Foreign citizens operating in Russia under employment and civil law contracts, as well as individual entrepreneurs are required to obtain a work permit. On the basis of this permission, a foreign employee is entitled to obtain a work visa to enter and stay in Russia. Work visa is issued to foreign citizens on the basis of quotas established by the Government of the Russian Federation (see Federal law of July 25, 2002 N 115-FZ” on the legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation”, Federal law of August 15, 1996). N 114-FZ” on the order of departure from the Russian Federation and entry into the Russian Federation”, Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of December 30, 2002 N 941″on the procedure for issuing work permits to foreign citizens and stateless persons”).
General Directors, members of the Board of Russian organizations with or without foreign capital, heads and employees of branches and representative offices – foreign citizens are required to obtain a work permit.
Work permits are not required for the following categories of foreign citizens (article 13 par. 4 Law on the legal status of foreign citizens):
– permanently residing in Russia;
– temporarily residing in the Russian Federation;
– employees of diplomatic missions, consular offices of foreign countries in the Russian Federation, employees of international organizations, as well as private domestic workers of these persons;
– employees of foreign legal entities (manufacturers or suppliers) performing installation (supervision) work, service and warranty service, as well as post-warranty repair of technical equipment supplied to the Russian Federation;
– journalists accredited in the Russian Federation;
– students in the Russian Federation in educational institutions of professional education and performing work (providing services) during the holidays;
– students in the Russian Federation in educational institutions of professional education and working in their free time as training and support staff in those educational institutions in which they are trained;
– invited to the Russian Federation as teachers for classes in educational institutions, except for persons entering the Russian Federation for teaching in institutions of professional religious education (spiritual educational institutions).
A work permit is issued for a period of one year. The state fee is: 10,000 rubles for the issuance of a permit to attract foreign labor and 3,500 rubles for the issuance of a work permit to a foreign citizen. The procedure for obtaining a work permit is multistage and lasts at least 3 months.
Steps to obtain a work permit (for Moscow):
Submission of information about the need for workers in the territorial employment center of the district, at the location of the company for 30 days before the submission of documents for a work permit in the FMS of Russia in Moscow;
Submission of documents of the Federal migration service of Russia in Moscow to obtain a permit to attract foreign labor, as well as to obtain a work permit (plastic card) for each foreign employee;
Obtaining permission to attract foreign labor and work permit to a foreign citizen in the FMS of Moscow.
Upon expiry of the permit, the employer shall issue a permit for the next year in accordance with the above procedure.
After receiving a work permit for a foreign employee, the employer must notify the territorial tax inspection within 10 days.
It is also necessary to note that the employer is obliged to apply in advance before may 1 of this year for the next year on the need for labor to fill vacancies by foreign workers.
On the basis of these applications is formed by the sum of the required vacancies and is determined by the total number in need for the following year. The number is set by the Government of the Russian Federation. The number of the declared vacancies by the employer is taken into account by the FMS of Russia when issuing work permits for foreign employees.
There is also a simplified procedure for obtaining a work permit for highly qualified specialists (HQs), i.e. foreign citizens receiving a salary of at least 2 million rubles per year. They are not required to apply to the employment center and are exempt from working quotas. The procedure for obtaining a work permit in the FMS of Russia takes 2 weeks.
from Andrey Nikishenko, 2018