Despite many economic and political changes in the world, Russia and China are friendly countries, they are connected by close economic cooperation, cultural and political mutual understanding. Chinese partners create businesses, work, study, buy real estate, invest in the economy of the Russian Federation. The activity of Chinese citizens in Russia is quite popular.
Under the law of Russia, an employer has the right to use foreign citizens with a permit to attract and use foreign workers. At the same time, a foreigner wishing to work in Russia must be at least eighteen years of age and obtain a work permit or a patent.
The law firm Delo Chesti (In English means Honour) has been dealing with migration issues for more than 10 years and can help foreign citizens go through the legal procedure for obtaining a work permit in Russia, namely:
- We will draw up and send a notice of the conclusion of an employment contract with foreigners to the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
- We will make a legal analysis of your employment contract for compliance with the migration legislation of Russia, we will make changes;
- We will draw up an invitation for an employee from China;
- We will reissue a work visa for a Chinese citizen in Moscow, including multiple extensions up to 1 year;
- We will help in the decision of a foreigner for migration registration;
- We will help to obtain the required medical documents in a medical institution with the assistance of an interpreter.
In this article, we will guide you through the procedure for obtaining a work permit for citizens of the People’s Republic of China. You will learn many nuances of the Russian legal system and migration legislation
Legal Status of Chinese Citizen in Russia
Under Russian law, the legal status of foreigners is regulated by several federal laws. We will tell you what permits are needed to hire a Chinese citizen, what are the exceptions and why it is important to comply with all legal requirements. We will also talk a little about an employment contract with a foreigner.
Let’s take a simple look at the main points. An employee of the organization where a Chinese citizen plans to work will look at the basis and in what position he is in Russia. A foreigner may be temporarily staying in the country on a visa. With many countries, the Russian Federation has a visa regime, a special procedure for crossing the border. It can be established by agreement or decision of one country. You can always check the visa regime of Russia with your country on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
With China, Russia has a visa regime, respectively, the status of temporary residence will be confirmed by a work visa and a migration card.
An organization that wants to employ a Chinese citizen must obtain permission to attract and use foreign workers. However, Russian law has several exceptions where such permission is not required if:
- A foreigner from a country with a visa-free regime with Russia;
- A foreigner is a high qualified worker;
- A foreign citizen has the status of a diplomat or consul;
- A foreigner is invited to an educational organization;
- The foreigner will work in a branch of a foreign company in Russia;
- The foreign citizen is a journalist accredited in the Russian Federation;
- A foreigner is an employee of foreign organizations that perform installation work, service and warranty services, as well as repairs of technical equipment;
There are quite a few, we have noted the most popular. In other cases, permission from the authority is required. For the same reasons, a Chinese citizen will not need a work permit.
⇒ So, we have found that most often an organization must have permission to attract a foreigner, a Chinese citizen worker in Russia is with a work visa, put on a migration register.
Also, quite often, Chinese citizens can be invited to Russia as highly qualified specialists or by invitation to an educational organization. In this case the procedure is a little different.
A work visa is a document that allows a Chinese citizen to stay and work in Russia. It must be obtained in all cases except those mentioned above.
This is how the status of a Chinese citizen in Russia is determined. As we can see, in order to avoid mistakes, knowledge of Russian migration legislation is necessary.
Obtaining a work visa by a Chinese citizen
Now let’s talk about the normal recruitment procedure, which requires permission to attract a foreign citizen, a work permit and an invitation of a foreigner.
We will consider the example of a citizen of China.
First of all, the organization must obtain permission to attract a foreigner. To do this, you must submit an application to the Migration Department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The application form is approved by the authority.
A migration lawyer who knows Russian law will help you with this. In order to correctly fill out the application, we must in which territorial department we submit the document, this is the place of registration of the organization. You must indicate the name of your company, TIN, BIN, the number of employees that we will work for you, position and their citizenship. In our case, the citizens of China.
Next, we indicate the period of validity of the permit, which can be no more than a year, the type of activity of the company, which must be found from the Russian list of activities of organizations. It is important to indicate the address of the company and the place where the employee will actually work.
As we see, there are enough formalities, then we send an application and wait 30 days, during which the ministry will give you an answer. Such a period is common for a response from the authorities, it is established by law. For the application, you must pay a state duty of 10,000 rubles, we attach a receipt for payment.
It is worth remembering that Russia also has interests in protecting the national labor market. To do this, the state may establish restrictions on attracting foreigners to work in regions or sectors of the economy. These quotas are checked by the authority when you apply to them.
So, we received permission to attract foreign citizens to work in our organization. We want to invite a Chinese citizen to the company. The next step will be drawing up an invitation for a foreigner and issuing a work visa.
Let’s talk a little about which authorities we will work with the most. Previously, a separate federal service worked and dealt with migration issues in Russia. However, in 2016 the service was reformed into the Migration Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In our work, we will apply to this Ministry.
We must show the authority that we have invited a Chinese citizen to work with us. Here will be another important invitation document.
The invitation can be issued in electronic form. To issue a document, you must provide:
- Application for an invitation in the form of the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
- Passport of the inviting party;
- A copy of the Chinese citizen’s passport;
- Copies of passports of family members, if they will enter the Russian Federation;
- A letter under which the organization undertakes to provide medical and material support to a Chinese citizen;
- Receipt of payment of the state duty of 800 rubles;
The invitation itself contains information about the name and surname of the Chinese citizen, date and place of birth, Chinese citizenship, passport details of the foreigner, the name of the inviting organization, its address and place of business, the purpose of the trip and the length of stay in Russia.
In addition, we must apply for a visa for our employee from China, here an important document will be a migration card, in which we indicate that the purpose of entry is work in the Russian Federation.
Applying for a work visa is done in several stages. First, a Chinese citizen collects documents, a passport, an invitation, then he must pay a fee at the consulate. After that, he submits an application and documents to the Russian Consulate in China and expects a visa for up to 20 days.
It is worth remembering that in some cases foreigners may be banned from entering. You can read our article on this subject. Our lawyers can also help with the removal of the ban.
⇒ The next important step will be obtaining a work permit. It is worth remembering that if organizations do not comply with this legal procedure, then it can be held liable. For example, if a company does not receive a work permit, then it can receive a fine from 250 thousand to 800 thousand rubles and a suspension of work for a period of 14 to 90 days. That is why it is important to approach this procedure responsibly.
To obtain a work permit for a Chinese citizen, we must also fill out an application in the form of the ministry. Again, we find the territorial body we need and send it to him. The application contains information about the period of work, name, surname and citizen of China, place and date of birth, information about the foreigner’s passport, position and expected address of migration registration. You will receive a work permit in 15 days.
Also, in order to obtain a work permit for a Chinese citizen, you must provide his passport with a translation (notarized translation costs 2000 rubles).
The collective health of the population is very important to Russia and whether a foreigner will bring any diseases. Here it is important to add certificates from medical institutions to our application. They must confirm that the foreign citizen is not sick with HIV, tuberculosis, leprosy, he does not have a drug addiction. In Russia, there are institutions that examine foreign citizens, it will cost about 6,000 rubles. You also need to get a medical policy for a year, it costs 4,000 rubles.
It is also necessary to attach a receipt of payment of the state duty, which will be 3500 rubles for each employee.
Within 30 days after receiving the permit, it is necessary to send confirmation of knowledge of the Russian language and the main points of Russian history to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This is a relatively new rule in immigration law.
It is worth noting that there are enough reasons to refuse a company a work permit:
- All the necessary documents were not sent, they forgot something or did not know;
- If the foreigner has an unfulfilled administrative penalty;
- The organization has a ban on attracting foreign citizens;
- Incorrectly drawn up statements or documents of the organization.
Of course, in order to avoid these mistakes and save time, it is better to contact migration lawyers.
Highly qualified worker from China
In Russia, a highly qualified specialist is considered a foreign citizen who has work experience, skills or achievements in his field of activity. The law also specifies the level of salary with which a foreigner will be considered with high qualifications. In the usual case, this is from 160,000 rubles per month. There are also exceptions in the law for certain areas of work, such as medical workers or teachers. Organizations really must pay a high salary to a foreign specialist and send a report on this to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this is required by Russian law.
It is worth noting that a highly qualified worker has several advantages when working in Russia. For example, there are no quotas for such specialists, as they are valuable employees that business and the state need. A work permit may apply to two or more constituent entities of the Russian Federation. In addition, specialists can go on business trips if the organization needs it. Travel time is up to 30 days.
The organization must conclude an employment or civil contract with a specialist and report this to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
If you decide to invite a specialist from China to work, you do not need to obtain a permit to attract foreigners, but a work permit is still required. To do this, you need to file a petition in the form of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The document will be valid for the term of the employment contract, but more than three years.
In addition, it is necessary to send a copy of the foreigner’s passport certified by a notary, the foreigner’s TIN, a voluntary medical insurance policy, a photograph of a specialist and a document confirming the payment of the state duty.
A work permit for a specialist is valid for a long time, three years, but this period can be extended.
It is important that a foreign citizen must pick up his work permit himself, he must show his passport. No one but him can do this.
Experienced lawyers of our company know Russian law well and have been working on migration issues for a long time. The general term for obtaining a work permit for a highly qualified specialist is about two months.
Work permit in an educational organization in Russia
Quite often, a situation arises when a Chinese citizen comes to Russia to teach, for example, to give Chinese lessons.
Here, too, it is worth mentioning several important aspects. Work in an educational organization does not require a work permit and permission to attract foreign citizens.
When applying for a visa, it is necessary to indicate on the migration sheet that the purpose of entry is education. Since a work permit is not required in this case, the procedure is simpler, but it is always important to remember to comply with migration registration. The organization must declare to the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the conclusion of an employment contract with a foreign citizen.
Employment contract with a Chinese citizen
It is worth noting that the employment contract with a foreigner will be slightly different. It can be concluded for an indefinite period or with a specified period. The contract will mention information about the work permit, the conditions for obtaining medical care while working in the organization. A foreigner draws up voluntary health insurance, it is necessary to enter information about this in the employment contract. Also, the employer must provide housing for a Chinese citizen, he mentions this even in a petition to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A foreigner may not know Russian very well, so the contract is translated and one copy is given to the employee. After five days of work, you need to issue a work book.
Notice of employment in the organization of a Chinese citizen is also quite an important point. Violation of it may result in fines for the company. In the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where the foreigner works, you can send it by registered mail or in electronic format. In Russia, there is a single service of electronic services for working with the state, it is called public services.
The notification form is approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it is necessary to fill in information about your organization, about a foreign citizen, terms, etc. If you fill out a notice in the old form, then this will be considered incorrect and the organization will receive a fine from 400 thousand to 800 thousand rubles. If the organization was nevertheless held accountable and a protocol was drawn up, then it is necessary to go to court and try to reduce the amount of the fine. Our lawyers can also help with this. Practice shows that it is realistic to reduce the fine, this requires a competent legal position.