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- By a foreign coincidence: twice as many highly qualified workers have arrived in Russia
By a foreign coincidence: twice as many highly qualified workers have arrived in Russia
Twice as many qualified foreign workers have arrived in Russia — almost 40,000 in six months, Izvestia found out. We are talking about doctors, engineers, IT specialists, and teachers. Work permits are issued by citizens of visa—free countries such as China, Turkey, the United States, and the EU. The trend is related to the shortage of personnel, because the labor market remains tense, and unemployment is near a minimum — in June it was 2.2%. Against this background, the number of issued patents has increased, which are granted to people from visa-free countries, and from there migrants mostly come to work in construction, taxi and trade. How the situation of foreigners in the labor market in the Russian Federation is changing and whether they will help solve the problem of a shortage of workers — in the material of Izvestia.
How to get a work permit in Russia
In the first six months of this year, almost 114 thousand work permits were issued to foreigners, the press service of the Interior Ministry told Izvestia. Such a document is necessary for people from countries with which the Russian Federation has a visa regime. For comparison, over the same period last year, the figure was 50% less — 75.7 thousand.
According to the ministry, about 40,000 of these permits were issued to highly qualified foreign citizens (1.9 times more than in January–June 2024).
A work permit is one of the main ways for foreigners to legalize their work in Russia. The document is issued by the employer for people from visa-eligible countries, such as China, the United States, Belgium, and African countries. To employ such a foreigner, the company must first obtain permission to hire an employee, and only then issue the document.
According to it, a person can work only in the specified region (but can also travel on business trips) and in a certain profession. The work permit also applies to highly qualified specialists. Doctors, engineers, IT specialists, and scientists mostly come to Russia using such documents, experts noted. At the same time, the focus is now on attracting highly qualified specialists from China, India, Serbia and Turkey, said Olga Lebedinskaya, Associate Professor of Statistics at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
Foreigners from unfriendly countries — the United States and the European Union — still come to work with us. Izvestia's sources reported on specific cases: for example, citizens of Belgium, Great Britain and the United States teach full-time at major Russian universities. In addition, famous chefs are invited from Italy. Also, many of the visitors apply for a temporary residence permit (RVP) — for example, a Lithuanian citizen is employed in the telecommunications sector.
There is also a demand for specialists from friendly countries: for example, a Russian company in the chemical industry, as well as another company engaged in electronics, hire employees from China. A visitor from Turkey works as a teacher.
Who can apply for a patent to work in the Russian Federation
Another common method of legalization in Russia is a patent, which must be obtained by citizens from visa—free countries (for example, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan). At the same time, a person can only work in the region of our country in which he was issued this document.
It does not need to be issued to foreigners with a temporary residence permit, residence permit (residence permit), citizens of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU, which includes Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus), Ukraine, as well as people from other countries with a refugee or migrant certificate.
According to the Interior Ministry, the number of patents granted increased from 1.2 million in the first six months of 2024 to 1.4 million in 2025. According to independent expert Andrey Barkhota, citizens of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan come to us most of all for patents. Foreigners who have received this type of documents most often work in taxi, construction, trade, repair and catering.
At the same time, the number of RVPs applications decreased by a third over the year — to 16 thousand, the Interior Ministry reported. At the same time, residence permit issuance fell by 27% to 71.2 thousand in the first half of 2025. After obtaining a residence permit, a person can apply for a residence permit, and only then obtain citizenship.
Migration legislation in Russia is changing now — state control is increasing, and requirements for foreign citizens are being introduced, which make it less common to issue RVs and residence permits, said Olga Turunina, a member of the Russian Bar Association.
In general, temporary residence permits are not in high demand among foreigners, as they are quite difficult to obtain: you need to collect a lot of documents and undergo a medical examination.
How foreign workers support the Russian economy
The growth in the issuance of work permits in Russia to people from other countries is due to a shortage of personnel. The labor market remains tense, and unemployment has broken a new record — it is now at a minimum of 2.2%, said Olga Belenkaya, head of the Macroeconomic Analysis Department at Finam.
She added: Structural changes in the economy over the past three years have revealed a shortage of skilled workers and engineers, whom the education system has not trained in sufficient numbers in recent decades. There is also a shortage of teachers and doctors, especially in rural areas. There are also not enough specialists of a different profile, especially young people who are ready to engage in hard and "low—prestige" work.
Previously, the number of patents granted was decreasing, Izvestia wrote. The main reason was the tightening of migration legislation. The increase in their number this year is largely due to the need to build and provide housing and infrastructure facilities, Andrei Barkhota believes. And this type of document is most often distributed specifically to blue-collar workers. In addition, the granting of patents is growing against the background of a shortage of personnel in some areas of the economy, such as construction, agriculture, housing and communal services, catering, said Alexey Nezhivoy, head of the operational headquarters of the independent trade union Novy Trud.
Now enterprises as a whole have become more likely to hire specialists from other regions of Russia and foreign employees from non-CIS countries within the allocated quotas, according to the Central Bank's report on the regional economy.
For example, in the Tambov region, in addition to quotas for migrants from Southeast Asia, quotas for employees from Africa have appeared. In the Orel region, the manufacturer of cable products also plans to employ migrants from the countries of this continent.
There are not enough domestic labor resources, so there is an interest in foreigners. So far, our country cannot solve the problem of staff shortages at the expense of internal resources, and automation technologies and platform solutions have not yet reached the required level, Alexey Nezhivoy emphasized. However, the entry of foreigners into Russia is under serious control.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
