It should not effect "spouse hunters" too much but may be a bad sign.
Rules Are Getting Tougher for Visas
By Robin Munro
Staff Writer The authorities are tightening the screws on visas longer than three months, and the visa-support agencies that have offered six-month and one-year visas for the past decade are among the first to feel the pinch.
In question are commercial visas for those working in Russia, which are issued for three-, six- and 12-month stays. Three- month visas come with single- or double-entry requirements, while six- and 12-month visas allow holders to leave the country and return as many times as they desire.
Foreigners traveling with tourist visas will be limited to one-month visits as of April 14.
The stiffer rules are being implemented as part of a new law on entry and exit from Russia that will come into force on April 14, said Alexander Smirny, head of the federal passport and visa department. He said the aim is to keep better track of the activities of foreigners on Russian soil -- primarily to make sure they are engaged in the business specified on their visa applications.
Visa-support agencies and lawyers warned, however, that the rules threaten to create a visa nightmare in which expatriates are forced to leave the country every three months for new visas. If this happens, they said, foreign investment might drop significantly.
Some visa-support agencies said Monday that they have been ordered to submit four short-term visa applications for every yearlong multi-entry visa application and that multi-entry visas are being granted only to company directors.
"If this continues, many Westerners will have to leave Russia every three months and go through the visa application four times a year," said an official at a visa-support agency.
"There seems to be some kind of quota on multi-entry visas," said the head of another agency.
The officials only agreed to be interviewed on condition that they and their agencies not be identified. They cited fears of more hassles from visa officials.
At least one large Western company is also running into a wall in obtaining multi-entry visas for its staff. The head of its personnel department said Monday that visa officials have rejected several applications, saying only directors were qualified for multi-entry visas.
Smirny told reporters Friday that the rules are not intended to force foreigners to renew visas as frequently as every three months. He said the problem is that applicants for invitations are not providing information proving the foreigner will do what the inviting organization says he will do.
The Labor Ministry and the Economic Development and Trade Ministry said Monday that they have drafted amendments to visa legislation to keep the country attractive for investors. It was unclear when the bill might be heard by the State Duma.
Sergei Melnikov of the Your Lawyer law firm said the new rules appear to be part of an attempt to crack down on visa-support agencies. He said these agencies are unique to Russia and were founded because companies that hired foreign staff did not want to deal with administrative hurdles and waiting lines.
"Effectively, you could buy your visa from one of these agencies," he said.
Melnikov estimated that the numerous agencies made $50 million to $60 million per year when visa invitations were issued by the Foreign Ministry. The invitation process was fully transferred to the Interior Ministry on Feb. 1, as part of the new law on foreigners that went into force in November.
Melnikov said the agencies had developed close ties with the Foreign Ministry and were now trying to establish similar relations with the Interior Ministry's passport and visa department.
"Now a regrouping is going on," he said.
Mariana Marchuk, an associate at the Baker and McKenzie law firm, said there is nothing in the law on foreigners or in the law on entry and exit from Russia placing a quota on multi-entry visas or restricting them to company directors. However, the visa department's actions sound like "internal politics" in line with the spirit of the law, she said.
"Russian law has been very foreigner-friendly in the past, especially regarding enforcement," she said. "People could take a one-year tourist visa and do whatever they wanted in Russia."
However, the law on entry and exit from Russia is attempting to remove third-party companies from the visa-application process, and they may disappear, she said.
"Businesses got used to this very convenient way of doing visas -- you simply pay a fee and you forget about it. Serious businesses that do need foreigners should take it into their own hands," she said.
Many Westerners living and working in Russia use one-year, multi-entry visas. Although temporary or permanent residency permits similar to the U.S. green card are available, people are reluctant to take them because they require holders to obtain permission from the authorities each time they leave Russia.
"That takes about 45 days, and I don't like to have to go through it more than once a year," said an Indian national with a residency permit.
Under the law on foreigners, temporary residency permits are for three years and permanent permits are for five years.
