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Shared Values Visa
Leo Hare moved to Russia from Texas in late 2023 after being granted asylum, convinced he was building a better future for his family through a society built on Christian faith and family values.
“Introduced by President Vladimir Putin in 2024, the visa offers temporary residency for up to three years”
The BBC describes that Russia offers temporary residency through the Shared Values visa, introduced by President Vladimir Putin in 2024, for up to three years to citizens of 47 countries Russia considers "unfriendly".
The visa requires applicants to declare they share Russia's traditional spiritual and moral values and reject what the Russian government describes as the "destructive neoliberal ideology" of their home countries, and it does not require the usual Russian language, history or law tests.
After three years, those on the Shared Values visa must either convert it into a Permanent Residence Permit (PRP) or leave the country, and the PRP requires people to sit a language and history exam and more thorough documentation.
The BBC reports that Russia says nearly 3,400 people have applied under the scheme as of spring 2026, while also noting that these figures are difficult to verify independently and do not reveal how many applications were approved.
Disillusionment and Restrictions
Over time, the BBC says Hare became increasingly concerned about elements such as restrictions on access to information, even as he had initially been disillusioned with political division in the US, genetically modified food, and what he sees as the rise of the LGBTQ movement.
The BBC frames Hare as part of an unlikely migration, noting that as Russia faces international isolation a few thousand people from countries including Canada, Britain, the United States and parts of Europe are choosing to move there.
The BBC contrasts those motivations with the view many in the West might have of Russia as a country that invaded Ukraine and occupies large parts of it, jails political opponents, places heavy restrictions on civil liberties and faces a raft of international sanctions.
Hare is described as a devout Christian who threw himself into life in Russia by sampling dumplings, milking goats on a farm and filming videos about life in Russia for his online followers.
The BBC also says Russia's Shared Values visa does not come with housing or financial assistance from the Russian government, and applicants must pay an administrative fee of 1,600 roubles (£17 or $22) and pass medical and criminal records checks.
Relocation Networks and Politics
The BBC reports that an online ecosystem of relocation agencies and influencers promotes Russia as a place where family values remain strong and everyday life feels safer, with Move To Russia partner Ilja Belobragin saying clients often tell him they "don't recognise the community around me anymore".
“"don't recognise the community around me anymore"”
Philip Hutchinson, a Moscow-based former Conservative Party candidate from the UK who now helps other Westerners relocate to Russia, tells the BBC he avoids discussing the war, saying, "I'm not here as a politician. I'm here to live a nice quiet life with my family."
When asked whether helping Westerners relocate to Russia under the Shared Values visa is itself a political act, the BBC says Hutchinson disagrees and argues, "It's not political helping people move to Russia."
The BBC adds that Russia's visa scheme reflects a broader effort by the Kremlin to present Russia as a defender of traditional values in opposition to what it sees as the moral decline of the West.
It also notes that in a 2022 decree Putin warned that Western ideological influence threatened Russian values including marriage and the traditional family, and that two years later the Shared Values visa offered a practical expression of that vision.
