Foreign students don't need a work permit to apply for a job in Russia anymore

January 23, 2020, The State Duma adopted a law that will allow foreign students to study and work without a work permit and not just in their universities.

Until 2020, foreign students could only study. On the one hand, this helped them cocentrate on science, on the other, it required students to have strict financial discipline and be completely dependent on the support of their relatives. The Duma has recently supported the changes that will be introduced into the federal law “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation” this year.

A foreign student previously required a work permit – without it they could work only on vacation or "in their free time" at the university where they study, or in business organizations that are part of the university. Since 2020, according to the new law, the work is possible also outside the university in any organization only by proving the fact of study on the educational programme in Russia. 

The new law will take effect in August 2020. Until then, international students still require a work permit.

2011 international students

from more than 90 countries entered HSE in 2019.

The State Duma believes that the innovation will increase the number of foreign students in Russia. Experts see the law, allowing foreign students to work only in their universities, as one of the factors hindering the development of educational export of the Russian Federation. In general, Russian universities positively evaluate the initiative and hope that it will not affect the educational process. The bill was proposed by State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin and Federation Council Chairman Valentina Matvienko.