For a long time the representative offices and branches of foreign legal entities working in Russia have been sorting out which visa is required for accredited foreign employees working in these organizations - with the purpose of the trip "foreign worker" or "hired labor".
Confidence Group prepared a number of arguments that will help the employer to make the right choice when hiring foreign workers.
Problems with the accuracy of registration of permits for employees of representative offices / branches of foreign companies have been arising for a long time. Even the State Registration Chamber (SRC), which had been providing visa support to accredited workers of representatives / branches, in the period of its existence, guided by the letter of the Ministry of Justice of the nineties, stated that the visa with the purpose of entry "foreign worker" is quite enough for employment of foreign citizens in Russia.
Unfortunately, over the past years the federal laws were toughened, in particular the 115-FZ "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in Russia." Inspection authorities have become more strict in relation to organizations and foreign citizens, and after all it became clear that the visa "foreign worker", which was issued earlier by the SRC and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and starting from 01.01.2015 only by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), is not enough for work in full compliance with the migration legislation in Russia.
Confidence Group already represented an article on the topic: " Work permit – is it required for accredited employees of branches and representative offices of foreign companies," where we considered all the arguments to prove that without issuing permits, in particular work permits, visa support, provided by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is a mere formality. In case of checks by the Department on immigration issues of Ministry of Internal Affairs (formerly - FMS), the employer may be accused on the illegal hire of foreign workers.
The current article mainly observes the rules of indication of appropriate purpose of entry in visa of the foreign citizen entering Russia.
There are two alternatives of registration of the working visa: visa, executed through the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, where the purpose of entry is indicated as "foreign worker" or visa, executed directly from the Department on immigration issues of Ministry of Internal Affairs with the purpose of entry - "hired labor".
For our part, we can state that providing the work permit, both alternatives are legitimate. However, there are certain differences between the two entry purposes, which we will consider. It will help the employer to choose the appropriate type of visa.
The first type of visa - the visa with the purpose of entry - "foreign worker".
As you know, starting from 01.01.2015, all foreign representative offices / branches were obliged to pass the re-registration procedure at the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate. The organization, held the re-registration procedure, can also arrange personal accreditation for their employees as part of the certified number of foreign employees, as well as take advantage of visa support of the CCI, and apply for a visa with the purpose of entry - "foreign workers" for prospective employees.
The procedure of the registration of visa “foreign worker” as well as visa "hired labor", supposes processing of the invitation for 90 days, then the processing of the visa at Russian consulate abroad, then the extension of the visa in Russia for the period of validity of the certificate of personal accreditation of foreign citizen, but not more than one year.
Anyway, what is the personal accreditation and is it necessary for foreign workers?
The personal accreditation of each employee, which is made within the certified number of foreign workers, is obligatory in order to use visa support of the CCI.
Moreover, as we described in the previous article, the number of foreign workers for representative offices / branches as default shall be certified for branches. For representative offices / branches of large organizations, there may be an exception: the number of foreign workers for such organizations can be certified by a greater amount.
Particularly, the obligate personal accreditation of each employee is the disadvantage of visas of this category. The number of foreign employees, who may be accredited, is limited. In addition, for visa support organization should apply to the CCI, headquartered in Moscow.
Another disadvantage of such visas is the inability to accelerate registration of the invitation to obtain the visa, as well as registration / extension of the visa. In addition, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry will charge an additional cost for visa support of 5,000 rubles for each invitation to obtain the visa, plus payment of state duty, moreover, directly the issuance and registration of such invitations is processed by the Department on immigration issues of Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Among the advantages of visa "foreign worker" there is non-attachment to the term of the work permit, but only to the validity of the personal accreditation of the employee. Thus, the work permit and the visa for the employee may be issued for different timeframes, independently of each other. Therefore, if the employer could not promptly issue the work permit, the employee still has the opportunity to be in Russia until the work permit is issued.
One of the main disadvantages of this category of visa is that they are issued to accredited foreign employees only for the period of the validity of the accreditation of the representative office / branch. It is applied to those representative offices / branches with limited period of accreditation validity.
The second type of visa, which we would like to consider, is the visa with the purpose of entry "hired labor".
The procedure of obtaining this visa is identical to the procedure of obtaining the visa with the purpose of entry "foreign worker" and includes: processing of the invitation for 90 days, then the processing of the visa at Russian consulate abroad, then the extension of the visa in Russia for the period of the validity of the work permit. If the work permit is issued for highly qualified specialist, the visa and the invitation are originally issued once for up to 3 years.
We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that, in both cases “foreign worker” and “hired labor”, the Department on immigration issues of Ministry of Internal Affairs processes the documents for visas and invitations. Thus, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a common intermediary in visa support.
The main advantage of this visa is a substantial reduction of its registration costs. Terms of consideration of the documents can be significantly reduced by the application on the acceleration provided by the representative office / branch in the Department on immigration issues of Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Moreover, personal accreditation of the employee in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for such invitation is not required. The number of foreign workers involved in such order will not depend on the number of certified employees. Thus, it is possible to hire an unlimited number of employees.
In addition there is a procedure of registration permits for employees - citizens of member countries of the WTO. Only the Department on immigration issues of Ministry of Internal Affairs, where representative offices / branches should directly apply bypassing the Chamber of Commerce, can issue these documents, including the invitation to obtain the visa.
The disadvantage of the visa with the purpose "hired labor" - it is tied to the validity of the work permit. In order to renew / extend this visa, it is absolutely necessary to take care in advance of the extension of the work permit. If the work permit will be extended after the expiry of the visa, foreign employees would have to leave the country and re-apply for registration of the invitation and the extension of working visas to Russia.
In this article, we reviewed the arguments in favor of the registration of both types of visas, however, we believe that the visa "hired labor" is more effective way to attract foreign workers in Russia. This type of visa can be processed in a quick time and employer costs for registration of the permits are substantially lower. In addition, this type of visa reduces the likelihood of risks that may occur when checking by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not realizing the features of registration documents through the CCI.
In conclusion, we would like to remind once again that the employer and the employees should comply with the norms of labor and migration legislation of Russia and issue permit documents no matter which category of visa is chosen.
