Obtaining temporary residence permit by marriage with the citizen of the Russian Federation

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Temporary residence permit or TRP is a document which officially entitles foreigner to live and work in Russia within specified period of time. Obtaining of TRP can be a step on the way to obtaining permanent residence permit or citizenship. However, for many foreigners, this document is the best way to legalize their stay in the country. It is suitable for cases when you do not plan to connect your life with Russia for a long time.

Standard period for which TRP is issued is 3 years. However, if foreign citizen plans to obtain permanent residence permit, he/she will be able to submit documents no earlier than 8 months after receiving TRP. However, not later than 4 months before TRP expires.

Advantages of obtaining TRP:

• ability to freely cross Russian borders unlimited number of times during the year;
• right to work and do business, no need to obtain patent or special work permit;
• ability to open your own commercial company or register as sole proprietor;
• right to free medical care and placement in hospital at place of residence;
• ability to register with migration authorities for entire period of TRP validity;
• no need to register with migration authorities if you do not change your place of residence and do not leave region where you receive TRP.

However, TRP has some drawbacks, but they are not very serious. So, the document is issued for 3 years and it cannot be extended, that is, after this period, you will either have to leave the country, or re-issue the papers. For many foreigners, this is a disadvantage since they expect to stay in the country longer. However, if your plans did not include living in the Russian Federation for more than 3 years, then limited period of validity of TRP is rather an advantage.

In addition, you are restricted by borders of region that issued the permit. This does not mean that you cannot go abroad or to another region. However, you can only live, work, and do business permanently in certain region. In other words, if your business obviously covers several regions of the Russian Federation, difficulties may arise. We would like to draw up your attention: if TRP is ISSUED in Moscow, you will not be able to work in Moscow region.

Another disadvantage is that the total period of stay of temporarily residing foreigner outside of Russia should not exceed 6 months during one calendar year. In other words, you can cross border of the Russian Federation at least every day, but if you stay abroad for more than six months in total, migration authorities will have grounds to revoke permit. However, there are exceptions to this rule. If you have been abroad for longer than specified period due to valid reason and can prove this documentarily, TRP will not be canceled. Valid reasons include need for treatment, illness of close relatives, work necessity, force majeure.

In addition, if foreign citizen wants to stay in the Russian Federation, he/she should fulfill some mandatory duties. These include, for example, knowledge and compliance with Russian legislation. Moreover, temporary residing foreigner must have official job and source of income in order to support himself and his family members at a level not lower than living wage. Please pay your attention that it varies from region to region. However, it is not enough to simply comply with this obligation. Foreigner is required to submit annual notification confirming his/her residence and income to prove compliance with above-mentioned conditions.

How temporary residence permit is issued

There are two ways available for those who want to obtain temporary residence permit: within quota and outside quota. However, good reasons are needed to apply for TRP without quota.

Most foreigners who want to stay in Russia apply for TRP within quota. Quota for issuing temporary residence permits is approved annually by the government of the Russian Federation considering proposals of regional executive authorities.

Since it takes into account demographic situation and ability of particular region to accommodate foreign citizens, quota is usually small. So only a few lucky people can get positive decision for the first time. Most foreigners apply for quota several times. Fortunately, law does not restrict foreign citizens in number of attempts. There are no limits on number of applications.

Applications’ acceptance is finished when quota is exhausted. There is another important condition: you must use allocated quota for submitting documents for TRP before the end of the year. So, if your application is approved, you need to hurry up with further paperwork.

Fortunately, there are grounds to avoid quota. Obtaining TRP by marriage with Russian citizen occurs outside quota, so you do not have to spend time and money on additional formalities. Other grounds to apply for TRP under simplified procedure may include:

• status of highly qualified specialist;
• for minors – their parents’ submission of documents for TRP;
• citizenship of states that were part of the USSR with place of birth in the RSFSR;
• official status of native Russian language speaker;
• education at state Russian university under an accredited program (only for the former USSR countries).

Obtaining temporary residence permit by marriage with citizen of the Russian Federation

The most common reason for foreign citizen to obtain TRP is to marry Russian citizen. In other words, you can apply for TRP under simplified procedure if the wife is citizen of the Russian Federation or if the husband is a citizen. You can get married not only in Russia, but also abroad. It does not matter for processing documents, but following points should be considered:

• marriage must be concluded in accordance with requirements of Russian and foreign legislation;
• marriage certificate issued on the territory of foreign country must have legalization mark.

The bare fact of marriage with Russian citizen is not sufficient ground to obtain TRP in Russia in 2020. The spouse should reside permanently in the country and have local registration. Accordingly, if spouse permanently lives abroad, the marriage cannot be the basis to apply for TRP in simplified manner. however, you can still apply for quota. If the spouse is registered in the Russian Federation, documents should be submitted to relevant state authorities in the region of permanent registration.

How to obtain TRP by marriage in Russia

After getting married foreign citizen should collect necessary set of documents to apply for TRP:

• application;
• photo;
• identity card with notarized translation into Russian;
• medical certificates of absence of diseases defined in the Decree;
• document proving knowledge of Russian language;
• marriage certificate and passport of spouse;
• receipt proving payment of state duty.

There are situations when marriage which served ground for obtaining TRP is declared invalid by court. Such marriage is usually called fictitious and means that foreigner’s marriage was aimed at obtaining temporary residence permit in simplified manner. In this case, foreign citizen’s TRP will be cancelled.