The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection have confirmed a list of job titles, which are available to employers that want to hire foreign citizens outside the quota system.

• Foreign citizens can obtain their work permit without spending much effort going through the complicated and slow procedure of quota system.
• This step allows paying the minimum range of salary to the foreign specialists.
• Gives the opportunity for the foreign specialists to obtain work permit for 1 year, and renew it every year without leaving Russia.

• A short list of job types for foreign specialist outside the quota
• Preparing the set of application forms for work permit is very complicated, including different steps of procedure, that takes around 4 months
• Validation of Work visa is issued for a period of 1 year
• A long list of necessary documents, to prepare the application forms for Work Permit, and this include medical tests, Russian language test and Apostilled document of education.

The sample list of necessary documents can be download in the Sample Documents section of the site.

Annually the Russian government confirms quotas for hiring foreign labors. The following step is a way of how the quota process procedure goes:

An employing company advertise a job vacancy for the need to hire foreign staff at the appropriate department of the local authorities in their region (their Federal Zone). A special commission considers the Application, and if it gives it a positive response, the Application is included in the overall lists of foreign workers in that Federal Zone of Russia. Next, the Applications from the Zone concerned are forwarded to the Ministry of Employment, which prepares the number requirements for the whole country. These requirements are further considered by a special commission of the Russian Government and are then confirmed by the Chair of the Russian Government. Once this process has been completed, the Ministry of Employment publishes a list of employers in each Zone who are part of the quota system, and the positions for which foreign staff may be hired, along with the numbers of foreign staff able to be hired for each of such positions.

• The foreign staff member may be paid minimum levels of salary
• The possibility exists for the the foreign staff member to receive a Work Visa for one year, and renew it annually without having to leave the RF

• The quota procedure is extremely complex, and must be gone through each year.
• There is a long list of reasons for which a quota might be denied
• Foreign staff can only be hired on the basis of quotas which the company has received
• The processing period for Work Permits is complex, and takes from between 3 to 4 months
• The Work Visa is issued only for a maximum period of one year.
• There is an extensive list of documents required to apply for a Work Permit, which includes the results of medical tests for foreign nationals, testing in ability in the Russian language, tests in knowledge of Russian history and legal system, along with submission of the applicant's educational certificates, which must be apostilled prior to submission.