On 14 April 2021, the Government Commission for legislative activities approved a draft law on the inclusion of a simplified procedure for issuing residence permits to foreign investors in the Federal Law «On the legal status of foreign citizens» (hereinafter referred to as the federal law), the newspaper "Izvestia" reported.
It can be assumed that the changes will affect Article 8 (2) of the federal law, which provides a list of cases in which a residence permit is issued without a temporary residence permit.
On 19 November 2020, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation published on the portal of draft regulations (hereinafter referred to as the portal) for public discussion amendments to the federal law in terms of establishing a simplified procedure for issuing residence permits in Russia to foreign investors as well as their family members.
Approval of the criteria for recognising foreign nationals as investors is within the competence of the Government of the Russian Federation. According to the draft decree also published on the portal, the following criteria are proposed in particular:
- owning a share in the charter capital of a Russian legal entity operating in the Russian Federation of at least 15 million roubles;
- availability of at least 10 million roubles on the bank account for conducting business in the Russian Federation. At the same time after 30 days from the date of issue of residence permit the investor shall confirm its registration as individual entrepreneur, and after one year – to employ at least 10 Russian citizens.
- purchase of new real estate in the Russian Federation for any purpose with a cadastral value of at least 30 million roubles (it is necessary to confirm continuous ownership for three years before the date of application for a residence permit).
Compliance with at least one of the criteria may be the reason for issuing a residence permit under the simplified procedure. However, it is important to keep in mind that the proposed criteria may change significantly by the time the changes are adopted.
The Government Commission's support for the draft law could be related to adjusting the strategic goals of migration policy as well as finding legislative solutions to the problem of improving the quality of the migration flow.
Please be reminded that since 2014, the rules of Article 14 (para. 2 (g, h)) of the Federal Law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" are in force, which provide for a simplified procedure for the following categories of foreign nationals to obtain citizenship:
- Investors whose share in the charter capital of a Russian entity operating in the Russian Federation in the economic activities specified by the Russian Government is at least 10% continuously for at least three years (provided that the charter capital is at least 100 million roubles and the amount of taxes, fees and insurance contributions paid to the Pension Fund is at least 6 million roubles in each calendar year);
- Individual entrepreneurs carrying out business activities in the Russian Federation continuously for at least three years in the economic activities specified by the Russian Government (provided that amount of taxes, fees and insurance contributions paid to the Pension Fund is at least one million roubles in each calendar year).
However, these provisions are not widely applied in practice – according to information from 2019, not a single person has been accepted for Russian citizenship on these grounds in the entire period when the rules were in force.
For more information, please contact the consultants of the Confidence Group company.
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