Job Discussion Forums

[Larry Paradine]

This began as a private answer to a private question someon asked me, but I've decided to post it as a thread because someone out there may have more up to date info than I have.

The question was, in effect, does a work visa that permits me to work for Company A in City B also allow me to change employers and work for Company C in City D? The short answer is NO! Not only can't you go to another city and work for another employer, you can't even work for your present employer in another town: the general rule is that work visas are not transferable.

HOWEVER, there used to be an exception to this rule; an отказанное письмо (letter of renunciation). If your employer consented to sign a document transferring his rights in you and responsibilities towards you to another employer, you could get permission from OVIR to make the change without having to go through all the rigmarole of getting a new visa. I tried this about 18 months ago. My then employer in Samara consented to let me go, my would-be employer (a university in Cheboksary) agreed to accept me, and the Cheboksary office of OVIR said fine, they would register me as soon as they got the nod from OVIR in Samara. Then Samara OVIR scuttled my lifeboat by refusing to authorise the transfer, saying that the otkaz procedure had been scrapped. My contact in Cheboksary OVIR expressed surprise when I told her about this, but obviously could not accept something rejected by the originating office in Samara. Unfortunately I no longer have a friend in OVIR so can't ask privately for clarification, but I'm 99% sure the otkaz lophole has been closed.

If anyone has any further information, please let us know BUT KEEP ON TOPIC AND OFF ADVERTISING! The moderators deleted my last thread, presumably because someone (no names, no pack drill) hijacked it to use as an advertisement for his school.

[rusmeister]

Yuck!
(Sorry - just my emotional response to all that)
I'm curious as to what visa actually 'authorizes' work as such. To my best understanding, business visas permit 'consulting' but not work as such. Otherwise, you need the 'vid' (or at least the 'vremennoe prozhivaniye' to work legally. But I'm not the ultimate expert on this, either.
Yuck!
Foo!
(Emotional response to insane 'requirements' continues...)
Uggh!
Ack!

smekh skvoz slyozy...

[Larry Paradine]

Not business visas, Rusmeister, work visas: those with the initials ОР (обычная рабочая) under the heading "Type/вид" (on the old visas; the new visas with the twee holograms have ОР next to the number of permitted entries). My much missed contact in OVIR explained to me that holders of work visas usually also need a work permit (!) but there's an exemption for a few sorts of specialists including teachers, so a teacher's work visa should have преподователь 006 printed nest to the rubric "цель поезки" (if the "type" is shown as a number and the number next to лреподователь is not 006, it may be much more difficult to get an extension as this type, although also theoretically valid for 90 days from the date the invitation was issued - not from the date the visa was issued - is supposed to be for visiting lecturers who come, say their piece and go. That, anyway, is what someone who worked with the system told me.

The irony of this state of affairs is that the "specialist" exemption from work permit requirements was designed to help organisations recruit real specialists, and the teacher exemption should have enabled universities to attract foreign experts in a range of academic disciplines but the reality (I was told) is that many universities don't know how to go about the process of getting the necessary invitation and don't employ people who specialise in dealing with bureaucracy, whereas small private "schools" have little difficulty in getting the necessary paperwork to employ pedantic plodders like me because on the payroll will be someone who may not be noted for academic achievement, or even literacy, but who knows exactly what forms are required , how to fill them in, where to take them.... (also what "little presents" to give and who to give them to).

Don't get me wrong, Rusmeister, I'm not saying work visas are the best solution, far from it, anything that puts you completely at the mercy of your employer (who can cancel the visa at whim, should s/he take a dislike to you) is only tolerable when there's no better option and of course residency is a much better option, it's just that not all foreign teachers have Russian spouses and of those who do, some (like me) seem to take for ever and a day to get it. As I said when I started this thread, there used to be a loophole that could allow you to move on from a dodgy private employer to a more reputable public institute, I'm just trying to find out if that door has been finally and irrevocably closed.

[rusmeister]

That's really interesting - I never knew any of that, and I've been here for years.
Thanks!

Still...
Yuck! Foo!
(Sorry - that's just my kneejerk reaction when thinking about it - I mostly try not to, but when you have to...*sigh*)