Russia changes expat laws

in 

Russia

New measures have been drafted in to protect expats in Russia from corruption.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has officially signed off on new legislations designed to make life easier for expats, and previous registration rules that were subject to heavy criticism have been relaxed.

The new law relaxes registration guidelines by extending the period that foreigners can be in the country without notifying the authorities for, now up to seven working days from the previous three. It also does away with a previous law that made landlords register expat tenants at their residential addresses, now they may register at their employer's address.

The new laws also stop police from fining foreigners who may have not have their registration papers on them. Instead, the organization that issued the foreigner's visa invitation will be held accountable for mistakes and violations. This is purely to stop corrupt police officers from extorting foreigner and forcing them to hand money over in the street

Association of European Businesses chief Frank Schauff, said: “We welcome the decision of the Russian leadership to reconsider the changes to the rules of migration registration of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation.”