Work permit and patent holders in Russia 2016-2020
Nearly 53 thousand foreign citizens and stateless persons held a work permit in Russia at the end of 2020. The number of people with a work permit saw a decrease in recent years. A work permit in the country was required for stateless people and those coming from countries that do not have a visa-free policy with Russia. Citizens of other countries who arrived in Russia without needing a visa, such as from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine, could obtain a patent for working activity instead of a work permit. In total, around 1.07 million people in Russia had such a patent.
