Work visa to Russia for a foreigner: processing and documents

When the purpose of a foreign citizen's trip to Russia is employment with a Russian company, they need to obtain a work-type visa at a consular office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in their own country.

The procedure for obtaining an ordinary work visa to Russia for foreigners does not differ much from obtaining any other type of visa. At the same time, unlike a business visa, for example, a work visa allows you to live in the Russian Federation continuously for 1 to 3 years with the possibility of further extension, to work officially and receive a salary, to bring your family with you and much more. The document required to obtain the visa is an invitation from the employing company.

The employing company in Russia takes on all the work of arranging the work permit (WP) and the invitation for a work visa for the citizen of another state whom it is hiring, as well as certain other documents depending on the chosen employment procedure.

The required documents are processed at the location of the legal entity.

Ways to employ a foreigner

Assistance to legal entities in preparing and submitting documents for the employment of a highly qualified specialist.

Assistance to legal entities in preparing and submitting documents for the employment of a foreign citizen in Russia.

Assistance to legal entities in preparing and submitting an application for the need to recruit foreign labour.

The legal status of foreign citizens in Russia is governed by Federal Law No. 115-FZ of 25 July 2002; Article 13 sets out the rules for carrying out work activities.

For Russian organisations the procedure for employing foreign citizens is often a confusing and complicated process and, most importantly, it requires a lot of time and repeated interaction with government authorities. The risk of a refusal is also daunting.

How can a company arrange an invitation for a work visa to Russia?

Arranging an invitation for a work visa to the Russian Federation is impossible without obtaining a work permit. It is important for the company and the foreign applicant to determine in advance the position the employee will hold and the salary they will be paid and for both parties to sign a draft employment contract. Depending on these parameters, there are 3 routes for arranging the permit documents for a work visa to Russia.

Ways to employ a foreign citizen at a Russian company:

1. HQS, or highly qualified specialist - an employee with a salary of at least 3 million roubles per year. The amount is stated before tax. The maximum visa a foreign citizen can obtain is for up to three years with multiple entries. The process of arranging the required documents is as simple as possible and takes about a month and a half:
   • The company submits documents to the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs of the MIA (formerly the FMS) to obtain a work permit for the foreign employee. Processing time - 14 business days.
   • Immediately after the work permit application is accepted by the MIA, the organisation submits the required package of documents for the company's accreditation with the MIA and for the invitation for a work visa to Russia. Processing time - 14 business days. The completed visa invitation is sent electronically to the Russian consulate abroad, and the foreigner can start obtaining the visa.
   • On arrival in the Russian Federation, the highly qualified specialist collects the work permit in person at the Migration Directorate of the Main Directorate of the MIA, after which the employment contract is deemed to have entered into force and the foreigner can begin performing their work duties. The foreigner must also have valid medical tests and a fingerprinting card.
   • Within 3 months (90 days) of crossing the Russian border, the foreigner must complete registration (migration registration) at their place of residence.
   • The employing company is required to submit quarterly notifications to the MIA on the payment of salaries to its HQS employees.
   • No later than one month before the current visa expires, the visa extension procedure for a new work period must be started. However, before that the work permit must also be extended. This means the extension procedure must be started 3 months before the migration documents expire.
2. Outside-the-quota processing. If you do not intend to pay a foreign employee such a high salary, it is worth considering employing the foreigner in one of the non-quota positions.
   The list of positions corresponds to the All-Russian Classifier of Occupations and Professions and is published annually. In this case you can avoid the need to obtain a quota, which reduces the processing time to 3 months. The sequence of document processing for a work visa outside the quota is set out below:
   • First of all, the company submits information on its labour requirements to the regional Employment Centre and posts the vacancy for the chosen position on the Department of Labour and Social Protection website.
   • A month later an application can be submitted to the MIA for a permit to recruit and employ foreign labour for a term of 1 year.
   • Provided a positive decision is received from the Department of Labour and Employment, the permit to recruit and employ foreign labour will be issued a month later, after which the organisation submits documents to the MIA Directorate for a work permit for 1 year and for a work invitation.
   • The invitation for a work visa to Russia is issued for 3 months (90 days) with a single entry; the foreign citizen then obtains a visa with it and travels to the Russian Federation.
   • On arrival in the Russian Federation, within 7 business days the foreigner completes migration registration and collects the already issued work permit, after which the previously signed employment contract enters into force.
   • The final step - the initial single-entry three-month visa must be extended without leaving the country for the validity period of the work permit. The resulting work visa is issued for up to 1 year, with multiple entries.
   • Subsequently, to extend the Russian work visa for the following year, the entire procedure must be completed again, except for the stage of arranging a new three-month invitation and visa.
3. Processing under a quota is the fullest, standard procedure for hiring a foreigner in the Russian Federation, and it begins with submitting a quota application. Quota applications are accepted in each constituent entity of the Russian Federation according to its own schedule, which is published on the website of the "Migration Quotas" automated information system. The number of quota places (the permissible share of foreign employees) in each constituent entity is determined annually by a Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation. There is a risk that government authorities will refuse to allocate jobs. Once a quota has been successfully obtained, the employment procedure takes about 3 months. All stages of arranging a Russian visa that follow the receipt of the quota are the same as for outside-the-quota processing.

More detailed information on how to hire a foreigner correctly and on the rules for formalising employment relations when hiring foreigners in Russia can be found in the employment procedure section.
Here you will find information on which documents are required for the employment of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation.
Please note that, in addition to the work permit and work visa, an important point in formalising the employment of foreign citizens is the timely submission of notifications of the conclusion/termination of an employment contract and of salary payments (for HQS only).

At Visa-Russian.ru you can receive quality advice, get answers to the questions that concern you and decide on the way to employ your foreign specialist.

What is the easiest way to arrange a work visa to the Russian Federation?

As we can see from the information above, the easiest way is to invite a foreign citizen to work as a highly qualified specialist (HQS). Below are just some of the advantages of this way of employing a foreigner in Russia:

• The simplified procedure for arranging the necessary documents consists of only two stages: obtaining the work permit and the invitation for a work visa to the Russian Federation.
• The work permit and visa are valid for up to 3 years, as opposed to up to 1 year under the standard procedure.
• An HQS may stay in Russia without registration at the place of stay for up to 90 days.
• Tax benefits: such an employee's salary is subject only to 13% personal income tax and 0.2% social insurance contributions.
• Representative offices and branches of foreign legal entities in Russia have the right to hire HQS employees on the same basis as Russian legal entities.
• HQS employees are not required to take the exam on the Russian language, history and law.

In addition, HQS employees can obtain a residence permit in Russia under a simplified procedure on the basis of their work permit, for its validity period. However, after two years of continuous employment on a work visa, an open-ended residence permit may be issued.

Visa-Russian.ru is a leading company in Moscow providing professional services for preparing documents for the processing and employment of highly qualified specialists.

What documents are needed to arrange a work visa to Russia?

Once a properly issued work visa invitation has been received from the employing company in Russia, the foreign citizen needs to contact the consular department of the Russian embassy in their country of permanent residence (citizenship) to submit the documents for a visa to the Russian Federation.

The entry invitation is sent to the consulate by the MIA directly in electronic form (original invitations on a letterhead are no longer issued), and a copy is also sent to the applicant by e-mail. The details from the electronic invitation (also known as a telex) and the passport details must be entered in the visa application form.

To obtain the visa, the foreigner must provide the following list of required documents:

• a completed visa application form from the consulate's website;
• a passport (the passport must be valid for at least a year and a half from the start date of the visa and must have at least two blank pages);
• an invitation for a work visa to the Russian Federation;
• a medical insurance policy;
• a certificate confirming the absence of HIV infection;
• a 3.5 x 4.5 cm photograph;
• a paid consular fee.

If the visa is obtained outside the country of citizenship, an additional document confirming the foreign citizen's right to permanently reside in a third country will be required. If family members (close relatives: spouses, children, parents) travel together with the foreign citizen, they must also obtain work visas on the basis of invitations for accompanying family members.

The full list of documents and the requirements for them, the procedure, the processing time, the cost of a Russian work visa (the amount of the consular fee) and other useful information can be found on the website of the Russian Consulate.

The experienced specialists of Visa-Russian.ru will help you understand your specific case, answer questions on the latest migration law news, explain the procedure, take on the preparation of the necessary documents and guide you comfortably through all the stages of employing a foreigner in Russia (only for companies located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Moscow Region and the Leningrad Region).