There is one correct phrase: Ignorance is no excuse. That is the message of this article about the prohibited territories for foreigners to visit. Foreign citizens have the right to freedom of movement for personal or business purposes within the Russian Federation on the basis of documents. An exception is visiting territories for which a special permit is required.
In Russia, these territories are called regulated. For visiting them, a foreign citizen may face liability in the form of a fine or expulsion. As a rule, this may be a strategic territory of the state, it may not have a checkpoint or any marks. And the employer organization for allowing the presence of a foreign worker in this territory can receive a fine from 400 thousand to 500 thousand rubles.
In addition, expulsion can be obtained even for the transit of this territory. For example, a foreigner was just driving a car and was stopped by a traffic police officer. Then there will be measures and a possible expulsion.
Most foreigners do not know about such zones and find themselves in a difficult situation. And of those who know, he has already been brought to administrative responsibility.
Opinions of courts in Russia
In Russian legislation, the list of such zones is determined by the Government of Russia. A foreigner can either familiarize himself with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of July 4, 1992 N 470 “On Approval of the List of Territories of the Russian Federation with Regulated Visits for Foreign Citizens”, or seek the help of a migration lawyer.
We have experience with this issue, and we can talk about how a court usually works with a violation of a foreigner in the form of being in a regulated territory in Russia.
Interestingly, the law mentions the lines on which a foreigner is prohibited from entering. Maps were to be made along the lines. However, there are currently no maps. Therefore, lawyers try to focus on the positions of the courts.
For example, the Constitutional Court of Russia, in its decision in 2017, where a foreigner applied because the law is not clear, considers that the entire settlement indicated in the Resolution is a regulated territory. The name is included in the list, and if a foreigner stayed there, he can be held administratively liable.
This is the position of the highest court, now let’s talk about the case when the decision on expulsion was cancelled by our lawyers.
⇒ So, an Armenian citizen received a fine and expulsion for violating the regime of stay in Russia, namely, being in the regulated territory. He was stopped by the police and did not have a special permit.
⇒ The lawyers decided to appeal against the expulsion decision and point out several extenuating circumstances. These are facts in which the punishment can be reduced.
⇒ For example, in our case, a foreigner simply drove through the territory in his car, got lost and stopped at the request of the police. The citizen of Armenia has not previously violated the migration legislation and honestly complied with the Russian law.
The foreigner was previously engaged in the transportation of goods, and the decision on expulsion will not allow him to receive money and provide for a family of several children and a wife. Also, a foreigner knows Russian and graduated from a Russian higher educational institution. According to his punishment, the foreigner has already paid the fine.
The court considered our position correct and canceled the expulsion of a foreign citizen.
It is worth remembering that the Ministry of Internal Affairs must be notified about the cancellation of expulsion with a request to remove it from the list. We know of a case where, after the cancellation of the expulsion, the client forgot to notify the Ministry and after that could not enter Russia. It is important to know that the database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is not updated automatically, a foreigner must do this himself or ask a lawyer.
Advice to foreign citizens and employers
It is important for foreign citizens not to violate Russian law and take a responsible approach to being in Russia. It is also important for organizations to control their foreign workers so that they do not go into the prohibited zone.
That is why it is important to read the Government Decree, which we talked about in the article. You need to look at these territories in the law and you can even mark them on your map.
- If you are an organization and you are not sure about the territory where your foreign workers work, you can contact a lawyer for advice, or get information yourself. If you got to the regulated areas, then you need to coordinate this with the Federal Security Service. Send an application (request) with a request to coordinate the presence of foreign citizens at this facility.
- If you are a foreign citizen and were brought to administrative responsibility and received expulsion, you can appeal the court decision, mentioning extenuating circumstances and evidence that you had no intent.
As practice shows, the courts do not often cancel the expulsion, but it is still possible.
If the expulsion was removed, then do not forget to send a notification about this to the Ministry of Internal Affairs so that they remove it from the list.