More than 200 thousand foreigners have registered in the unified biometric system

Since the beginning of 2025, over 200,000 foreign citizens have been registered in the Unified Biometric System (UBS) to receive or renew SIM cards. This was announced on March 24 by the press service of the Center for Biometric Technologies.

According to the center, about 80% of registered foreigners are residents of neighboring countries. In total, citizens of more than 100 countries are represented in the system. The number of registrations significantly exceeds the figures for the same period last year.

The press service noted that when registering biometrics, the system records a voice sample regardless of the language. Work is underway to simplify the process: in the future, it will be possible to issue SNILS, create an account on Gosuslugi and register biometrics in one visit to the service center. This should speed up the procedure for obtaining SIM cards for foreign citizens.

Getting personal: Why biometrics were needed in popular apps

The new level of protection creates a risk of data leakage

On September 13, 2024, the Ministry of Finance proposed making it mandatory to verify identity using biometrics when purchasing a SIM card for foreigners. It was also proposed to change the rules for paying for mobile communications in cash.