The problems addressed in the present research are related to the shortcomings of criminal law prohibitions in the field of combating illegal migration, which make it difficult for law enforcement activity to interpret and resolve the competition of articles 322.1, 322.2 and 322.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (hereinafter - CСRF) and legal norms on liability for similar offenses. General scientific and privately-based methods among which the sociological methods of studying the materials of criminal cases and opinions of experts prevailed were used in the research. The statistical data of the Judicial Department under the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the results of a survey of 87 judges, of 260 servants of law enforcement bodies and 125 scientific and pedagogical employees working in Moscow, Moscow region, Tambov region, Tver region, Tula region and Yaroslavl region were analyzed. The materials which were provided by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (hereinafter – SCRF) containing a summary of judicial practice in criminal cases on such crimes have been studied. It is concluded that articles 322.1, 322.2 and 322.3 of the CСRF of the current edition do not meet the requirements of systemic and legal certainty and do not allow to form a unified practice of delineating the crimes they envisage from similar administrative offenses, they need to improve and clarify the interpretation of Plenum of the SCRF. It is proposed to supplement the dispositions of articles 322.1, 322.2 and 322.3 of the CСRF with new constitutive elements of the relevant body of offenses (committing an act by a person subjected to administrative punishment for the corresponding offense, its implementation against two or more Russian or foreign citizens, as well as stateless persons, malversation). Issues that need interpretation from the Plenum of the SCRF are also indicated.