Deputy general director, marketing and business development
The Moscow Times
Introduction of the quota concept for the foreign workforce initially made the life of foreign start-ups in Russia very complicated. You had to register the company very early during the year, apply for the quotas to hire foreign specialists for the next year and wait a year when you’ll be able to apply for the work permit for the specific person, hoping to hire him/her in two-three months. Obviously, foreign start-ups preferred to have their expatriate managers being registered as general managers of Russian companies from day one. However, it was almost impossible for the first year of their business in Russia. Actually, the foreign managers coming to Russia for the first time were always very surprised and puzzled by this situation because it opposes the generally proclaimed direction for attracting investments into Russia. Working in a company that provides tax compliance, HR and other support to international companies doing business in Russia, including a number of foreign start-ups we had to provide to our foreign colleagues short briefs on various Russian legislation issues, including migration regulations, and we had faced such a reaction on a regular basis.
A number or petitions were written, a number of meetings were held with participation of foreign companies requesting to change the approach. And… praise God the concept of highly qualified specialists was introduced.
As of July 2010, any Russian employer may hire foreign highly qualified specialists almost immediately, with very little formalities. The criterion of the qualification level is the minimum salary threshold of 2 million Rubles per year.
Such limit for annual salary for top management positions sounds very reasonable, and new start-ups have a chance not to make serious amendments to their initial plans. The business community is obviously waiting for further steps, such as decreasing the salary limits etc., but you can’t get everything at once.
