The Government has established five requirements to highly qualified foreign specialists

The government of the Russian Federation established a list of five requirements to highly qualified specialists hired by big foreign holdings to manage the subsidiaries. The foreign specialist should meet at least two of the five requirements to obtain a permission to work in Russia.

All the requirements concern qualification’s level, special skills, work experience and professional achievements. It is specifically provided that the compliance with these requirements should be proved by documents issued by a foreign state but legalized in Russia. The whole list of requirements to highly qualified specialists published on the website of the Government of the Russian Federation is the following:

• Experience of at least four years of work in the relevant field of activity;
• Degree and (or) academic title recognized in the Russian Federation;
• A letter of recommendation from foreign releasing organization proving qualification and skills of the specialist;
• A letter of recommendation from a professional association or organization, or their union the member of which the specialist is;
• Achievements in a particular field of activity confirmed by patents, copyright certificates and other documents.

Besides, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the bill establishing the administrative penalty for foreign citizens who work on the territory of Russia not by their profession.

In addition to the responsibility of the foreigner, the bill also includes administrative penalties for the employer hired such an employee.

The ministers who supported the bill have nevertheless stated the importance to finalize the document. In particular, the document in its current edition does not reflect provisions of the law (the Federal Law “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation”) that allow the work on the basis of the patent for foreigners entitled to stay in Russia without a visa. Therefore, in the next edition of the draft the law should include responsibility for the professional labor activity which is not specified at the patent. At the same time, the law should leave to the employee the right to make adjustments to the patent itself.