Job Discussion Forums

[jpvanderwerf2001]

I have recently returned from the US, where I got my new visa. Of course, one can no longer get a year-long business visa, so I had to settle for a 3-month business visa.
Supposedly, according to my employer, the inviting party (my school in my case) can extend a business visa to a year if they have the proper paperwork from the government. If they don't have the proper status by the end of my visa, I must go to Korea, get another 3-month visa and return. Then wait again for my school to obtain the necessary status.

For me personally, this isn't much of a problem, since my school has agreed to financially take care of my "visa runs" down to Korea (which is quite close to Vladivostok). Of course, since my Russian wife and are expecting about the time of the end of my visa, I'd prefer to be here rather than in stinking Busan for a week. (BTW, we are in the process of getting my residency, another bureaucratic joy.)

Has anyone been through this process? Meaning have you had your business visa "extended" (my school's words)? Is anyone else in the same situation as me? Never boring in ol' Russian...

[blackcorsair]

If the school is a legitimate, registered, tax-paying outfit then all they do is take your documents when you get back into town, go to the local interior ministry (f-s-b department) or wherever, and extend your visa to whatever time you agreed to work. It's painless enough and thrice-monthly excursions are unnecessary (assuming your school plays by the book), not to mention extraordinarily inconvenient. New legislation (by that I mean, old soviet-style legislation) also requires that foreigners have all their steps accounted for when moving about in the country so you must have documentation and be registered in every place outside of the town where you're working if you stay for longer than a day, if my memory serves. The hell-hole where I worked (admittedly a paranoid place in Siberia surrounded by closed cities) would get in a panic if you said that you wanted to take an out-of-city trip and would prepare specially stamped paperwork and make sure you had a hotel lined up beforehand. These new draconian visa laws influence work, travel and your liberty in Russia. The legislation affects teachers and their employers alike. Long gone are the golden days when you could move about Russia with comparative freedom, travelling where you liked and looking around for new schools if you didn't like the one you were working for. They want to know the ins and outs of the duck's arsse now. We cant have those foreign spies running round the motherland now, can we!? Stalin must be grinning in his grave.

[blackcorsair]

I forgot to mention that a work visa is absolutely essential as part of the contract you have with the school. All of the above was valid up to July of this year. There have been some new sinister developments so just check with official sources to make sure.

[bartokrok]

Sorry, but what is this new visa law you guys are talking about? I tried searching for it online but am not finding any information. The last I checked, it is still possible to get a year-long business visa. Please enlighten me?

[jpvanderwerf2001]

The way I understand it (and as it was explained to me) is that one can now get only a three-month business visa. Then, when in Russia, your place of employment must extend your visa (for the length of your contract) for you.
This just recently happened to me. While I was back in the States, I had my standard invite (this is my third business visa) and tried to get a year-long, multi-entry visa. I was told by the consulate in Seattle that this is no longer possible, and they explained the aforementioned new law. My school actually knew about this, and confirmed that this was indeed the case (though they didn't tell me until after the fact).
There may be some consulates who give year-long visas, as communicado between Russian government entities is sketchy at best. However, expect a scenario like mine if you come to teach in Russia.
Oh, and the visas now say "prepotavatil" ("teacher") on them. This is the first time I've seen this on one of my visas as well.

[bartokrok]

That is really bizarre. Perhaps it only applies to teachers or it's something your school in particular has mandated?

I am in the process of applying for a (year-long, I hope) business visa, however I'll be listing myself as a translator...

[Larry Paradine]

My present and past visas (for the last four years) all say "prepodovatel'". This year's visa and those for the two previous years, have the code number 006 : the 2004 visa had code number 371. The difference was once explained to me in Russian by a friend in the Cheboksary OVIR, but I'd have found the meaning obscure even had she spoken in English. As to the "sinister" new requirement that visa holders re-register if they spend even one night away from their registered town of residence, this isn't new, it dates back five years to the introduction of that scruffy and easily lost "migratsionnaya karta": I remember once being stopped on the street in Novaya Kuibisheva, less than an hour's journey from Samara, and told I'd have to register there if I stayed overnight, as my Samara registration wouldn't be valid there. I didn't find NK sufficiently attractive to feel tempted to nochivat', so didn't put the order to the test. In general, I'd say there's a wide gap between the regulations and everyday practice. I'm currently registered as living and working in Kazan, but left there two months ago (by the way, anyone tempted to work for Oxford Crown in Kazan should contact me first for a confidential warning) and, when an overzealous militiaman in Novocheboksarsk noted the discrepancy and took me off to see his superior, the officer just noted that the visa itself was valid, shrugged and said "Kakaya raznitsa?" and wished me "Shastlivovo po puti". If you keep a low profile and don't overreact if you're caught in a spot check (and that was the first time I've ever been stopped in Chuvashia over the last nine years), you should be okay.

[maruss]

Does anyone have any definite and official info. yet on when this law will be implemented,whether it will apply to western nationals and also whether the '3 months in followed by 6 months out' clause will also apply or is it all still just all 'slucha'-i.e. gossip about maybe?

[jpvanderwerf2001]

Well, it's implemented to the degree that I'm already dealing with it. However, as we all know, things aren't usually consistent when it comes to the Russian bureaucracy.

[ColdRodear]

http://www.sptimes.ru/story/23373

Read the story above! It seems that no one yet knows for sure how the rules will be implemented.

[coledavis]

Headline from Moscow Times:

Monday, October 22, 2007. Issue 3769. Page 1.
New, Tougher Rules for Business Visas
By Alexander Osipovich
Staff Writer

The government is tightening the screws on foreigners who want to work here full time without a work visa -- and itinerant English teachers look likely to be the first to feel the squeeze.

Multiple-entry business visas, which used to let foreigners stay in Russia for up to one year, will now only allow stays of up to 90 days at a time, according to a decree signed by Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov on Oct. 4.

[...]

[rusmeister]

Nobody seems to have mentioned the other new development in visa world - Russian consulates are now taking a full 10 days to issue visas.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2007/10/29/003.html

Bad news for backpackers...

[bartokrok]

I wonder what the point of all this is? To dissuade foreigners from freelancing or even visiting? In two years I managed to accumulate 7 Russian visas in my passport due to various bureaucratic issues while studying/working. This, however, will most likely prevent me from obtaining another. Not worth it.

[maruss]

Russia seems to be becoming more xenophobic,more bureaucratic and corrupt and more authoritarian amongst other things,but because Putin has vital natural commodities which the world needs he is allowed to get away with it!I suppose we should at least be grateful that we can leave the place whenever we want to,while most of the Russians are stuck there, whether they like it or not!

[GF]

Russia is just doing what other countries have been doing for years, particularly EU countries. I live in Estonia and the rules here are pretty much the same. Either do things legally or find another place to live and work. I did.