I. Correction of Quota.

In this letter VISTA Foreign Business Support would like to notify you that as of January 18, 2010 the Interregional Information Business Centre started to accept amended Quota 2010 applications for employment of foreign nationals.

Amended quota applications for the year of 2010 should be submitted in the following cases:

1) The employer company did not submit 2010 quota application before May 1, 2009.
2) The employer company intends to hire foreign nationals arriving to the Russian Federation on a visa-free basis (CIS nationals)
3) The data stated in the initial application has changed (job title, citizenship of foreign employees, or the amount of foreign nationals to be hired in 2010, etc.)

Important note: The first step of the procedure of applying for quota has slightly changed.
Prior to submitting an application, an employer must register on the following website - http://www.migrakvota.gov.ru. The website has recently been renewed and all passwords created prior to that are now invalid. A new password must be created for each company using one email address; hence the company can only create its own password. Otherwise, any additional passwords created with the same email address will automatically invalidate all other passwords created prior. Therefore, we kindly request that you create your password, then provide it to us and we will proceed with the filing process for you.

We would also like to draw your attention to the fact that Applications for quota for 2011 should be submitted to the state authorities not later than 1st of May 2010.

Federal Labor Agency Decree ?Approving the list of employers and information on the quota for 2010? # 34 was adopted on 5th of February 2010. The Decree outlines each employer and number of quota spots granted for 2010.

As you may know the total amount of foreign nationals requested by employers for 2010 was 1.4 mil with only 250.000 approved by this Decree. A lot of applications were not approved, many were only partially approved. We recommend checking this information and in case your application was not approved as you requested apply to the Interdepartmental commission for obtaining of additional quota or its correction.

Based on our experience we believe that the most efficient mechanism to correct the quota is applying to the Interdepartmental commission on employment of foreign labor. In 2009 the Commission was meeting twice a month starting from middle of May. This year the first Commission will be held on the 2nd of March. Applications for the Commission can already be submitted. Unfortunately such Commission exists only in Moscow.

We would gladly answer any of your questions and will help you in preparation of necessary documents and going through necessary procedures.

We will keep you informed of all new developments.