Dear CERBA Members and Partners,

According to the information kindly provided by CERBA Corporate Member – Intermark Relocation, the decree of the President No. 580 dated 23.09.2020 extends the period for suspension of terms of stay for foreign citizens and suspension of terms for some of their migration documents. Also the decree introduced a couple new provisions.

What are the changes?

1. From March 15 to December 15, 2020 inclusive the following terms expiring in this period are suspended:

• Terms of stay
• Terms of migration registration
• Duration terms of the following documents:

– visas

– migration cards

– temporary and permanent residence permits

– documents confirming refugee or temporary asylum status

• NEW! Terms for voluntary departure for foreign citizens in respect of whom a decision of expel/deportation/unwanted stay was made.

2. Also, until December 15, 2020 inclusive, the following measures are extended:

– Visa-free nationals may apply for patent regardless of the declared purpose of entry or the existing deadline for submitting such application;

– Employers who have a corporate employment permit may apply for individual work permits for the relevant employees regardless of their purpose of entry.

3. NEW! With regard to foreign citizens who committed migration offenses in the Russian Federation, decisions on administrative expulsion from Russia in the form of a self-controlled departure could be made once again.

4. NEW! Foreign citizens whose passports expire during the aforementioned period have the right to leave the Russian Federation with such a passport to the country of their citizenship (without transit through third countries).

Intermark comments

In case of expiration of validity terms of visas, periods of stay and migration registration after December 15, we strongly recommend approaching state authorities for extension procedures not later than prescribed by law. This is especially important given the fact that in the current version the "amnesty" has been extended until mid-December - this is a time of traditionally high workload of state authorities due to the end of the calendar year.

We would like to also remind you that the “migration amnesty” does not cancel the obligation to submit notifications (on the conclusion/termination of a labor contract, fulfillment of obligations to pay salaries to the HQS workers), as well as obligation to do migration registration (initial, when changing the place of stay and correction when changing personal data included in notification form).