Useful information

Hiring foreign employees in Russia

The process of duly hiring a foreign employee in Russia requires the following steps:

1. Registration of the company with local employment centre

Process of legalizing relations with foreign employee shall be started from registration of the company with a local Employment centre. This registration shall be made once. After such a registration the company will have a right:

• to file applications for work permit quota (as described in point 2 of the Proposal), or
• to publish through the Employment centre an advertisement of the appropriate vacancies for those positions where the requirement to get a quota is temporarily waived (as described in point 3 of the Proposal).

2. Submission of quota (extra quota) applications to employ foreigners

The Russian migration authorities require that companies shall in advance annually apply to the employment centers for the rights to employ foreigners. According to the current regulations, the companies shall reserve quotas for its foreign employees by filing applications for their work permit quota for the next year by the May 1st of the current year.

If a company needs to obtain work permits for its foreign employees in the current year without having filed quota applications in the previous one, extra quota applications should be submitted.
Herewith, each year the government approves a list of positions where the requirement to get a quota is temporarily waived (usually, a general director of the company, head of rep office). However, such list is valid until the end of the year and the government can at any time decide to retract this law.

3. Obtaining the permit for the company to engage foreign labour

In order to have right to employ expats (nationals of non-CIS countries) the company shall apply to the Federal Migration Service (FMS) for a permit to engage foreign labour. The FMS considers the application within 30 days after submission of the documents.

Herewith, according to the current regulations, before applying to the FMS the company shall publish through the Employment centre an advertisement of the appropriate vacancies (i.e. of the jobs that the foreign employees are hired for) for a month period and wait for possible Russian candidates. It's a formal part of the process but the company will be automatically refused by the FMS if advertisement term is not observed.

4. Obtaining work permits for the foreign employees

The company shall apply to the Federal Migration Service (FMS) for a work permit for each foreign employee. The FMS considers the documents within 30 days after submission of the documents.

5. Registration the company with the FMS for the purpose of getting invitations

In order to apply for the invitations for its foreign employees the company shall be registered with Federal Migration Service (FMS). Such registration is valid for 1 year and shall be prolonged annually. As well the registration shall be amended if the company’s details are changed.

6. Obtaining invitations for the foreign employees

In order to enable the employee to get a working visa the company shall apply to migration service for issuing an invitation.

7. Registration of the incoming foreign employees with the local department of FMS at place of stay in the Russian Federation

According to the current regulations, the company shall register its foreign employees with the local department FMS at place of stay within 3 working days after their entry into the Russian Federation.

8. Notification of the local tax authorities and the local employment centre concerning the employed foreigner

According to the current regulations, the company shall notify the local tax authorities concerning each employed expat within 10 calendar days after his/her entry into the Russian Federation, the local employment centre and regional state labour inspection - within a month after conclusion of the labour contract with the foreign employee.