Ledeneva V.Yu. Legal Regulation of Migration in the Cis Countries under Conditions of Transforming Migration Subsystems. PolitBook. 2026. No. 2. Pp. 144-158.

Abstract

The article examines the specific features of migration law and regulation in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the context of transformations affecting national and intergovernmental migration subsystems. The relevance of the study is обусловed by the high intensity of migration ties across the post-Soviet space, demographic imbalances and labor shortages in receiving countries, as well as the significant socio-economic dependence of sending countries on external labor migration. The aim of the study is to identify key directions in the evolution of legal mechanisms regulating migration and to analyze their role in the transformation of regional migration subsystems. The methodological framework is based on institutional and subsystem approaches, within which migration law is conceptualized as an instrument shaping admission channels, employment regimes, control mechanisms, and the digital administration of mobility. The research applies comparative legal analysis and secondary analysis of statistical data from international organizations (UN DESA, World Bank, Eurasian Economic Commission, CIS). The study demonstrates that the Central Asian migration subsystem functions as a distinctive platform for examining the interaction between integration processes as a stabilizing factor and global turbulence as a destabilizing factor. Additional influence stems from the accelerated digitalization of migration procedures and the emergence of new forms of “virtual migration,” which are transforming traditional models of mobility. The findings indicate that migration regulation in the CIS countries is developing not through legal unification but rather through differentiation of legal statuses and selective channels of legality. Asymmetric migration subsystems are emerging, in which receiving and sending countries perform structurally different roles, while law acquires a configurational function in shaping migration flows and labor markets.