Local Universities Met Top Migration Police Officers, Discussed Employment of International Students

10:32, January 29, 2021

Staff of the International Service of UrFU discussed legal issues of international citizens working at universities with migration police officers

Ural Federal University organized a meeting of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Migration Police with the international services of UrFU and three more local universities: Ural State Law, Ural State Medical, Ural Pedagocial and Professional Education Universities. Regional Migration Police Dept. officials presented the universities staff novelties concerning Russian Law on migration.

The norms concerning new regulations of employment of international students of universities were a major topic. 

"I am pleased to welcome you, distinguished officers, at the Ural Federal University. We gathered here today to present for every employee of our local universities that the law must be obeyed in terms of migration regulations. Thank you for coming, and thank you colleagues for joining us," said Ural Federal University Vice-Rector for International Relations Dr. Sergei Kurochkin. 

In turn, local migration police officers greeted the universities' staff and made a short introduction on the pandemic's impact on norms of migration and visa regulations for foreign students. Students must cooperate with the university on their visa issues (e.g. expiry, extention), as well as the university staff must be attentive to the dates of students visa expiry due to special measures that were introduced by the President in past March.       

"We try to be open and helpful with you, dear colleagues, this is a new subject in Russian law. The articles prescribing the rights and obligations of a foreign citizen entering Russia with a student visa are stating clearly that a student cannot work for more than 20 hours per week," stated Aleksander Biryukov, Head of the Department of Labor Migration at the Central Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Sverdlovsk Oblast. 

General rules

The Chapter 50.1 of the Russian Labor Code prescribes the details regarding the employment of foreign staff and workers in general (see "Трудовой кодекс Российской Федерации" от 30.12.2001 N 197-ФЗ (ред. от 05.02.2018) in Russian).

Here are the general outcomes for a foreign applicant from the law:

• An applicant must have a valid visa with a working permit;
• An applicant must have education degree equivalent to the Russian analog (bachelor, master, or PhD) and compatible with the necessary job placement.

For senior students, since September 2020, international students in Russian universities were officially allowed by law to become employed with their student visa. Subsequent regulations were enacted to provide a clear legal framework for students wishing to work at the university, or other educational offices.