Representatives of 74 professions will be easier admitted to Russian citizenship

It will become easier for foreign specialist to acquire Russian citizenship. The Ministry of Justice has approved the bill of the Ministry of Labor containing a list of 74 professions whose representatives will be admitted to Russian citizenship under simplified procedure.

The list of jobs includes obstetricians, physicians, nurses, veterinarians, psychiatrists, welders, engineers, machine-operators, metalworkers, electricians, steelworkers, mathematicians and economists. From the very beginning, the list contained more than two hundred occupations. As planned by the officials, the bill is to bridge the gap of specialists in certain professions by attracting foreign workers.

The list is drawn up according to the current situation in the labor market and the overall statistics of unemployment among the population of Russia. Thus, the list includes those professions which vacancy rate clearly exceeds the number of potential applicants.

According to the bill, the representatives of the mentioned occupations can now request Russian citizenship after three years of work in their own field. Besides, they will be required to prove their qualification in accordance with Russian labor standards.

According to the standard practice, the applicant for citizenship should complete the original legalization and registration; take out a patent for work and a temporary residence permit valid for three years. After this he can request a residence permit and only then, after living another five years in Russia, he has the right to be admitted to the citizenship. At the same time, the documents’ processing time can be up to 10 months for each of the above-mentioned steps.

Due to the experts, the major part of the mentioned professions does not require having high qualification; however, such experts are in short supply in Russia. It is also related to the conflict with Ukraine. In such a way, the simplified procedure of acquiring Russian citizenship can really help to attract the necessary specialists to Russia and to cover the deficit of employees in these areas.