Today in Russia, 350,000 foreigners work under legally obtained permits. In reality, this figure is much higher - according to rough estimates, from 3.5 to 5 million citizens of other countries are working illegally in the country. Officially hiring a foreigner, regardless of whether he comes from far abroad or neighboring countries, is quite costly: the employer will pay a fee of 3,000 rubles, and the employee himself - 1,000 rubles. Moreover, in the past year, according to personnel departments of enterprises that employ foreigners, the processing time sometimes dragged on for several months. This was due to the reform of the Federal Service for Labor and Employment as part of the overall administrative reform.
True, now Rostrud is ready to turn its face to migrants and, among other agencies, has initiated the preparation of changes to migration legislation. As Georgy Gadenko explained at a round table on labor migration problems, organized by the visa working group and the labor resources committee of the Association of European Businesses in Russia, amendments to the law "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation," which are undergoing interdepartmental coordination before being submitted to the Duma, will increase the validity period of permit documents received by labor migrants. Today a permit is issued for up to one year, and to extend it a person must leave the country and then re-enter and obtain a new one. Under the new rules, if they are approved by legislators, the permit will be issued for three years with the possibility of extending it for another year. That is, the period of continuous residence for foreigners will increase to four years. However, they will have to pay the state fee anew each year, which will probably also increase. In addition, according to Georgy Gadenko, a document has been prepared for consideration that more strictly regulates the procedure for issuing labor permit documentation to foreigners, so that local administrations do not send them into "unofficial ordeals."
At the initiative of the Federal Service for Labor and Employment, a problem that has caused a lot of trouble for residents of the former Soviet Union, who now find themselves in neighboring states, may finally be solved. "It is possible that for citizens of the CIS who are recruited to work in Russia, more simplified rules will be introduced than for other foreigners," said Georgy Gadenko. Under these simplified rules, citizens of the countries of the Single Economic Space may in the future count on an even more preferential registration procedure. This will maximally simplify the processing of work permits for visitors from Ukraine and Kazakhstan (Belarusians already work in Russia under the same rules as Russians). Currently, Russia is coordinating this issue with the countries of the SES.
On the other hand, the problem of overly labor-intensive registration of foreigners for work is by no means, as is commonly believed, limited to the so-called guest workers working on construction sites and markets. Representatives of large foreign companies and quite law-abiding foreign entrepreneurs who come to start a business also experience big problems. For example, if a foreigner acts as a founder of a business in Russia, but at the same time wants to be the general director of his enterprise, he cannot sign documents for himself to obtain a work permit as an employee of his own company. Nor can he sign documents for visa extension. Therefore, a business visa is obtained, then one has to organize the business, leave home and return on a work visa.
Difficulties also arise for representatives of foreign companies that have offices in different regions. For example, when a large automobile concern has a dealer and service center in Moscow, its foreign employee cannot travel to its own regional service center for more than three days if the company has not obtained a work permit for the employee in another region and visa registration.
If the prepared amendments come into force, the life of law-abiding foreigners in Russia will become a little easier. Without permit documents, the following will be able to get a job in Russia: employees of foreign representative offices accredited in the established manner, not exceeding five people, radio announcers, participants and organizers of international exhibitions. However, at this point Rostrud's loyalty to white-collar workers appears to end. If today any foreign legal entity can act as an employer attracting foreign labor, then according to the prepared amendments, only officially registered representative offices and branches will be able to hire foreign workers in Russia.
A necessary condition for obtaining a work permit for absolutely all foreigners in the future will also remain a document confirming that the potential employee does not have HIV and other infections (the list of which is established by the government). This situation is not indisputable from the point of view of universal moral norms and world practice. "We must try to preserve the health of our citizens in some way," explained Nikolai Bychkov, a representative of the department for organizing visa and registration work of the Federal Migration Service.