The purpose of the article is to consider the forming of local communities in the Khakass-Minusinsk territory from religious migrants. The term “religious migrants” means in this article migrants who left their residences in Central Russia and moved to Siberia in the 19th century to preserve and spread their non-orthodox religion. The authors analyze literature, archive documents from the Siberian archives, scientific articles and monographs about the life of religious migrants in other regions of Siberia and the Far East.

The authors provide sect classification, adopted by pre-revolutionary researchers, examines in detail representatives of all sects that lived in the Khakass-Minusinsk territory - Molokans, Dukhobors, Sabbathians, Eunuchs, Catholics and Protestants, first of all, Lutherans, their number, conditions of farming and interaction with the native population.

In conclusion the researches give the reasons why local communities in the Khakass-Minusinsk territory did not form: the border position of the region, the indigenous population that was just beginning to accept Orthodoxy, disunity and the small number of sectarians.