16/03/2021
Legal vs non-compliant ways to work in Russia
In order to legally work in Russia foreign national has to have a work permit and work visa sponsored by the employer
Illegal ways:
It is prohibited to work in Russia on tourist, business, humanitarian, student visas. For students it is legal to work in Russia without a work permit only after study hours in case of full-time education. Working on a student visa with the purpose of visit - courses (курсы) is also illegal. Highly qualified specialist work permit and work visa for 3 years that some agencies offer Filipino nationals is also not legal, because such agencies do not legally employ Filipino national, they don’t pay salary or taxes on salary. What they do is obtain work permit and work visa and right after work visa is obtained, they cancel the work permit, so that they are not liable. Filipino national is left with a 3-year work visa but the immigration database shows that the work permit is canceled, and such visas can’t be extended within Russia and have a high risk of being terminated as well.
Legal ways:
Standard work permit and work visa
As of 24th of November 2019 individuals (families) are recognized as employers and can sponsor work permits and work visas for foreign nationals. The process is very long and difficult. It can take 5-6 months and includes the following steps.
1.
Employer (family or individual) applies for the quota to a Commission that is held once a month. In case the Commission approves the application and grands the quota to the employer the next step is
2.
Applying to the labor department to obtain an approval to employ foreign national. At that stage labor department offers to the employer instead of Filipino national unemployed Russians who can potentially fit this position. Employer should justify why he needs a Filipino and Russian will not qualify and in case employer is successful the Labor department issues an Approval to employ Filipino national. This stage takes 1 month.
3.
After that employer files an application to the immigration authorities to obtain Employment permit. It takes 1 month to obtain Employment permit.
4.
Next stage is application for an individual work permit for Filipino national. It is required to pass Russian language, history and basics of legal knowledge test, medical tests and provide a higher education diploma to obtain work permit. The process takes 1 month.
5.
Once the work permit is obtained employer requests an invitation letter for a work visa. Immigration authorities issue a 3-month invitation letter within 2-3 weeks.
6.
With such invitation letter Filipino national should apply for a 3-month work visa at the Russian consulate abroad.
7.
Processing time to obtain 3-month work visa depends on the Russian consulate and normally takes 3-7 days.
8.
With the work visa Filipino national enters Russia
9.
Employer should apply to the immigration authorities to change 3-month work visa to a 1-year multiple work visa.
10.
Family where Filipino national is working should register Filipino national within 7 working days after arrival to Russia.
11.
Before 30th of April Filipino national should submit an individual tax return, declaring how much money he\she made for the previous year and pay the required tax before 30 of June.
Working as a teacher
Teachers that work in Russia do not need a work permit, they only need a work visa. Work visas for teachers can only be issued by licensed educational organizations. For those Filipino nationals that work in families and teach kids English such visa can be a legal option. The legal employer for Filipino national would be the English language school that has educational license and this school will pay Filipino national her salary and will sponsor the visa.
The process of obtaining of this type of visa is the following:
1.
School signs a labor agreement with Filipino national and requests an invitation letter for a visa. Immigration authorities issue a 3-month invitation letter within 2-3 weeks.
2.
With such invitation letter Filipino national should apply for a 3-month work visa at the Russian consulate abroad.
3.
Processing time to obtain 3-month work visa depends on the Russian consulate and normally takes 3-7 days.
4.
With the work visa Filipino national enters Russia
5.
School then applies to the immigration authorities to change 3-month work visa to a 1-year multiple work visa.
6.
Family where Filipino national is working should register Filipino national within 7 working days after arrival to Russia.
7.
School pays salary to Filipino national and withholds all the required taxes such as 13% individual income tax (in case Filipino national is Russian tax resident) and employer taxes – 30.2%
Residency permit in Russia
As of February 2020 Russia has established a list of 135 professions for foreign specialists that can qualify for residency after legally working for 6 months in one of the professions from the list. After working for 12 months such foreign specialist can qualify for Russian citizenship.
One of the professions from the list is “teacher”. So, after 6 months of working in Russia as a teacher you can apply for residency permit which will be issued for indefinite period.
The main documents that allow foreign citizens working as a teacher to qualify for a residence permit are:
•The employment agreement with their educational institution
•A labor book
•A certificate from the Russian pension fund confirming that the employer has properly made pension contributions for the employee for not less than 6 months
•Notarized translation of every page in your passport
•Migration card
•Migration registration slip
•Criminal record background check from your home country with apostille
•Medical certificates from a Russian clinic
•Certificates of knowledge of the Russian language, history, and legislation
•Documents proving financial stability (usually a tax slip from your employer (2-NDFL)
•State fee of 5000 rubles
•Passport-sized photos
The processing time to obtain a residence permit is 4 months from the date you successfully submit the application to the immigration authorities.
Residency permit provides you with a lot of benefits:
•You can work in any city in Russia without a work permit or visa
•You can travel to and out of Russia without visa
•You can have public medical care
•You can register as individual entrepreneur and pay only 6% taxes instead of 13%
Russian Citizenship
After working in Russia officially as a teacher for more than 12 months and obtaining residency first you can apply for Russian citizenship. There is no need to give up your Filipino citizenship and Philippines allows two citizenships.
Being a Russian citizen you will have same rights as Russian citizens and will be able to register as self-employed and pay only 4% taxes.
