About 3,000 foreigners seek to move to Russia under talent attraction program

ST. PETERSBURG, June 5. /TASS/. The Russian Interior Ministry is ready to promptly assist foreigners with relocation to Russia and paperwork processing under the program for attracting talented specialists, with about three thousand such applications having already been received, the head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s department for work with refugees, compatriots, and forced migrants, Vitaly Yakovlev, announced at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"Today, a significant number of applications have been received on the portal 'Time to Live in Russia'. I had about three thousand in my materials, now there are probably more. And we, the migration service of the Russian Interior Ministry, are ready to promptly process these documents in the shortest possible time after receiving a petition from the Agency for the Attraction of Foreign Talents and help people in our area of responsibility," he said.

Yakovlev noted that a number of preferences exist for talented foreigners. In particular, they can apply for temporary residence permits without quotas and without passing tests on knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history, and the fundamentals of Russian legislation. "Qualified specialists, talented people, may not know the Russian language at the relocation stage, and later, when they integrate into society, they will learn it," he added.

Foreign specialists can also immediately apply for a residence permit without obtaining a temporary residence permit. However, in that case, they will be required to have knowledge of the Russian language. After moving to Russia, such foreign citizens will be able to work without obtaining a patent or other work permits.

"Today, when such individuals apply to the internal affairs bodies, we have provided a mechanism for processing their documents and obtaining status in a one-stop-shop mode. In the future, it is planned to implement the possibility of communicating with this category of citizens through the portal of state and municipal services. Naturally, this option will allow this interaction to be transferred to electronic form, which will make life easier for foreign citizens and speed up the process of obtaining various legal statuses and documents for them," Yakovlev concluded.