Changes in the Employment Conditions of Foreign Citizens

Pepeliaev Group hereby informs on changes in the conditions of employment of foreign citizens: the list of positions not subject to the employment quotas has been extended; starting from 1 January 2011 the inviting party is no longer required to pay a filing fee to register foreign citizens for migration purposes.

1. The list of positions of foreign citizens not subject to employment quotas in 2010 in the Russian Federation has been extended

On 21 August 2010 Order No. 482n of the Ministry for Health Care and Social Development came into force. This Order stipulates a new List of positions of foreign citizens – professional staff seeking employment in accordance with their profession that are not subject to employment quotas in 2010 .

The List mainly includes managerial positions. In addition, it includes, as before, the positions of director of a representative office and director of a branch.

We note that the List has been expanded to 30 positions and includes eight new roles, which are, however, rarely used in a business environment:

1. assistant professor
2. head of a (scientific research) laboratory
3. researcher (in law)
4. researcher (in sociology)
5. researcher (in economics)
6. researcher (in philosophy, history and political science)
7. head of a scientific and research subdivision that includes scientific and research departments and laboratories
8. senior lecturer (in colleges, universities and other higher educational institutions).

2. Starting from 1 January 2011 the employer will not be required to pay a filing fee to register a foreign citizen for migration purposes (“migration registration”)

As a result of amendments to the Russian Tax Code (Federal Law No. 229-FZ of 27 July 2010) Clauses 20 and 21, Article 333.28, Chapter 25.3 of the Russian Tax Code have been abolished, namely, the payment of a filing fee for the registration of a foreign citizen or a stateless person at the place at which they are staying (2 Roubles per day of stay, but no more than 200 Roubles) and for the extension of a temporary stay of a foreign citizen or a stateless person (2 Roubles per day of stay but no more than 600 Roubles).

The above changes will come into force from 1 January 2011. This means that starting from 1 January 2011, the inviting party (usually the employer) is no longer required to pay such fees for each day of a foreign citizen’s stay in Russia or for the extension of his/her stay in Russia.

Therefore, the above amendments are expected to reduce an inviting party’s expenses incurred in paying and calculating the number of days that a foreign citizen has stayed in Russia, as well as related administrative costs.

[1] Order No. 482n of the Russian Ministry for Health Care and Social Development dated 28 June 2010 “On Amending the Appendix to Order No. 1010n of the Russian Ministry for Health Care and Social Development dated 22 December 2009 ‘On the list of positions of foreign citizens – professional staff seeking employment in accordance with their profession that are not subject to employment quotas in 2010’ (Registered in the Russian Ministry of Justice under No. 18019 on 2 August 2010).

For further details, please contact:

in Moscow – Julia Borozdna, Head of Employment and Migration Practice, at (495) 967-00-07 or by j.borozdna@pgplaw.ru; Ekaterina Kozlova, Specialist on migration issues, at (495) 967-00-07 or by e.kozlova@pgplaw.ru

in St Petersburg - Sergey Spasennov, Partner, Head of St. Petersburg office, at (812) 333-07-17 or by s.spasennov@pgplaw.ru