La iniciativa de crear un análogo ruso de la tarjeta verde

The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation has proposed to create a Russian analogue of the green card allowing highly qualified Russian-speaking foreign specialists of Russian origin to enter Russia and work on the territory of the country.

The initiative to introduce such a card is reflected in the draft project of the program “Digital Economy” which was created by the Ministry of Communications and sent for consideration to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Development.

The program section “Involvement of foreign specialists and Russian specialists gone abroad” states that it is planned to introduce by 2019 a “Russian compatriot” card allowing highly qualified Russian-speaking foreign specialists of Russian origin to enter and officially work in Russia. In addition, a system of foreign employees' qualification assessment and a set of measures to support the stay of such specialists in the country should also be developed.

According to the experts, the draft of this document has not been submitted to the Ministry of Labor yet that was not commented on by the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The introduction of the Russian compatriot card got mixed reaction of the experts. According to the Internet ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev, the creation of such a card would be useful for Russia, however, it would be more efficient to do this several years ago, when during the financial crisis in the United States many specialists were ready to move and work in Russia. “There will be people ready to move to Russia, but they won’t be numerous”, – D. Marinichev reports.

In early 2017, the State Duma deputy Vladimir Sysoev announced the development of a bill aimed to create a “card of a Russian” available for former citizens of the USSR and their relatives. This card would give its holder the right to work in Russia, to get free education, medical care and a number of other advantages. However, this bill has not been submitted to the State Duma yet. Similar documents are issued in many countries. For example, in Poland, the holder of such a card can receive a free multiple-entry long-term visa to the country, has a right to work or do business without special permission, to receive free education on the same grounds as Polish nationals and other privileges.