Foreign Labor Quota Allocation

Labor migration quota allocation was introduced in 2007. The procedure for foreign labor quota allocation in the Russian Federation was approved by the Russian Government Regulation No.783 of December 22, 2006, Regulations for public executive authorities to determine the need for foreign labor intake and foreign labor quotas for the Russian Federation.

Under this procedure, Russian employing companies must, before May 1 of the current year, submit to the interdepartmental governmental commission a foreign labor hiring request for the following year. Such requests will be used to determine the required vacancy amount and general foreign labor needs for the next year. The final number is determined by a regulation of the Russian Government. The Government establishes quotas separately for labor migrants from visa regime and CIS countries.

Under Article 18.1 of the Federal Law On legal status of foreign nationals in the Russian Federation (as amended in 2009), the Russian Government is entitled to establish quotas for work permits to be issued to foreign nationals, who have arrived in Russia visa-free, in one or several Russian Federation entities or in the Russian Federation as a whole. Under the law, such quotas, may be established with allowance for profession, occupation and qualification of foreign nationals as well as other economic and social criteria. Allowance should also be made for regional specific features of the labor market.

A foreign labor quota of 200,000 workers was allocated for Moscow in 2010.

The work permit issue procedure was approved by the Russian Government Regulation No.681 of November 15, 2006, that established the Rules for issuing authorization documents for foreign nationals to do temporary work in the Russian Federation. Before applying to the Federal Migration Service or its regional body for a work permit for a foreigner, a Russian company must furnish a required manpower statement and vacancy information to a regional employment authority. A month before filing documents with the Federal Migration Service or its regional body the company must furnish manpower requirement data to a regional employment body at the company’s location. Using the data, the employment body prepares a register and provides such data to FMS upon request when the company applies for work permits.

FMS may refuse to issue a work permit to a company that fails to apply to the employment service or applies to FMS less than one month after applying to the employment service or has during the current month refused to employ a Russian citizen referred by the employment service to fill the vacancy intended for a foreign national.

At present, foreign labor employment provisions have yet to be adequately furthered in government regulations and to be put into practice to the full extent. Difficulties that companies face with employing foreign skilled labor and quota determination in general may sometimes hinder new companies involving foreign capital from entering the market.

The labor market monitoring may well replace quota allocation in the future; the employment service will have to determine if a specific professional’s work is needed: once the employer obtains a permit from the employment service it may immediately hire the worker it needs. At present the relevant authorities are negotiating bilateral labor migration agreements with CIS states and working out methods to form components of an organized recruiting system, including the creation of a vacancy databank and providing foreign nationals with access to it.

The web-site of Moscow Labor and Employment Department  provides information on the procedure used by the Government Employment Services of a Russian Federation entity to issue opinions on employment and use of foreign labor as well as on reasons for refusal to issue such opinions, and other information on the issue.