Having 5 years experience of working with Russian Migration Service as well as with Consular Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with Moscow central and local police departments for visas and registration, may we please offer for your attention some practical notes to the subject matter.

1. Work "permits' and "confirmations'.

The difference between work 'confirmation' and 'permit' is not very clear and often confused. Let's try to put it in a simple way.

'Confirmation' as a document literally states (confirms) that a specific individual occupies a specified position in a specified company (for convenience let us call it further as 'personal work permit').

'Work permit' as a document literally says that a specified company is allowed to employ foreign nationals within specified quotas for conducting its activity.

[ top | e-mail | index ]

2. Is it so necessary to receive a work permit?

If there is a question "What are you doing here in Moscow?", - and the answer comes: "Working", - one should be prepared to support the answer by personal work permit, especially if an asking person is an officer of the migration service or a police officer, or sometimes a representative of tax authorities when checking company's books related to salary payments.

And now even those expatriates who work for accredited representative offices of foreign companies in Russia should receive a personal work permit.

[ top | e-mail | index ]

3. Who should apply?

It is the company who applies for work permits, including personal ones.

Please feel free to contact us for a list of required documents (tel. 926-0752, fax. 928-9036).

[ top | e-mail | index ]

4. What should be the procedure?

Prior to employing foreign nationals the company should apply for permission to employ foreign nationals (i.e. to receive a 'work permit'), for what it should be proved that the applicant can not find necessary qualified specialists in Russian labour market and that the applicant has arranged appropriate accommodation for prospective foreign employees.

Having received that, the company can invite foreign specialists within permitted numbers ('quotas' specified in the permit) and upon signing of an agreement with every specialist apply and receive for each of them a personal work 'confirmation'.

Lightened procedure.

For some companies, such as companies with foreign investments, branches and representative offices of foreign companies the requirement of receiving work permit has been lightened, and for certain positions such as director, his deputies and highly qualified specialists the company does not have to apply for 'work permit' but can apply straight for 'confirmation' for each appointed person without proving insufficiency of necessary specialists in the Russian labour market.

[ top | e-mail | index ]

5. How many specialists per company?

It is not determined, how many persons can receive work confirmation in one qualified company according to lightened procedure.

Migration service always examines the whole picture of Russian and foreign employees in the company and decides respectively in every case. However in general it is observed that they tend to issue five confirmations per qualified company provided that they are satisfied with supplied documents.

Migration Service reserves the right if it seems inappropriate to refuse the issue of 'confirmation' for any further person save for director, and may demand from the company to go through the whole procedure.

[ top | e-mail | index ]

6. Costs

There shall be
- fees of the Migration service amounting to 3220 roubles as for January 1st 2000;
- deposit amounting to the approved cost of ticket to the capital of the country of citizenship of a foreign national for whom a personal work permit is requested - to cover possible expenses of Russian authorities in case they decide to deport a person;
- professional fees of assistants who supervises the process ($ 250 ex.VAT in the Centre ELTA).

[ top | e-mail | index ]

7. How long does it take?

About 4-6 weeks upon submission of necessary documents.

[ top | e-mail | index ]

8. Some visa questions.

When applying for a personal work permit, the visa of the person in question should be issued to the same company or respective accreditation authority, but not to visit some third organisation.

In general, it is important to receive appropriate visa well corresponding with purposes of stay in Russia. Law enforcement authorities tend to pay increasing attention to coincidence of purposes written in visa and actual position of a foreigner being checked.

Russian entry-exit regulations are often blamed for being harsh and rigid, but when looking into a specific problem in details it is usually found that improper visas, irrelevant to actual purposes, are initially requested for visiting the country.

The type of visa (tourist, commercial or working) can not be changed within the country. A foreign citizen is not supposed to work in Russia if he holds a tourist or commercial visa and should leave the country on due time. If the company intends to invite a foreigner for employment purposes, it is important to initially apply for a proper visa.

Working visa is issued by a Russian Consulate abroad on the basis of registered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invitation letter which will require the company to prove its accreditation or received work permit. Working visas are one-entry with maximum term for three months to allow completion of further procedures of receiving personal work permit and application to local police for registration.

[ top | e-mail | index ]

9. Registration of passports and visas.

All visas and passports should be registered within three days upon arrival to Russia notwithstanding with the purposes of visit. To do so a foreign citizen should apply to
- the hotel, if he stays at the hotel
- inviting organisation, if one stays at private apartment.

Registration is done by local police authorities (Central Department for Visas and Registrations - UVIR - in Moscow). Hotels are usually allowed to register visitors in their files, and inform police authorities later, according to specified procedures.

Registration is usually done
- in the first case - for the period of staying in the hotel
- in the second case - for the whole term of visa validity

However registration authority may sometimes shorten period of passport registration (for up to three months) if they choose to impose stricter control upon foreigners seeking illegal employment in Russia. This tradition has not been yet abolished since the Soviet Union times, when it was in common practice.

Working visas while being registered, are withdrawn and instead a passport of a foreign citizen is endorsed with the stamp which is usually known as residence permit (provided that a valid work confirmation supports application for passport registration). Such persons shall stay and work in Russia, but when they need to leave the country they are required to apply to the company (and the company in turn - to the local police authorities) for leave (exit-entry visa).

For personally accredited foreign employees of duly accredited representative offices of foreign companies working visas upon arrival are exchanged by local police authorities (on application of accreditation authority) onto one-year multi-entry exit-entry visas ('green' visas) yet by now without presentation of personal work permits. The latter one will be required to show if company's office is visited by Migration Services or local police authorities and it is found that a foreigner works there.

[ top | e-mail | index ]

10. Final notes.

These procedures are not new, despite an impression influenced by recent publications. This is just a 'better' construction and 'more precise' enforcement of existing rules and regulations, that have previously been applied (as we have remembered for 5 years of our practice) to individuals/companies selected according to internal criteria of Russian law enforcement authorities.