Russia eases immigration rules

Russia on Friday eased immigration rules for high-skilled foreign specialists hoping to increase their inflow to promote economic modernization.

Amendments to the immigration law came into force on Friday that extend registration deadline to 90 days, allow to be registered not only in an apartment, but with the employing organization, and provide for multiple entry three-year visas with an extension option.

Spokesman of the Federal Migration Service Konstantin Poltoranin said the amendments will radically increase the number of high-skilled foreign labour in the country, which currently comprises only five thousand people.

However former FMS Deputy Director Vyacheslav Postavnin who currently chairs the Migration XXI Century Fund doubts such prospects, as FMS currently has only one unit registering high-skilled foreign workers.

The Skolkovo innovation project, a planned Russian analogue of the Silicon Valley, which wants to engage high-skilled foreign labor said the simplified migration rules were of great significance for the Russian economy, but could not estimate the number of experts who would arrive in Russia.

Its press service said 29 companies with foreign partners agreed to join the Skolkovo project so far and their number is expected to rise to a hundred by the end of the year.