Russia.
• **Provincial Nominee Programs.** A nomination adds 600 points to an Express Entry profile and effectively guarantees an invitation. Worth examining province by province against your occupation.
• **Study to permanent residence.** Studying in Canada, then converting work experience into permanent residence, remains the most reliable route for applicants whose current score is not competitive — and it sidesteps the need for an overseas employer.
• **Family sponsorship.** Where you have a spouse, partner or close relative who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, this runs on its own track independent of economic selection.

What we tell Russian applicants before they start

• Treat collection abroad as part of the process, not a surprise at the end. Budget the trip and check whether you need a visa for the collection country.
• Settle the fee payment question with IRCC early, before it blocks you mid-application.
• Document the source of your funds, not just the amount.
• If you work in technology, ask prospective employers about the Global Talent Stream by name.
• If you have relocated, check whether applying from your country of residence is simpler — it usually is.
• Arrange police certificates for every country you have lived in for six months or more since turning 18, and start them in parallel.
• Never pay for a job offer, and treat guaranteed outcomes as a warning sign. Only lawyers, Quebec notaries and RCICs may represent you before IRCC, and the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants keeps a public register you can check.

A note on accuracy

This is the fastest-moving country we write about. Visa service arrangements changed in January 2026 and may change again, sanctions lists are updated regularly, and program rules have been amended repeatedly. Nothing on this page is a fee, a processing time or a score, because those would be wrong within months. Verify current requirements on canada.ca and the official VFS Global pages before acting.

This is general information, not legal advice. Whether a pathway is open to you depends on details requiring individual assessment by a licensed representative — Mila Lugovska, RCIC R515234, a member in good standing of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. Consultations are available in Russian, English, French, Spanish, Ukrainian and Arabic.