Nowadays Russian Federation is one of the world leaders according to the number of international labor migrants it receives. Russia is among the top ten countries according to the volume of remittances from foreign workers to their countries of origin. However, it is impossible to provide an exact statistical estimate for the total number of foreign citizens working in the Russian labor market since there continue to exist certain legal regimes within the post-Soviet area concerning entry into Russia and staying there. The present research analyzes a methodology for an indirect estimate of the overall number of foreign workers in the Russian labor market. The methodology is based on the data on money transfers to migrants’ countries of origin, on the estimate of their income in Russia and on the structure of their usage. The research reveals that according to the “medium scenario” in 2017 there were about 7.2 million foreigners working in Russia, and only 2.9 million of them worked legally. The following conclusion can be made: about 60% of foreign workers in Russia are not included in the data of the Federal State Statistics Service of Russia and the General Administration for Migration Issues under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. The estimate of the foreign workers’ contribution to Russian GDP is based on the overall number of foreign labor migrants in Russia. According to our estimate, their contribution was around 6.4% in 2017

The article is concerned with the impact of external labor migration on the financial and economic sphere of countries hosting foreign labor. The authors have developed a methodological approach to assessing labor migration impact on the development of the financial and budgetary sphere of the host countries. The method lies in using a quantitative analysis algorithm consisting of three stages. The first stage is to identify specific positive and negative effects of labor immigration on the financial and budgetary sphere of the host country. The second stage is to develop a system of analytical indicators and its implementation methodology to assess the impact of these effects on the financial and budgetary sphere. The third stage is to define the methods for collecting statistical information, necessary to design the system of analytical indicators. This methodological approach allows assessing the impact of labor migration on the financial and budgetary sphere of the host country on such key aspects as migrant worker remittances and the government revenues from foreign workers. The dynamics analysis of the proposed indicators will allow to make prompt decisions in preventing negative trends and maximizing positive effects of external labor migration.