Review of the draft laws of the Ministry of Labor, amending the procedure for severance payment upon a company liquidation

On August 2, 2019 the Federal law (“Law”) amending the Federal law No. 115-FZ of July 25, 2002 “On legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation” has been published¹ on the official Internet portal of legal information http://www.pravo.gov.ru.

Below you can find list of main changes.

1. Changes regarding permanent residence permit

• Permanent residence permit will not have expiration date

This amendment does not apply to permanent residence permit granted to a highly qualified specialist (HQS) for a period of three years, and members of HQS family — for the duration of the work permit granted to the HQS.

• List of grounds for replacing a permanent residence permit has been established

  Permanent residence permit shall be replaced in the following circumstances:

  1. Reaching the age of 14, 20 and 45 by a foreign citizen;
  2. Change of a surname, name, information on date and (or) place of birth, citizenship by a foreign citizen in accordance with the established procedure;
  3. Change of sex;
  4. Permanent residence permit’s unfit for further use due to wear, damage or other reasons;
  5. Detection of inaccuracy or error in the records regarding surname, name, date and (or) place of birth made in the permanent residence permit.
• Grounds for revocation or denial of a permanent residence permit have been expanded

  List of such grounds is supplemented by additional grounds, when a permanent residence permit is not issued to a foreign citizen, and a previous permanent residence permit is revoked — if the foreign citizen:

  1. Was outside the Russian Federation for more than 6 months in total during the calendar year. This rule does not apply to the following cases: foreign citizen’s inability to leave a foreign country due to circumstances related to the need for emergency treatment, serious illness of the foreign citizen or death of his/her close relative, who lived in the foreign country at death time, as well as staying outside the Russian Federation due to exigencies of business;
  2. Applied for cancellation of his/her permanent residence permit;
  3. Has not continuously notified the local offices of federal agencies in the sphere of internal affairs of confirmation of his/her residence in the Russian Federation during any 2 calendar years after receiving the permanent residence permit.

2. Changes regarding temporary residence permit

• List of persons, to whom a temporary residence permit is issued outside of the established quota, has been clarified

Among others, a temporary residence permit can now be issued to a Ukrainian citizen or a stateless person permanently residing in the territory of Ukraine, who was recognized as a refugee or received temporary asylum in the territory of the Russian Federation.

• Period of temporary residence permit’s issuance has been reduced

Term of consideration of an application for a temporary residence permit will be 4 months (now it is 6 months).

3. List of persons, who are exempt from confirmation of Russian language proficiency, knowledge of Russian history and fundamentals of Russian laws when applying for a permanent residence permit, has been expanded

Now foreign citizens who have filed an application for issuance of a permanent residence permit and who have a parent (adoptive parent, guardian, custodian), son or daughter having Russian citizenship and permanently residing in the Russian Federation are also exempt from the need to confirm Russian language proficiency, knowledge of Russian history and fundamentals of Russian laws.

The changes introduced by the Law will come into force from 01.11.2019.

¹Federal law of02.08.2019 No.257-FZ