During the mobile reception, appeals were also received from 31 Uzbek students studying at the National Research University “Higher School of Economics” (HSE) located in the Russian Federation. It was found that the university administration had failed to timely inform the authorized bodies about the extension of students’ migration registration. As a result, the students remained in the territory of the Russian Federation for more than 90 days and were assessed as having violated migration regulations. According to the students, they were required to pay an administrative fine in the amount of 40,000 rubles.

The situation was taken under control by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation, and an inspection was conducted in cooperation with the Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Following the review, a decision was made to extend the period of temporary stay for foreign students. In addition, territorial internal affairs bodies were instructed, as an exception, not to apply administrative penalties such as fines or administrative expulsion from the territory of the Russian Federation to these students.

Most importantly, had this issue not been resolved in a timely manner, the students could have been administratively expelled from the territory of the Russian Federation.

As a result of this intervention, the issues of not only Uzbek students but also more than 200 students from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Belarus studying in Russia were positively resolved.

In a letter addressed to the ombudsman, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Russian Federation informed that the issue raised by the students had been resolved positively and noted that cooperation between ombudsmen is yielding practical results in the protection of human rights.

Press Service of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Oliy Majlis