Dear Executives,

Please be advised that firms employing expats have to apply for work permits urgently for year 2013 quota.

According to the information at hand, the Russian migration authorities require that companies annually apply in advance for the rights to employ foreign nationals. In other words, every year companies must apply in advance for their work permit quota (or assigned number of specialists that a company has the right to employ).

According to the current regulations, applications for 2013 quota must be filed with the authorities by 1st May 2012. The rationale behind the advance applications is that the authorities are then able to put forward proposals for the total number of foreigners to be employed in the coming year. If a company obtains work permits for its foreign employees in 2012 without having filed quota applications in 2011, then extra quota applications should be submitted. Submitting extra quota for year 2012 might simplify the procedure of obtaining work permit during year 2012. We therefore urge all companies that plan to employ expats to file these applications without delay.

Please also refer to the below list of positions where the requirement to get a quota has been temporarily waived. This is good news for companies that are just setting up new companies in Russia since this means that they can obtain necessary work papers for certain foreign workers if they will be holding the roles referred to in the below list. Please note that this waiver is valid until the end of 2012 and of course the government can at any time decide to retract these waivers. It would be advisable to take advantage of this waiver as soon as practicable and also it should be noted that in accordance to this waiver program it is necessary to obtain the work permit prior to the end of the year and not just apply for it by the end of the year. In that regard, any applications later than September may miss the deadline since applying for a work permit generally takes a minimum of three months.

As this waiver seems likely to be a temporary one to be on the safe side we strongly advise you to assume that it will not be renewed for 2013.

Positions where a quota is not required in 2012:

№ Profession (specialist field, position)
1. General director of joint-stock company
2. General director of association
3. General director of enterprise
4. General director of general directorate
5. General director of inter-branch scientific and technical complex
6. General director of production association
7. Chief engineer of project
8. Chief engineer (industrial)
9. Department director
10. Branch director (manager)
11. Production unit director
12. Director of economics
13. Director of representative office
14. Factory director
15. Director (head, authorized representative) of management board
16. Director (head, executive manager) of enterprise
17. Company director
18. Director of joint-stock company
19. Director of corporation
20. Deputy Chairman of the Board
21. Information protection engineer
22. Production processes automation and mechanization engineer
23. Engineering technologist
24. Engineer of automated production control systems
25. Engineer for automated process control systems
26. Engineer for implementation of new technology
27. Quality engineer
28. Engineer for commissioning and testing
29. Engineer, Production Management
30. Engineer for production preparation
31. Welding Engineer
32. Engineer, architect
33. Electrical engineer
34. Drilling technician
35. Technician for commissioning and testing
36. Technician technologist
37. President of association (concern, corporation, etc.) (socio-economic organization)
38. Chairman of the board
39. Circus artist
40. Sound engineer
41. Ringmaster (Presenter)

Our services:

• We would like to offer you services related to preparing and submitting quota applications for year 2013 as well as preparing and submitting extra quota applications for year 2012.

For information, please contact:

Eugeny Isaev, Partner of Awara Group
E-mail: isaev@awaragroup.com

Legal Consulting in Russia