Category: News
Nieuwsberichten in het Engels.
Mandatory medical tests for foreigners in Russia
From December 29, 2021 all foreigners in Russia must undergo extensive medical monitoring under a law* to improve health safety in the country. The law requires the following:
- Submission of biometric data, both fingerprints and photographic images to identify individuals;
- Medical tests for a wide range of diseases: HIV, syphilis, gonorrhoea, tuberculosis, leprosy, and Covid-19, but are also to trace any use of narcotics.
The law applies to all foreign labour migrants and to foreigners staying in Russia for longer than 3 months, as well as their family members, even children over 6 years of age. It will therefore constitute an additional requirement for highly qualified specialists, to keep or be re-issued a HQS visa.
An exemption exists only for diplomats and citizens of Belarus. Foreigners visiting Russia on the basis of a visa for ninety days or less, will not be subject to the new requirements. Foreigners with a temporary residence permit do need to take the medical tests, but only once, in order to be granted their temporary residence permit.
An appointment can be made for testing, via blood samples and X-ray (for tuberculosis) in the area – for Moscow residents this can be done at the Moscow Migration Centre in Sakharovo – where they will be issued a certificate, when tests are passed successfully.
This certificate must be submitted to the authorities within 30 days for foreign labour migrants, or within 90 calendar days from the moment of entry into the Russian Federation for others than labour migrants.
Certificates are valid for a 90-day period and must be repeated every quarter [see update 22 February 2022 below: one year]. So all medical tests need to be done again in order to get a new certificate no later than one month after the original medical certificate expired.
Refusal to undergo examinations and submit biometric data could lead to revocation of permits or expulsion from Russia.
The law may be an instrument for Russian authorities to monitor the large foreign workforce from Turk-Asian republics, and any possible infectious diseases they might have.
The Western businesses community however is very upset about the law and many business people have said this will affect their decisions on living and working in Russia, especially with families.
Not all details of the law and its implementation are clear yet, but we will update you when there is more information.
Update 30 December: We have received information that long talks between Russian government authorities and international business associations have had a positive result. Medical examinations for foreigners under the new law from 29 December 2021 would not be required every quarter but only once a year.
Update 22 February 2022: The Ministry of Health has confirmed that the validity of medical certificates for foreigners has been extended to one year.
*The new law Law No. 274-FZ was enacted on 1 July 2021, but is effective only from 29 December 2021. It amended two Federal Laws – ” On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation ” (dated 25.07.2002 No. 115-FZ) and ” On State Fingerprint Registration in the Russian Federation ” (dated 25.07.1998 No. 128-FZ).
Simplified visa procedures for close relatives of Russian citizens
From 1 September 2021, a simplified Russian visa procedure applies to close relatives of Russian citizens abroad. A Russian citizen in for instance the Netherlands, can submit an application for an entry visa for his/her foreign relative to the local diplomatic mission or consulate. There is no need to get a formal invitation issued by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In addition, foreign relatives will be able to get multiple entry visas with an extended period up to one year. Not only close relatives such as spouse and children benefit from the simplified visa procedure. It is also open to (grand)parents and grandchildren.
The new rule came into force on 1 September 2021 and is set out in point 3 of article 1 of Federal Act No. 270-FZ of 01.07.2021.
Would you like more information on the procedure? Feel free to contact us.
Changes in Russian migration legislation
As of 29 December 2021, important changes in Russian migration legislation will enter into force.
- Fingerprint registration and photographing:
For whom and when:
- Foreign citizens, who arrived without employment purposes for a period of more than 90 days – within 90 days from the date of entry into the Russian Federation.
- Foreign citizens, who arrived for employment purposes (including the HQS category) – within 30 days from the date of entry into the Russian Federation or upon receipt of a work permit, patent.
Nr. of occurrences: single time
2. Medical test:
Test: absence of the use of narcotics or psychoactive drugs, infectious diseases, certificate on the absence of HIV infection
For whom and when:
- Foreign citizens, who arrived without employment purposes for a period of more than 90 days – within 90 days from the date of entry into the Russian Federation.
- Foreign citizens, who arrived for employment purposes (including the HQS category) – within 30 days from the date of entry into the Russian Federation.
Nr. of occurrences:
- For passing the procedure of fingerprint registration and photographing.
- Again within 30 calendar days from the date of expiration of medical documents*. The results are to be provided to the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or through the Gosuslugi portal.
Exception: Citizens of the Republic of Belarus and citizens under the age of six are exempt from the above procedures.
In case the above procedures are not successfully fulfilled, the period of temporary stay will be reduced. In case of negative results of a medical test, a stay (residence) in the Russian Federation will be judged unwanted or entry into the Russian Federation will not permitted.
*In practice, the medical certificate’s validity is 90 days.
We will keep you updated on any changes, adjustments or clarifications.
End to Double Tax Treaty Russia-Netherlands- update
Update May 26, 2021: today President Putin signed the law on Double Tax Tready (“DTT”) denunciation with the Netherlands (Federal Law of May 26, 2021 Nr. 139-ФЗ).
It is expected that Russia will file the notification on denunciation before June 30, 2021, so that the Netherlands- Russia Double Tax Treaty will expire on January 1, 2022.
In April, the Russian government had decided to submit the draft bill on denouncing the treaty to the State Duma. In the previous months it had become clear that a compromise between both states on new conditions for a DTT was unlikely.
Please see our previous publication or contact us for details on the consequences this will have.
UBO Reporting in Russia
Starting from 2022 UBO Reporting in Russia will be required for all foreign companies.
Russian subsidiaries of foreign companies are already required to maintain and annually update the UBO file. A new requirement is that all foreign companies registered with the Russian tax authorities (i.e., having branches or representative offices in Russia) will be obliged to annually submit information about their participants (founders, beneficiaries and managers). This information must be provided to the tax authorities at the place of tax registration starting from 2022. The extended obligation was implemented into item 3.2. Art. 23 Tax Code RF by the Federal Law No. 100-FZ of April 20, 2021.
Information shall disclose direct and indirect participation (if any) of an individual or a public company, if the share of their direct or indirect participation exceeds 5%.
The deadline for UBO reporting in Russia (providing the status as of 31 December of the preceding year) is March 28 of each year. Hereto first UBO submission for foreign companies shall be done no later than March 28, 2022. It is often a lengthy process to establish a UBO file and gather the corporate approvals for its disclosure among foreign holding structures. Therefore, we recommend to start preparing the UBO information well in advance and will be glad to provide our assistance in this matter.
We are awaiting the clarification of the tax authority on the submission and respective documents and will keep you updated on the next developments.
Remote work: special aspects
Many employers do not care where their remote employees work. And for this reason they do not indicate in employment contracts the place of work performance or simply write “Russia” or even “the whole world”. However, there are at least 8 reasons to specify the place of work performance in the employment contract. What are these reasons, why is it dangerous for the company that the employee chooses himself in which region to work, and how should the place of work performance be specified in the contract? This is explained by Anastasia Korotaeva, Ph.D., LL.M., senior lawyer at Juralink , in her article published in the legal journal “Labor disputes”, No. 4 (April), 2021. You can read the article here.
End to tax treaty Russia-Netherlands- update
Update April 9, 2021: the Russian government has decided to submit the draft bill on denouncing the treaty to the State Duma. If the Duma approves the bill before 1 July 2021, the tax treaty will end per 1 January 2022. Should approval occur after 1 July, the tax treaty would end per 1 January 2023.
The Double Tax Treaty with the Netherlands will soon end following termination by Russia. A draft bill on termination was presented in December and a compromise between both states seems unlikely.
If the proposal is approved by the Duma, the Russian government will end the treaty before July 1. From 2022, the tax rates for dividend payments, interest and royalties will then be much higher. Hence forward, a dividend payment from Russia to the Netherlands will be subject to 15 percent withholding tax instead of 5 percent, for interest and royalties that will be 20 percent instead of 0. In addition, there will no longer be any agreement as to which country levies tax in which cases. More information about the backgrounds and consequences of the tax treaty termination is available in Raam op Rusland (Window to Russia) in which Lodewijk Schlingemann of Juralink was interviewed.
Importers’ additional obligations from July 2021
Since the beginning of 2021 the Decree of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia N 478 came into force that implemented the obligation for the applicants of conformity declarations for products manufactured outside the territory of Russia or EAEU to specify the GLN (Global Location Number) in relation to the place of products manufacturing, as well as the GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), which allows to identify the object of declaration in the course of the declaration registration.
These codes can be obtained by registering with the GS1 association (an international organization that deals with the standardization of accounting and bar coding of goods).
However, after numerous appeals from the business community representatives the implementation deadline was resceduled for the July 1, 2021 and the transition period was specified as follows:
1. The GLN code is specified only if available – until July 1, 2021.
2. The GTIN code is specified if available.
Currently, membership in GS1 is voluntary and the lack of the above mentioned codes and, accordingly, the impossibility of entering it into a specialized service for automated electronic registration of conformity declarations does not prevent the registration of such declarations. Still if the receipt of GLN code will become mandatory from July 1, 2021, importers will have to be registered with the GS1 association, which will incur additional costs and administration.
Please check with your logistic department, if your company could be affected by the new regulation, to be prepared or initiate the necessary steps in advance.
We’ll keep you posted.
E-visa for Russia
After the spread of the Covid-19 virus is sufficiently overcome in the opinion of the Russian authorities, the introduction of a new type of visa to enter Russia is expected: the ‘Unified e-visa’. This type of visa will be valid throughout the Russian Federation for a short-term stay for guest or business visits, tourism, or participation in scientific, cultural, socio-political, economic and sports events. An invitation is not required.
The citizens of 52 countries will be allowed to apply for the Unified e-visa, among which Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and France.
Visa applications will be facilitated on a special website and by a mobile app of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Unified e-visa is a single-entry visa with a validity period of 60 days from the date of registration. The permitted period of stay in the Russian Federation on basis of this visa type is not more than 16 days from the date of entry.
Unified e-visas will be issued within 4 calendar days from the date of the application.
