IMR Country Report – Nigerian Migration to Russia: Accommodation and Discrimination in a Post-Soviet Society

Abstract

This IMR Country Report examines Nigerian migration to Russia, exploring the changes in this migration stream from a flow driven by educational motivations during the Soviet era to one shaped by economic and family-reunion reasons after the Soviet Union’s dissolution. In doing so, it offers insights into the social realities of Nigerian migrants living in Russia. The research discussed here included interviews with 25 Nigerian migrants living in Moscow and focused on their challenges and strategies in obtaining housing. As it shows, apartment owners in Moscow exhibited ethnic and racial biases against Nigerian migrants, who also faced rental contract constraints, due to incomplete migratory documentation. This IMR Country Report highlights a contradiction between Russian government policies and apartment owners’ preferences and willingness to accommodate and apply for registration on behalf of Nigerian migrants. It adds to understandings of the conditions faced by sub-Sahara African migrants regarding access to housing in an understudied destination and to barriers to social integration that sub-Saharan African migrants encounter in Russia.