Amina App Expansion Turns Kyrgyz Phones Into Moscow Trackers

Starting September 1, Kyrgyz citizens aged 18 and over who stay in Moscow or the Moscow region more than 90 days for non-work reasons must install and run the Amina mobile app. The change expands a 2025 labor-migrant rule and feeds continuous geolocation to Russia’s Interior Ministry.

AKIpress reported the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcement on the widened list. Labor migrants from Kyrgyzstan and eight other visa-free countries already faced the requirement. Students, researchers and other long-stayers now join them.

Who Must Run Amina After September 1

Adult foreign nationals from visa-free countries who remain in the capital region longer than 90 days for study, private visits or other non-work purposes fall under the new mandate. Tajikistan’s labor representative office confirmed the same scope covers its students at Russian universities and vocational schools plus those in scientific work.

Minors stay outside the app system. They continue registering through territorial Interior Ministry offices. Citizens of Belarus, diplomats and international organization staff with their families are exempt.

• Labor migrants from the original nine countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan) already covered since 2025
• New: any adult visa-free national staying over 90 days for non-work reasons
• Students and researchers explicitly included
• Family members of workers were previously outside; the broader adult rule narrows that gap for long stays

The experimental system still applies only to Moscow and the Moscow region. It does not yet cover the rest of Russia.

How the App Feeds the Interior Ministry

Users first complete procedures at the Multifunctional Migration Center in Sakharovo, receive a foreign citizen card, and authorize the app with it. After that Amina’s core job is automated, continuous geolocation transmission so authorities can check whether the phone’s location matches the registered address of stay.

If no data arrives for three consecutive days the person can be deregistered. That step can place them on the register of controlled persons. Official Kyrgyz guidance on Amina installation stresses downloading only from RuStore. Google Play and the App Store do not carry the real app.

Early users reported battery drain from constant location, failed updates, blocked phone-number confirmation, and no iPhone version at launch. Some who submitted registrations received no reply. Night-shift workers and those with GPS interference faced unanswered questions about false mismatches.

Work Entries Already Falling Before the Wider Net

Border Service figures show about 1.9 million work-related entries by citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the first half of 2026. That is down from more than 2.3 million in the same period of 2025, a 15 percent drop. Tighter rules and higher costs are cited alongside the tracking experiment.

1.9 million work entries from the three countries, H1 2026

2.3 million-plus in H1 2025

15 percent decline

School rules have also separated families. Foreign children need legal residence proof and a Russian-language test to enroll. Failures force waits of at least three months. Enrollment of children from the three countries fell 27 percent in the latest academic year, from 122,000 to 89,000. About 9,000 Tajik children already returned home after denials.

Remittances still form a large share of Kyrgyz GDP, recently estimated around 14 percent and higher in prior peaks. Fewer workers mean less money flowing home even before non-work adults face the same phone rules.

Students and Long-Stayers Now Inside the Same Net

The original design targeted patent workers and those with work rights under treaties. The September 2026 step brings in people whose purpose is study or private stay. That closes a practical loophole and raises the cost of simply living in the capital region without constant location sharing.

Kyrgyz Deputy Foreign Minister Almaz Imangaziev told a parliamentary committee earlier that the app simplifies registration by removing the need to visit passport offices in person. He noted talks with the Russian side aimed at easing some requirements while tightening others. Deputies raised cases of truck drivers gone for days who risked blacklisting on return.

Critics see continuous tracking as intrusive surveillance rather than convenience. Once on the controlled-persons register a migrant can lose banking access, the ability to buy a car, marry, or enroll children, with deportation risk for further violations.

Four-Year Pilot Born in 2025

1. May 2025: State Duma adopts the law creating the experimental regime for registering foreign citizens’ location.
2. July 31 2025: President signs the measure. The experiment runs four years until September 2029.
3. September 1 2025: Mandatory Amina for labor migrants from the listed visa-free countries arriving for work in Moscow and the region. Initial 2025 registration requirements for nationals required address registration via the app and continuous geolocation.
4. September 1 2026: Expansion to adults staying over 90 days for non-work purposes, including students.

The four-year experimental regime law frames the whole effort as a test that could later scale nationwide. Early RuStore reviews documented non-functional installs, update loops and overheating phones. Officials pointed users to hotlines.

What the Controlled-Persons Lever Blocks

Three days without data transmission can trigger deregistration and addition to the register. Once listed, the restrictions bite daily life hard.

• Banking and financial services cut off
• Vehicle purchases blocked
• Marriage registration restricted
• Children’s school enrollment barred
• Further violations can lead to deportation

Police can also scan a QR code for arrival date, employment details and violation flags. The combination of passive location streaming and active document checks creates a dense digital leash. Technical failures reported in the first year raise the chance that even compliant users hit the three-day tripwire.

A Template Already Eyed Beyond the Capital

The Moscow-region experiment sits inside a broader tightening that includes language tests for schoolchildren and higher barriers for new arrivals. Recent reporting notes discussion of rolling similar functionality into more regions and even into everyday messaging apps for wider populations. Whether that happens inside the four-year window remains open.

For Kyrgyzstan the second-order effects already show in falling entries and pressure on households that rely on Russia-based earnings. Domestic authorities have also moved against anti-migrant content online, issuing Kyrgyzstan’s own social media migrant warnings that threaten criminal charges for xenophobic posts. Both sides of the corridor are managing the politics of large-scale labor movement with sharper digital tools.

The phones stay on. The location keeps sending. For thousands of Kyrgyz students and long-stayers who previously sat outside the labor rules, September 1 makes the capital region a place where the device in the pocket reports home to the Interior Ministry every day.