The Law and Status of Foreign Citizens in Russia: Business Visas, Work Permits

content: summary • how the tourists are affected (migration cards) • how the businessmen, employers, and foreign employers are affected (work permit) • temporary (pemanent) residents

Update: please, read the new Business Guide / Foreigners' Legal Status section in addition to this article.

Summary - The Scope of Law:
The law "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation" was signed on 25th July 2002, and became effective on 1st November 2002.
The main purpose of this law is to limit the illegal immigration from the former CIS countries, and to create a legal basis for relationship between foreigners and Russian government.
The main sections of this law concern with:
(1) Regulation of foreigners' status in Russian Federation. This chapter describes the important concepts (e.g. who is a foreigner, what is an invitation, what is a visa), and regulates the status, rights, and obligations in Russia of those foreigners, who are are visititing Russia, or are temporary or permanent residents. This will be discussed below in this section.
(2) The order of issuing an invitation for a foreign citizen to enter Russia. This chapter lists what documents are needed, when a foreigner may be refused, when he should be refused, etc. — all this is comprehensively discussed (with references to the law) in the Types of Visa and How to Apply sections of this guide, thus these issues will not be of concern in this section.
(3) Registration of foreign citizens. This chapter fully describes the process of registering a foreign citizen in Russia. — this is fully discussed in the Registration section of this guide.
(4) Control of the foreigners who come to Russia for a temporary or permanent stay. This chapter introduces the new instrument — a migration card, given at the instant a foreigner crosses the Russian border. In the migration card one should specify exactly the purpose, duration, and address of stay, as well as the name and reference of the inviting party (company, travel agency, private person). Russian officials claim this is needed for tracking purposes.
Also, this section claims the necessity of getting a work permit and describes the process.


How the Tourists are Affected:
The new law doesn't affect tourists much. Most of the changes are applied to the process of issuing the travel visa support (invitation), and this affects the tourist companies, that issue the invitations only.

The three main changes that may affect you as a tourist are:
(1) According to the new law, the right of issuing the tourist and business invitations will gradually be passed from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Russian Interior Ministry. For you it can mean only a slight change in visa support processing times and costs.
(2) The new law introduces migration cards. From now on, all foreigners will need to fill in a special migration card, which is given to them at the moment they cross the Russian border, and give one part of it to the immigration officials at passport control. The second part of the card should be given back when leaving Russia. The major change is that at the moment of crossing the Russian border, a foreigner will need to specify once again the period of stay, the place of stay, the name and reference of the inviting party. All good visa support companies (including our partner company that provides visa support through WayToRussia.Net) will be providing this information to their clients at the stage of visa support application. Read more information about this in "Migration Cards" subsection below.
(3) The invitation for entry will now be needed even for those citizens who don't require a visa for entry to Russia (concerns only former USSR and some Eastern Europe countries citizens).
(4) Visa registration will now take slight longer to process (about 3 days), so, please, register your visa as soon as you can (remember, the law says it should be done in the first 3 days after arrival, excluding holidays and day-offs).

Migration Cards: Following recent changes in the visa regulations in Russia, effective November 25, 2002, Monday, all foreigners will have to fill in special migration cards, which will be given to them the instant they cross the Russian border.
Here's how the migration card looks:

It is required to put in the migration card personal data, terms of stay in Russia and purposes of visit and the prospective stay of residence. It will be a must to fill in the name of the inviting company and the address of the inviting company (any good visa support company, including the one presenting its services on WayToRussia.Net site will provide you with this information, at the stage of application).
Everyone, who has not put a registration mark due to the address of prospective stay of residence within three days (in other words -- visa registration), will be considered illegal.
The migration card consists of two sections and the top portion is immediately collected by the passport/visa control officials, while the bottom part is collected when the person leaves the country to return home.
Thus, you now need to make sure that when arriving to Russia, you have the full name and address of the company that made your visa support letter (an invitation). This information is given on your visa support documents, please, copy it for further use.
Entry into the country and actual length of the permitted stay will now largely depend on information given in the card and during the "interview" with the visa officials.
The official reasoning behind such "migration cards" was given as "allowing officials to count the number of foreigners who remained in Russia after their visa expired, in other words determine the number of illegal immigrants". According to the officials, law-enforcement bodies will have the information on illegal migrants, because migration card contains all their provisional personal data: first and last name, date of birth, sex, passport number, citizenship, purpose of visit, temporary residence in Russia and the period of stay. Migration cards are numbered, but are printed and have no watermarks.
You can see a sample of a migration card with English translation here (in MS Word or Adobe Acrobat format). Do not fill this in, all cards are numbered. You'll get yours on the border.
Important Note: The migration cards are now given to every foreigner coming to Russia (effective 15 February 2003). If you came to Russia before this date, be ready to present to passport control any document you entered Russia before 15 February (a ticket, or an arrival stamp in your passport should be enough).

The implication of this procedure for foreigners, traveling to Russia: When entering Russia, foreign visitors will be asked about their inviting organization or travel agency.
For tourist visas: Those who travel on their own need not forget that their visa is issued according to a specific travel agency’ visa support. They need to make sure to name this company when asked. If information they provide does not match the official information on their visa, they risk being deported immediately. It is highly advisable to have a copy of your visa ‘invitation’ a.k.a. voucher in hand and to know the name of your ‘inviting organization’. If a foreigner provides information to the Russian border patrol officials that is contrary to his official invitation and visa, that individual risks not being allowed into the country.
For business visas: You need to make sure to name your ‘inviting organization’ and its address. If you travel on business visas, it is unadvisable to mention private matters or employment with another company in Russia as purpose of your visit. You need to inform the Russian officials accordingly to what's written in your invitation and be prepared to show copies of your official invitation.
Important Note: when applying for visa support letter through WayToRussia.Net, that it is not WayToRussia.Net processing your order, but our partner company -- IntelService. Once you fill in the form, they'll send you their full address, which you'll need to specify in the migration card. Do not put "waytorussia.net" on the migration card -- we're an information resource, not a travel agency.

Foreign visitors will also be asked how long they intend to spend in Russia – and may be asked to show a proof – return tickets, for example. Their migration card will then be stamped with a specific departure date – according to this information! Even if the visa is good for a full 30 days, for example, but the migration card was issued for only 25 days, that person will need to leave Russia IN 25 DAYS or before the date on his or her migration card.
The ìearly interviewî is going to be extremely important and may very well determine if the person is even admitted to visit Russia. However, most of the foreigners are admitted without any problems, if your answers are congruent with the information in the visa and visa support documents.

How the Businessmen, Emloyers, and Foreign Employees are Affected:
The law on the status of foreign citizens in Russian Federation introduces significant changes into the Russian employer - foreign employee relationship:
(1) The government will issue an annual quota for foreign workforce. The number is not defined clearly (530,000 for the year 2003), it will be formed depending on the local employers' requests. The government promises to allow as much as needed, but one can expect that this quota will be underestimated, because many foreigners are simply not declared properly. However, the law claims that if the quota is exhausted, it might be extended.
(2) To be able to legally work in Russian Federation, a foreign citizen needs a work permit, which should be obtained by his employer at the RF immigration officials.
Please, note, that a standard business visa allows any foreigner to come to Russia for short business meetings, conferences, exhibitions, negotiations, etc. A foreign citizen can not be permanently employed with such visa, at least offially (but it depends on any specific business..). If you are going to be officially employed with a company in Russia, this company needs to issue the invitation for you, and to obtain a work permit from immigration officials. If you're just coming for a meeting (or want a longer visa), then a standard business visa issued by a travel agency is enough.
In other words, the work permit is an official invitation from a business based in Russia, for a foreign citizen to have a permanent job with this business.
If a foreign citizen changes his job, he may keep the work permit obtained by his previous employer, if not less than 3 months left until the expiry date.
It is important to distinguish the "work permit" (which is a document that belongs to a foreign citizen) from the "permission to employ foreign citizens", that is obtained by any company to be able to legally employ foreign citizens.
(3) All employers, who need to hire a foreign citizen, now need to get a permission to employ foreign citizens (without exception).
(4) All foreign citizens, officially employed in Russia, will be registered in Russian immigration and tax officials by the employer.

There are certain categories of foreign citizens, who don't need a work permit:
(a) Temporary and permanent residents. (However, if you think it is a good way to get around the work permit rule, it's not so, because it's longer more complicated to get a permit of staying in Russia - see information in Temporary and Permanent Residence section below)
(b) Students, teachers. (Different rules apply to them - to be clarified with the inviting university or edudational institution)
(c) Dimplomats, representatives of international organisations (different rules apply).

What if the Work Permit is Not Obtained: In this case, a foreign citizen who doesn't have a work permit may be fined and deported from Russia. The employer will also be fined, and might have additional administrative charges (e.g. inability to employ foreign citizens for a period of time).

So, What to Do? The best and the most legal way is to officially get a work permit for yourself through the employer (note, that this employer should also have a permission to employ foreign citizens).
You may also become a temporary or permanent resident. This process is long and complicated, but that is certainly a possibility.
Another way is to arrange that a certain staff leasing company employs you and then leases you to the company you really want to work with. It is highly probably that a professional staff leasing company will already know the process of getting a work permit for a foreign citizen, and if this is done once, then, as the law states, you can change the employer easily, without losing your work permit

Temporary & Permanent Residents:
Note: December 2003 - Russian Nationality Rules Ease (Talk Lounge Russia Forums on waytorussia.net).
To become a permanent resident, a foreign citizen should become a temporary resident first. One can become a temporary resident, only if invited by a private person to Russian Federation (private invitation).
The private invitation can be made in the local immigration office (OVIR), at the place where the person, who is inviting you permanently lives. The person who invites you, should fill in a special application form in OVIR and submit it along with a copy of your (the invited person's) passport, and a paid bank transfer. (Note, there are huge queues in OVIRs). It will take about 1 month or longer for OVIR to process this information, and after it is done, a "private invitation" will be issued. This invitation should be posted (not faxed - originals are required by the embassies!) to the person who's invited. Then the person who is invited should submit this invitation, along with the invitation, passport, photos, and other documents required to the Russian embassy, and his private visa will be issued.
The private visa can be valid for a period not longer than 3 months (the exact period is specified in the invitation), and is single-entry only.
After you arrived to Russia with such "private" visa, you should register at the place of residence of the person who invited you. For that there needs to be a proof that this person has the rights for this apartment (obtained in a local housing office), and a notarized letter, where the person states he/she doesn't mind you living in his apartment for a specific period of time (the form is standard - every notary knows it).
After you're registered, if you still want to become a temporary resident, you need to get a pile of documents. The requirements change all the time, so it's better to get an up-to-date list from OVIR. Generally, a foreign citizen will need his passport, private visa, information confirming the place of work / study, information that confirms the place of residence (should be issued by prefecture), information confirming a certain income, medical insurance. The Russian person, who is inviting the foreigner, should confirm the rights for the apartment, bring in all the same documents, confirming place of work / study, income, medical insurance etc. It's better to use a specialized agency's services to file all the documents before submitting them to OVIR. These agencies will not gather the documents for you, however, they know how to submit the documents that OVIR officials like it.
If everything is ok, you'll get the answer in about 1 to 3 months time.
However, the temporary residence is quite limited: a foreign citizen will have certain rights, and be able to enter Russian Federation, but in order to leave Russia, he/she will have to get a special "exit" visa from OVIR every time (it takes 2 to 4 weeks to get it)! So, imagine, you need to leave Russia fast, you can't do it, because you have to apply (queues), and then wait, and only then get a single-exit visa.
In other words, this process is not worth going through at the moment, unless you really need a temporary Russian residence. The rules are not easier for spouses as well...
The only good thing is that the rules may change soon, and become easier. We will monitor the situation, and as soon as there's a significant change, we'll update information in this section.



Disclaimer: We attempted to make all the information presented in the Russian Visa section of this site as accurate and up-to-date to possible, a a lot of work was done, but visa and visa registration rules and regulations change so often that we can't guarantee anything.
We are not legal advisers, and don't have the needed experience in this field. So, we can't guarantee accuracy. Please, use the information at your own risk, we are not liable or responsible for any loss or problems sustained. It's always better to consult official law companies (like Baker & McKenzie, Phoenix Law Associates etc.)

Discussions: Your Comments and Additions

Articles You May Be Interested In:

Here are some comments sent to us by our readers in the past:

Comment (received 17/12/02): "I arrived to Russia, SVO-2, on 12 Dec. I have never received this immigration card, nor was there any questions or even speaking at customs, merely the girl looked at my documents and took the first page of my visa, normal procedures.
This is the first I have heard anywhere about this new procedure with cards.
Feedback?"
Answer: Even though the procedure is already in the law, it is not yet being implemented widely. This measure was introduced to restrain immigration and illegal employment of people from the former USSR countries, so it is being applied to them at first.
It is true that neither Sheremetyevo, nor Domodedovo airports are giving these immigaration cards yet, so you shouldn't worry about giving them back on return, if you weren't even given one.
However, they may start giving them at any moment. So, be prepared (read the information above :-) 
Latest update: they already give the migration cards at the border (starting from 10 February).


Comment (received 20/01/03): "When i went to the office to register, I was told i would have to leave my passport and visa for up to 7 days. This presented a problem as i was going to travel to St. Petersburg. The girl at the office put a post it on my visa, stamped it, and I was on my way. is a week a normal amount of time to leave your passport at the travel office?"
Answer: Yes, as the functions of dealing with invitations are passed from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Ministry of Internal Affairs, you should expect some delays in processing during the first few months. I believe it will normalize soon.
At the moment, the travel agencies can't put the registration stamp at the moment they get your passport, they should submit it to OVIR (local immigration office). That's why you have to wait for a week.
It's better to wait as long as your travel agency asks you to: if somebody can do it faster than the others, it means either they have very good connections in the ministry, or they are doing it not completely legally.
However, any travel agency will understand if you need your registration fast: just explain your situation, and I'm sure they'll try to process it faster.


Comments (received 4/03/03): "I currenly receiced a new Russian 1 year business visa and had the immigration form registered in February at the hotel where my Moscow office is. I left for 1 day last week to go to Kiev and they took the imigration card when I departed. I filled out a new form when I returned, but they didn't tell me that I needed to re-register the new immigration card again. I just tried to register it at the same hotel and they tell me that they can't because it was more than 3 days since I re-entered the country. What will they do at the airport when I try to leave if the immigration card has not been registered?"
Answer: I would recommend you first of all to contact the company through which you made the visa support for your business visa and ask them an advice. I'm sure they will find a way to register your visa, as it is bad for them if you have any problems with registration (there are administrative fines for companies that issue visa support for visas, which were not registered after).
If this doesn't help, I think the best is to keep all the airline tickets you have, and all the migration cards you have. When you will be leaving Moscow, just do as if everything is normal, give your passport at the passport control. If they ask for a migration card, give them the card you have. If they ask you why it is not registered, just explained the situation exactly as you did above.
In most cases passport control in airports tend to be understanding (you are not an illegal immigrant, after all, but a businessman), so I think everything should be ok.

Comment (8/06/03): "I am a Belgian who left Russia three months ago. I had a visa for only 1 month which we managed to prolong by getting me a special 'exit' visa. What we did forget is to prolong my registration too. So I had a legal permit to stay in the country for 3 months, but my migration card was only valid for the first month. What happened at SVO-2 is that due to a stupid coincidence I was stopped by a police officer, he checked my documents and said "Big problem, big problem". Of course I suddenly forgot all my Russian :) and I said "I don't think so". Anyway, I just kept being ignorant and in the end they gave away, I was free to go. My point is that later on during the border control before boarding the plane, they also should have noticed this, I was quite nervous. But they didn't notice or didn't care at all, my migration card was just stamped and put on the pile and I could just go through. They don't seem to be that attentive to it, at least not the border control. After all, I was a "problem" leaving the country, not getting into it. Greetings!"

Comment (22/06/03): "my girlfriend is sending me a private invitation and i am not using a travel agency, I assume that the information that needs to be completed for the migration card will be on the private invitation ie address, "
Answer: Correct.

Comment (29/09/03): "why so much strick control of non-citizen.people are wanting to come to russia for the beauty and the friendship that they have to offer the world.jayd"
Answer: Well, yes, but they are afraid of immigration and of capital taken away from the country. And also, it's very hard for Russians to come into other countries, so it is a way of counteracting...

Comment (23/10/03): "This site has helped me very much. My girlfriend is from Russia, I am from the US, so obviously I will be traveling between the two countries several times in the future. Your help and knowledge of the laws for Visas and other modes of entry have helped my in many way. I appreciate your dillegence and desire in helping others travel to your beautiful country. It has been great working with you all and I will be working with you for all my future trips to Russia.
Thank you very much, David Shams"

Comment (7/11/03): "Make sure you get your migration card stamped at the airport if you are flying in.
Immigration cards were a new thing to us and we asked the flight attendant if they were necessary because we never needed them before... The Aeroflot flight attendant told my friend that if we were staying less than 14 days we would not need a migration card.
Wrong answer! When we got to the hotel, the clerks wanted to see two migration cards and wouldn't check either of us in without our having one. No problem, they were simply doing their jobs and by our not having the right documents we were messing them up... soooo we had to go back to the airport to customs to get the migration forms.
Getting them was hard enough; getting them stamped was a whole other issue!
We ended up wasting four hours trying to find somebone who would help us get the cards from customs and get them stamped.
I was in disbelief that the Customs people could be so disagreeable and cold. I think they were expecting us to pay them off... but that's a catch-22. If you try to give them money, it's called a bribe! And that can get you in trouble!!! As if! We were told that not having the migration cards was our problem, not theirs!!!
So we went back to Aeroflot to request their help since they were the ones that told us we didn't need the forms. We got passed around to five or six people and got sent all over the airport. Once they heard Customs wouldn't take care of us, it was like they became afraid to help us!
Never in my life have I met so many people with apathetic attitudes and who so lacked initiative.
Despite their coldness we just smiled and remained polite. We weren't going to return their rudeness; instead we were going to kill them with kindness.
Finally, one lady from Aeroflot with common sense (and a big heart) went and personally walked it through for us. The customs folks even gave her a hard time. Apparently that was the wrong thing to do, because unlike them, she had initiative and now it became like a personal issue between her and them and she wasn't about to back down.
She wasn't about to put up with their lame attitudes and she kept taking the matter to the next higher level until finally she got results. We were sorry to have put her through so much trouble... but her actions really said a lot about her intestinal fortitude and her fine character! We were indebted.
How a country treats its guests influences its reputation abroad. Why would any country seeking to be thought of as a world power also do things that ruin its reputation and shame its good name? I simply don't see how it is in Russia's interest to employ customs agents who treat tourists badly and refuse to take initiative to help people who request their assistance. We had proof we were on the flight, we had all the necessary documentation and they still refused to help. Go figure!
Thankfully, not everyone we met was as odious! In fact, the rest of our trip went very smooth.
We were humbled by the warm and gracious reception we got from the people in the Altai region and we couldn't thank them enough for making our stay both productive and enjoyable. They more than made up for the cold reception we got at the airport in Moscow... and I would like to go back... perhaps even as early as next year!
Although our trip to Russia had a bumpy start, it culminated smoothly and overall, it was a very positive and richly rewarding experience. Russia is a beautiful country full of nice people too. I'm so glad that we were able to visit and work with our hosts in the CIS..."