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Russia to ease citizenship procedures for foreign specialists in country for over a year

According to the current law, highly qualified specialists may undergo a simplified citizenship procedure provided that they have been working in Russia for at least 3 years

© Alexandr Ryumin/TASS

MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. Russia’s Interior Ministry will ease the citizenship procedure for highly qualified foreign specialists who have been working in the country for at least one year, First Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Gorovoi said, adding that according to the current rules, foreign specialists need to be working in Russia for at least three years to qualify for a simplified citizenship procedure.

"According to the current law, highly qualified specialists may undergo a simplified citizenship procedure provided that they have been working in Russia for at least three years," he said at a meeting of the Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Defense and Security Committee.

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"We can see that the law is ineffective as only 24 highly qualified experts have taken advantage of it since the law was introduced. In order to create additional preferences for them, we have drafted a federal law implying that the period will be reduced to one year. In addition, the list of professions has been reconsidered," the deputy minister added.

Gorovoi also said that specialists qualified in professions included in the list would be granted three-year residence permits and would be able to obtain Russian citizenship within two years.

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