2014 Work Permit Quota Exemptions Announced

The Russian government has released a list of 62 occupations that will be quota-exempt in 2014. Employers may file work permit applications effective immediately. The list of overall work permit quotas for the year will not be available until the government’s quota website, which is currently down, is working once again.

Last year’s list of 59 quota-exempt occupations has been broadened with the additions of broadcast anchor and reporter, as well as reporter for a publishing house, newspaper or magazine.

Foreign nationals sponsored for new or renewed work authorization for any of the positions listed below do not require a quota number. However, even though these occupations are quota-exempt, employers are still required to give priority to Russian applicants.

The quota-exempt occupations are:

• Chairman of the Board
• Deputy Chairman of the Board
• Director of a branch office
• Director of an enterprise
• Director of a directorship
• Director of a factory
• Director of a firm
• Director of a joint enterprise
• Director of a joint stock company
• Director of a plant
• Director of economic affairs
• Director of a department
• General director of a joint enterprise
• General director of a joint stock company
• General director of a production facility
• General director of an enterprise
• General director of an inter-industry scientific venture (a specific type of Russian company)
• General director of a directorate
• Head of a representative office
• President of a consortium, as in a consolidated group, corporation or similar organization
• Broadcast anchor
• Reporter
• Reporter for a publishing house, newspaper or magazine
• Senior project engineer
• Senior lead industrial engineer
• Design engineer
• Engineer for an automatic process control system
• Engineer for a production control system
• Engineer for production management and control
• Engineer responsible for creation of new technology 
• Engineer of automation and mechanization of production procedures
• Engineer-welder
• Quality engineer
• Setting and testing engineer
• Setting and testing technician
• Sound engineer
• Electrical engineer
• Industrial engineer
• IT security engineer
• Pre-production engineer
• Drilling technician
• Technician
• Actor
• Art director
• Artist-musician (opera and chamber)
• Artist-musician (principal)
• Ballet coach
• Ballet master
• Ballet performer
• Ballet performer (principal)
• Band director
• Choreographer
• Circus performer
• Deputy art director
• Deputy production director
• Orchestra performer
• Production director
• Ringmaster
• Sound supervisor
• Stage manager
• Stunt coordinator
• Symphony (chamber) orchestra performer

Where the term “Director” is listed, job titles containing the words “head” and “executive” may also apply.

What This Means for Employers

Employers can begin to plan work permit filings for the year, now that the list of occupations exempt from quotas is available.

Fragomen worked closely with VISTA Foreign Business Support (Moscow) to prepare this alert. It is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].