Unexpected guest: hotels will significantly reduce fines for non-registration of foreigners

Fines for hoteliers for violating the deadlines for informing about foreign or migrant guests can be significantly reduced. Such a bill was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. Now the fines range from 250 thousand to 750 thousand rubles. Now the lower threshold will start from 20 thousand rubles, the upper one will be 700 thousand rubles. The changes should reduce the burden on business: the sanctions will be noticeable, but not critical, the Ministry of Economic Development emphasized. Hoteliers also supported the innovations. This way, legalized hotels will work fully, and the "gray" part of the market, for example, hostels for migrants, will be easier to identify, experts say. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

How the fines will change

Fines for hotels for late provision of information to the Ministry of Internal Affairs about foreigners who have settled are planned to be differentiated depending on the duration and severity of the offense. Fines from 250,000 to 750,000 rubles are currently imposed on legal entities. In Moscow and St. Petersburg - from 300 thousand to 800 thousand rubles. Now the lower threshold is planned to be set at 20 thousand rubles.

The government commission on legislative activity approved such a bill by the Ministry of Economic Development on Monday, November 17. This was reported to Izvestia by sources in the Cabinet of Ministers.

The Ministry of Economic Development explained to Izvestia that the amendments were developed in accordance with the instructions of the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation following a series of meetings between representatives of federal executive authorities and businesses.

"The bill provides for a reduction in fines for classified accommodation facilities for violating registration and migration registration deadlines," the ministry's press service said.

The essence of the new regulation is to optimize the administrative responsibility of legal entities and sole proprietors, the department stressed. And the current amount of fines "creates obstacles to the development of tourism infrastructure and the improvement of the business climate."

The changes propose to remove hotels, hostels and other classified accommodation facilities from general administrative responsibility, explained Sofya Lukinova, head of the Legal Department of VMT Consult.

"These articles were not originally written for the hotel industry and actually duplicate responsibility, not taking into account the specifics of the industry," she said.

Currently, fines for violating the rules of guest registration can exceed the income from renting a room by 35-60 times, Maxim Brodovsky, CEO of Azimut Hotels, recalled. For example, if the room price is 7 thousand rubles, the fine will be 250 thousand rubles for a citizen of the Russian Federation or 400 thousand rubles for a foreigner.

"The fine is significantly incomparable with the violation," he added. — When such sanctions were imposed, we had to adapt to strict rules, so now there is a special procedure in the network according to which hotels and sanatoriums check the timely submission of migration registration data.

Igor Cherepanov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Russian Bar Association, noted that the bill proposes to introduce two new types of administrative offenses. Article 18.91 of the Administrative Code will deal with violations of the deadlines for notification of arrival or departure of foreign citizens or stateless persons.

"Fines from 80,000 to 100,000 rubles are provided for this violation for the initial violation," he said.

If a repeated violation occurred during the working day, the fine may amount to 160-200 thousand rubles, and a series of violations over two days already provides for fines of 400-500 thousand rubles.

— Moreover, responsibility comes for each foreigner separately, — Igor Cherepanov explained.

The second new composition, Article 19.15 of the Administrative Code, will regulate the violation by hotels of the deadlines for submitting information on arrivals and departures of citizens.

— For violations of up to one working day, you can first receive a warning or a fine from 20 thousand to 30 thousand rubles, from 40 thousand to 60 thousand rubles for repeated violations and from 200 thousand to 700 thousand rubles for exceeding the deadline by two days or more, — said Igor Cherepanov.

At the same time, increased sanctions will be imposed on Moscow and St. Petersburg under this article of the Administrative Code. The lower threshold will be 25 thousand rubles, and the upper one 800 thousand.

The changes will allow hoteliers to pay fines without the risk of bankruptcy with a minor violation of deadlines, the Ministry of Economic Development explained. Thus, the preventive function of administrative punishment for non-fulfillment of migration and registration duties will be implemented.

How the "grey" hotel market works

The obligation to notify the Ministry of Internal Affairs of arrivals and departures from hotels, compliance with deadlines and correctness of filling in data will remain if the amendments are adopted in full, Sofya Lukinova emphasized.

— Sanctions in case of non-compliance remain, but their structure will become more transparent. For example, if a hotel can now receive a fine according to the general rule for any mistake, then the new articles should distinguish between major and minor violations, formal and substantial, which actually reduces the burden, she believes.

Thus, by understanding the clarified rules of the game, hotels will be aware of exactly which actions are violations, to what extent, and what can be classified as an error: lack of notification, distortion of information, delayed data transmission, or violation of the document storage procedure.

"This avoids situations where inspectors interpret the same actions in different ways," she added. — In fact, the bill regulates the sphere of migration control in the hotel business and removes some of the regulatory uncertainty.

In October 2025, during a raid in one of the capital's hostels, law enforcement agencies detained over 370 migrants. In the summer in the Bryansk region, the senior administrator of the Megapolis Embankment hotel was fined — she was found guilty of violating the rules for registering a citizen of the Russian Federation, she was given an administrative fine of 50 thousand rubles.

The girl checked into the hotel of a citizen who had been removed from the registration register at his place of residence in connection with moving to another city, but did not notify the Ministry of Internal Affairs of his arrival at Megapolis Embankment. The hotel administrator insisted in court that she had not sent the necessary information because the citizen's passport did not contain a note about departure to another city.

In February 2025, an impressive fine was issued to the owner of a hostel located in the Central District of Chelyabinsk. The businessman was accused of not informing about the arrival of a foreigner. As law enforcement officers established during the inspection of the hotel on Rossiyskaya Street, its owner settled a German citizen at his place, and did not inform anyone about it. For non-compliance with the law, the businessman, as a legal entity, was fined 400 thousand rubles.

How will the amendments affect the liability of hotels

Clarifying responsibility will make regulation more targeted, Sofya Lukinova added.

— Now hotels are actually responsible according to the general procedure, which leads to excessive workload, frequent disputes with the inspection authorities and an ambiguous interpretation of duties, — the expert added. — The new approach allows you to determine in advance a specific list of duties, violations and sanctions that apply specifically to this area. This makes requirements more predictable and reduces the risk of fines for formal inconsistencies that do not affect migration control.

According to Aleksan Mkrtchyan, Vice President of the Alliance of Travel Agencies, the amendments are unlikely to significantly change the market situation.

"The price of this innovation is low, because now almost none of the hotels risks violating the laws by registering foreigners and migrants," he said. — Therefore, the burden on the business will not decrease.

But, according to Maxim Brodovsky, the initiative is fair.

"The changes in the Administrative Code will not affect the network's procedures," he said. — But, of course, there can be accidents in any job, and from this point of view, mitigation of fines for minor errors will reduce the risks in the operation of hotel facilities.

The press service of Cosmos Hotel Group also informed Izvestia that they positively assess the initiative to reduce administrative fines for accommodation facilities.

Domestic tourism is experiencing a golden era — in 2024, Russians made a record 92 million trips across the country, which is 18% more than a year earlier, said Fyodor Sidorov, a private investor and founder of the School of Practical Investment.

— But the rapid growth of the industry has revealed serious problems. The current fines create a disproportionate burden. As a result, bona fide market players carry enormous risks, and the "gray sector" — those 86.6 thousand illegal numbers that do not pay taxes and do not undergo any checks at all — continues to operate, he said.

The new amendments, in his opinion, are reasonable and capable of changing the situation.

— The government actually says: you work legally, invest in quality, pass certification, which means you get more lenient conditions, — said the expert.

And those who continue to hide from classification and work without a certificate remain under the same pressure of high sanctions, he believes.