Employer reference
The full table by activity with codes, the lists of regional exceptions, and a calculator that works out the maximum number of foreign nationals for your headcount. Based on Government Decree No. 1995 of 5 December 2025.
The headline
Government Decree No. 1995 of 5 December 2025 cut the permitted share for almost every activity. Companies had to bring headcount into line by 1 January 2026.
The most common error on the market right now is quoting construction at the old 80%. That figure applied until 2026 and still circulates in articles and proposals. The current share is 50%, and a 30-percentage-point difference on a headcount of 200 means 60 people who may not be on your payroll.
The table
| Activity | Activity code | Share for 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | section F | 50% | was 80 |
| Growing vegetables | 01.13.1 | 40% | was 50 |
| Forestry and logging | 02 | 40% | was 50 |
| Wood processing | 16 | 40% | was 50 |
| Wholesale of timber | 46.73.1 | 40% | was 50 |
| Wholesale of sawn wood | 46.73.2 | 40% | was 50 |
| Retail sale of alcohol | 47.25.1 | 0% | prohibited |
| Retail sale of tobacco | 47.26 | 0% | prohibited |
| Retail sale of medicines | 47.73 | 0% | prohibited |
| Retail trade in non-stationary outlets and markets | 47.8 | 0% | prohibited |
| Other retail trade outside shops | 47.99 | 0% | prohibited |
| Land passenger transport | 49.3 | 24% | unchanged |
| Road freight transport | 49.41 | 24% | unchanged |
| Food and beverage service | 56 | 50% | new |
| Real estate management | 68.32 | 70% | unchanged |
| Buildings and grounds services | 81 | 70% | unchanged |
| Other sports activities | 93.19 | 25% | unchanged |
Source: Government Decree No. 1995 of 5 December 2025. The "Change" column compares with the shares in force during 2025.
Calculate
The share is calculated from average headcount, not from the number of people on site on a given day.
Exceptions
The decree lists, in separate clauses, territories where the share for a given activity does not apply. The lists differ by industry.
| Activity | Territories on the exception list |
|---|---|
| Construction | Buryatia, Dagestan, DPR, LPR, Kamchatka Krai, Amur, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kursk, Leningrad, Lipetsk, Magadan, Moscow, Omsk and Kherson Oblasts, Moscow, St Petersburg, Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs |
| Growing vegetables | Udmurtia, Krasnodar and Krasnoyarsk Krais, Amur, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tula Oblasts, Moscow |
| Forestry and logging | Krasnodar Krai, Novosibirsk Oblast, Moscow |
| Wood processing | Krasnodar Krai, Novosibirsk and Ryazan Oblasts, Moscow |
| Wholesale of timber and sawn wood | Krasnodar Krai, Novosibirsk and Tver Oblasts, Moscow |
| Retail sale of alcohol and tobacco | Moscow |
The lists are tied to specific sub-clauses, and for a number of territories the decree sets its own share in separate clauses. A calculation is therefore only valid for a specific pair of activity code and region. We do it free of charge and send it with a reference to the clause, so you can verify it yourself or show it to your lawyer.
What to do
Workers are employed by an accredited agency and do not enter your average headcount, while working on your site. How it works
The function moves to a contractor entirely, paid by volume. The contractor’s people are not counted in your headcount. Read more
Sometimes the limit is not used up but looks like it: subcontracted crews and civil-law contractors get wrongly included. We recalculate and show the real figure.
FAQ
50%. It was cut from the previous 80% by Government Decree No. 1995 of 5 December 2025. The decree also lists territories where this share does not apply — among them Moscow, St Petersburg, Moscow Oblast and Leningrad Oblast.
From your company’s average headcount. Subcontracted crews and workers employed by an agency under a provision-of-workers contract do not enter your average headcount.
Part 1 of Article 18.17 of the Code of Administrative Offences: a fine on the company of 800,000 to 1,000,000 roubles, or suspension of operations for 14 to 90 days.
Yes. Engage people through outstaffing: they are employed by an accredited private employment agency and stay out of your headcount. Or hand a scope of work to outsourcing. Both are lawful and expressly provided for by the Labour Code and established practice.
Decree No. 1995 required businesses to bring their number of foreign workers into line with the new shares by 1 January 2026. If that was not done, the inspection risk persists throughout the year.
The permitted share is the maximum percentage of foreign workers in the average headcount of a business entity, set by the Government each calendar year for selected economic activities. The legal basis is Article 18.1 of Federal Law No. 115-FZ on the legal status of foreign nationals; the figures for 2026 are set by Decree No. 1995 of 5 December 2025.
From the average headcount of employees, not from the number of people on site. This matters: a company with 200 employees on payroll and 50 subcontracted workers calculates the share from 200. Getting the base wrong is the single most common reason companies either under-hire or unexpectedly find themselves over the limit.
Exceeding the share falls under Part 1 of Article 18.17 of the Code of Administrative Offences: a fine on the company of 800,000 to 1,000,000 roubles, or suspension of operations for 14 to 90 days. For an active construction site or plant the suspension is usually more expensive than the fine — idle equipment, missed contractual deadlines, penalties to the client.
There is exactly one way, and it is not a workaround: move part of the people out of your headcount. A worker engaged under a provision-of-workers contract (Chapter 53.1 of the Labour Code) with an accredited private employment agency is in an employment relationship with that agency and does not enter your average headcount, while still working on your site and on your tasks. The second option is to outsource a scope of work, in which case the contractor’s people likewise stay out of your headcount.
For retail sale of alcohol, tobacco products and medicines, and for trade in non-stationary outlets and markets, the share is 0% — foreign workers may not be engaged at all, under either employment or civil-law contracts. The only lawful use of foreign staff in such companies is in support functions that do not fall under the restricted activity, and only if correctly documented. We look at these cases individually, and if the arrangement does not hold together, we say so directly.
Send your activity code, region and headcount — we will come back with the limit, a reference to the clause of the decree, and an arrangement if the limit is already used up. Free, within one business day.
We'll send pricing, lead times and the paperwork involved for your positions. No commitment.