The article examines the legal status of the indigenous population of Russian America within the context of the Russian Empire's integration policy. Based on the charters of the Russian-American Company, the study analyzes the dual status of aborigines who combined Russian subjecthood with jurisdiction of a private company. The stratification of native populations into "settled" and "incompletely dependent" categories is revealed, along with their internal hierarchy. The research demonstrates that the evolution of legal regulation toward expanding indigenous rights guarantees constituted a specific feature of the Russian model, distinguishing it from classical colonialism.