Hold My Vodka

A Canadian farmer who moved his wife and eight children to Russia in search of traditional values and a new farming life says his path to permanent residency now leads through a military contract.

Arend Feenstra and his family moved to Russia in early 2024 and settled in the Nizhny Novgorod region, where they built a farm and documented their new life on their Countryside Acres YouTube channel.

Feenstra had spent years farming in Canada before the move. The family sold property there, relocated to Russia and eventually established a roughly 280-acre homestead.

They later received three-year temporary residence permits through Russia’s simplified immigration program for foreigners who say they share the country’s “traditional spiritual and moral values.” The program allows eligible applicants from designated countries to obtain temporary residence without the normal quota and without proving knowledge of Russian language, history and law.

But Feenstra says the problem comes with the next step: permanent residence.

Under immigration rules introduced by Presidential Decree No. 821 in November 2025, certain foreign men aged 18 to 65 applying for permanent residence must meet a military-service condition. That can mean signing a military contract for at least one year, having a qualifying previous discharge, or being formally declared unfit for military service.

Feenstra says that, under the route available to him, he currently sees no way to move from temporary to permanent residence without going through that process.

“I didn’t come here to sign a contract,” he said, explaining that he has eight young children at home and a farm that needs him.

His current temporary residence permit reportedly remains valid for roughly another year and a half, and the family plans to seek clarification from Russia’s Defense Ministry about exactly what would be required.

Feenstra says the family still hopes to remain in Russia and doesn’t regret building its life there. But there has been one significant change: he no longer encourages other foreigners to follow them.

His reason is simple: every time they appear close to reaching the next immigration milestone, he says, the rules change.

They moved to Russia for God, family and farming.

The paperwork eventually added the Defense Ministry.

Sources: Feenstra report / Living in Nizhny · Presidential Decree No. 821