Temporary or Permanent residence in Russia: advantages over the other statuses of a foreign citizen
Article is prepared by Olga Makarova, consultant of Confidence Group, last update: 17.08.2021
Following up our previous article on the ways to obtain quotas for a temporary residence permit in Moscow, where we described the factors affecting the receiving of the quota, we also would like to specify the advantages of this document for a foreign citizen.
As you know, there are several categories of foreign citizens:
- Temporarily staying in Russia (the work permit, the patent).
- Temporarily residing in Russia (the TRP).
- Permanently residing in Russia (the PRP).
The status “temporarily staying” is the most common for foreign citizens, however the rights of this category of citizens are severely limited relative to permanently or temporarily residing foreign citizens.
Upon receipt of the TRP, and further PRP, the stay of a foreign citizen is guaranteed to be improved. These improvements include no more need for the employer and the foreign citizens to do the following:
- voluntary medical insurance contract;
- migration registration;
- extension of the duration of foreign citizen stay in Russia;
- extension of the work permit / patent.
Specifying the main advantages of receiving the TRP, we would like to remind that this document is issued in the form of a mark in the passport and proves the right of a foreign citizen to reside in Russia up until the PRP is obtained.
The TRP is issued for three years and allows a foreign citizen to work without issuing permits. Also foreign citizens from visa countries are issued with a visa valid for up to 3 years, and for the citizens of some countries, such as Italy, Germany, Serbia, Poland, Macedonia, Montenegro, Turkey, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cuba, Mongolia visa is not required for a stay in Russia based on the TRP in accordance with international agreements on mutual visa-free travel.
In addition, if a foreign citizen has the TRP, it practically guarantees further obtaining the PRP.
Besides the positive aspects, there are also limitations. Thus, the most important limitations which are worth considering, both by a foreign citizen as well as an employer, suggest that temporarily residing foreign citizen is obliged to reside and work in the region where the TRP was obtained, and provided that the foreign citizen is outside of Russia more than 6 month in a year, the TRP, as well as the PRP will be terminated.
As we now turn to the issue of the PRP, it's worth remarking that the TRP is not a subject to the extension, and therefore the receiving of the PRP status by a foreign citizen is totally obligatory.
The permanent residence permit is a document issued to a foreign citizen to prove the right of the permanent residence in Russia. Any citizen, who has the PRP, is a free citizen, like any other citizen of Russia, enjoying almost all rights, including the freedom to choose the territorial entity for stay and work.
There are also advantages for the employer when hiring a foreign citizen with the PRP. One of them is free opportunity for the employer to send the employee on a business trip in order to work in any other territorial entity of Russia without registration of additional documents.
It is also important that if a foreign citizen does not have a goal of obtaining Russian citizenship, then it is quite possible to live in the territory of the Russian Federation for any amount of time on the basis of a residence permit, because this document is issued for an unlimited period of time, with the exception of a residence permit for a highly qualified specialist and his family members, which is issued for the period of validity of a work permit issued to the specified highly qualified specialist.
Based on the realities of the present day and, of course, according to the FMS statistics, we may come to the conclusion that the above mentioned statuses are becoming more popular for foreign citizens wishing to work and reside legally in Russia.
Increasingly, our company receives requests to assist with issue of the TRP or the PRP. In fact, this confirms that a foreign citizen with the TRP or the PRP may feel more confident in Russia, and feel no difference of the rights and opportunities between the Russian citizens.
In conclusion, we would like to draw your attention to the following: no matter which one of these documents a foreign citizen has / planning to obtain in the near future, he/ she still remains a foreign citizen, and therefore should strictly comply with the migration legislation in order to avoid termination of the document and the possible ban of the entrance to Russia.
In case a foreign citizen decided to acquire a new status in Russia, professional specialists of Confidence Group would assist in making up all the necessary documents within the term established by the law in full compliance with the migration legislation of Russia.
