RUSSIA - Russian Companies Planning to Employ Foreign Nationals in 2009 Must Submit a Declaration of Need

Pursuant to recent decrees by the Government of the Russian Federation, Russian companies that employ foreign nationals are required to submit a form declaring their projected needs for foreign national workers in 2009 by May 1, 2008.

Declaration forms must be signed and stamped by a company official, and submitted to the Interregional Information Business Center in-person by a company representative. The declaration form requests information about the number of foreign national employees needed, the positions to be filled, and the salary and citizenship of the potential employees.

Please note that, in certain instances, the Russian immigration authorities have refused to process 2008 employment permits for employers who did not submit the requisite declaration in 2007. It is not yet clear whether a company will be able to amend its declaration after May 1, 2008 and employ more foreign nationals in 2009 than indicated on the declaration form. The government did accept some amended declarations for 2008 at the end of 2007 and the start of 2008. It is also not clear how or whether recently established companies, that were unable to submit declarations in 2007, will be able to hire foreign nationals in 2008.

If such companies are permitted to employ foreign nationals, at a minimum, they will be required to submit a declaration before applying for employment permits. Declaration forms are subject to extensive scrutiny by the Russian labor authorities. Therefore, employers are advised to provide as much detail as possible in their declaration forms.