The modification states that international professionals, their members of the family residing in Russia and any foreigner who needs to remain within the nation for an prolonged time period must be examined each three months for infectious illnesses, together with syphilis, HIV, leprosy, tuberculosis, and Covid-19. They are additionally required to take a drug take a look at and should submit their fingerprints and a biometric picture to the authorities.
Children over 6 to be examined for medication and syphilis
The new guidelines may also apply to all youngsters over the age of 6. If somebody assessments optimistic for any of the required illnesses, they won’t be granted a visa, and any present visa might be revoked. They might be designated “undesirable,” and ordered to depart the nation. Foreigners are already required to current a unfavorable HIV take a look at when making use of for a piece visa or a residence allow to remain in Russia for longer than 90 days.
The Russian authorities has not defined what it intends to realize with the brand new rules. However, a letter accompanying the draft legislation states that the two.5 million residents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Uzbekistan in Russia represent nearly all of foreigners within the nation and that they’re solely randomly subjected to medical assessments. This, the letter identified, means there’s a danger of the “infiltration and spread of dangerous infectious diseases in Russia.”
Belarusian residents are explicitly exempted from the brand new guidelines — most likely as a result of Belarus and Russia are formally a “Union State.” Belarusians don’t want a visa to go to Russia, and in the event that they search employment there, the foundations and necessities that apply to them are a lot less complicated.
Little success modifying the brand new guidelines
According to Thorsten Gutmann, the spokesperson of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce (AHK Russia), his group has been working behind the scenes for months to attempt to get the brand new rules dropped. They have, nonetheless, had solely minimal success.
“Originally, people were going to be required to take the tests every time they entered the country, but now they will have to do them every three months,” Gutmann informed DW.
The Russian authorities will resolve the place and the way the assessments are finished. Foreigners residing in Moscow should go to the migration heart in Zakharovo, which is within the southwestern a part of the capital, about 60 kilometers outdoors the town heart.
A German businessman wrote a letter to the AHK after going to Zakharovo to attempt to full the medical checks, during which he described what went on there as “pure harassment.” The process took at the very least 4 complete working days, he reported. On the primary day, he needed to stand in line for hours in every of the 4 areas of the migration heart, with the intention to endure the required medical examinations — with a number of hundred migrant staff all in the identical room.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I caught COVID there — hardly anyone was wearing a mask correctly, and there was no social distancing,” he stated.
New guidelines described as “unacceptable”
On his second go to, the German businessman stated, he spent nearly all of a full working day in Zakharovo, “acting as ‘courier’ for the immigration service: collecting medical certificates and handing them in at the counter for highly skilled workers.” The rules state that you need to do all the things your self, in individual. He then needed to spend a 3rd day there for the drug assessments. By January on the newest, he should make one other day journey to the migration heart to finish a proper identification course of and submit his fingerprints and a biometric picture.
The businessman described this complete process as “unacceptable,” particularly if it must be repeated each three months, requiring a full lung X-ray every time. “If that’s the case, I’m more likely to look for a different job in Germany. A lot of people probably feel the same,” he wrote.
Appeal by ten international enterprise associations
Germany’s Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations (OA) additionally reported a wave of indignation amongst German businesspeople in Russia. It stated they “feel harassed — with reason.” Both the OA and AHK Russia warned that these new modifications within the legislation will considerably diminish Russia’s attractiveness to international funding, and also will lead to an exodus of expert international staff. This, they identified, would put Russia’s financial growth in danger, as international specialists and executives make a big contribution.
This week, in an initiative led by AHK Russia and the OA, 10 international enterprise associations, together with the Association of European Businesses and the American Chamber of Commerce, wrote to the Russian authorities to clarify that the brand new legislation would have severe penalties.
“We propose, among other things, reducing to a reasonable level the requirements for skilled foreign workers to prove they are in good health, and the retention of existing, more generous residence regulations, also for family members,” the OA’s spokesman, Christian Himmighoffen, informed DW. He added that the OA was relying on the related authorities responding to its attraction: “From what we have seen, Russia continues to be very interested in cooperating with German companies,” he stated.
