Emigrate.co.uk News » Russia

The mixed fortunes of expat life in Russia

Mathew Walters — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:00:59 +0000

Life may not be easy for expats in Russia but at least the country is easy to make new friends in.

The HSBC expat experience survey ranked Russia just two points from bottom place out of 26 nations when it comes to quality of life, but by contrast was ranked fourth easiest to make new friends, especially with the locals.

The HSBC survey looked at 26 of the main expat destinations and examined a range of some 25 daily factors including food, accommodation, social life and ease of financial organisation.

On the down side, Russia came stone cold last in terms of enrolling children at a new school and establishing finances. Its healthcare system was ranked 25th and commuting experience at 23rd, with an overall placing of 24th out of the 26 countries surveyed. The ranking was also hampered by poor scores in utility set-up (25th) and ease of finding an apartment (23rd). Russia did manage to beat out India and Qatar which came 25th and 26th respectively. The poll was topped by Canada from Australia and Thailand.

The most valuable asset may well be its people as most expats have said that making friends in Russia is comparatively easy. Normally expats are drawn to fellow expats, the exceptions being Brazil, Canada, South Africa, India and Russia which all ranked above 90 percent when it comes to integrating into the local community and making local friends.

A further result of the friendly local attitudes is that expat Russians are among those most likely to stay abroad for a long time.

The reports also revealed that one-third of expats in Russia make more than $250,000 each year with almost half making $200,000 – the highest wage earnings of expats anywhere.

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Bilateral visa agreement announced for Russia and Denmark

Anna Rowlands — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:00:21 +0000

In order to facilitate the issues of visa for both countries Denmark and Russia have signed a bilateral agreement for their respective citizens.

The result will see the removal of visa requirements for citizens from both nations who will instead be able to travel with their passport only. The move will make travel easier and remove much of the paperwork and red-tape that surrounds obtaining a visa. Long term multiple entry visas will also be made available.

The economies of both countries have been growing recently and are expected to continue to do so under moves such as the agreement which makes international trade and travel simpler. Russian energy resources are seen by the EU as vital and agreements with their neighbours are important to the future of Europe. Russia also recently announced a common border with Norway.

Another factor in the agreement is the aging population of both countries, which may be alleviated through the importing of foreign labor. The Danish government, using the Danish Green Card system similar to the US, has always made immigration relatively easy whereas Russia has traditionally made it difficult for foreigners to work there legally.

The Danish Green Card program allows foreigners to come to the country for the purpose of looking for work, although they must apply for a work permit once a job is found. Denmark also allows residence and work permits for foreign nationals for a period of up to 3 years with extensions possible under the Positive List scheme. The Positive List advocates sourcing off-shore labor to fill gaps in the local workforce, nominally in areas such as education and health.

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Resolution for sanctions against Zimbabwe rejected by the United Nations Security Council

Helen Young — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:20:41 +0000

The United States and Britain went before the United Nations Security Council in an attempt to get support to bring sanctions against Zimbabwe. The measure failed and left the leaders of both countries feeling “disappointed” and “furious” respectively. The resolution sponsored by the United States and Britain was brought forth after President Mugabe won the election in Zimbabwe. Russia and China were the two countries that vetoed it.

Both Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Bush will continue to push for sanctions against Zimbabwe despite their vetoed resolution at the UN. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary in Britain said “We are looking at a deeper hit on the financial sector and a wider travel ban.”

There were unpleasant remarks made toward the Russian government because they vetoed the resolution. The Russian government released a statement that said “We consider such statements unacceptable. The statement added that “it was the presentation in New York of an inadequate draft resolution which is contrary to the collective approach”.

Also commenting was Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin who said “I have to question the character of our partnership with our British and US colleagues . . . when they suddenly come out with these absolutely unfounded accusations.”

China’s deputy ambassador Liu Zhenmin said they would continue to not support the resolution. Zhenmin said “The solution can only be achieved by the Zimbabweans themselves with the help of South African leaders. We are going to support the mediation efforts.”

www.un.org

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Visa free travel between the European Union and Russia on the horizon

Helen Young — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:04:39 +0000

As Visa free travel is becoming more popular between various countries Russia is joining in by trying to make a deal with the European Union that would grant travel between the two without requiring a visa.

Russia’s representative at the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, remarked about the visa free situation that “A dialogue on visa-free travel is in progress. In the period since agreements have been in place on simplified visa rules and on readmission between Russia and the EU, which came into force on 1 July 2007, readmissions have not become of a mass nature. Unfortunately, this is not enough for visa-free travel.

Some things that have been suggested to help assist with the visa free process are upgrading current Russian passports. The new passports would need to be biometric. It was also noted that border facilities would need to be upgraded to accommodate the visa free travel.

Chizhov said “In particular, it is important to enhance facilities not only at the borders between Russia and the EU but also other sections of [Russia's] borders. For example, the border between Russia and Kazakhstan, which is 7,500 km, has been registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s longest land border. We will also introduce next-generation biometric passports and take some other steps.”

Konstantin Kosachev who is the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs predicted that visa free travel been the European Union and Russia would be possible in two to three years.

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Visa conflicts causes issue with Britain and Russian oil project

Helen Young — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:08:51 +0000

TNK – BP which is a oil company that is made up as a joint venture between the countries of Britain and Russia has hit a snag in their operation plans as some of the main players in the company might be forced to leave the headquarters which is located in Russia as their visas will be expiring and are having trouble getting the new applications processed.

The number of top managers that could be back in Britain is up to ten according to TNK-BP source. In addition to the top managers being forced out as soon as next week all of the other staff from Britain in the joint operation might be heading back over the summer month of July.

The latest visa issue is just one of the many problems piling up on the joint oil operation where as of late many of Russia’s share holders have been trying to gain control over the company in order to remove British company president Robert Dudley.

The visa expiration situation has appeared since the request for the number of visas was reduced by Russian stock holders from 150 visas to 63. One of the Russian representatives of the TNK-BP company Stan Polovet commented “Russia has enough talented and experienced engineers and managers and we want to further the qualifications of specifically Russian experts.”

TNK-BP is experiencing a common scene across Russia where more company specifically in the energy industry are fighting to gain control from foreign influence and management.

www.tnk-bp.com

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Possible resolution for visa situation for TNK-BP personnel

Helen Young — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:00:01 +0000

As tensions mounted between British company BP and their Russian joint venture partner TNK-BP over visa concerns it appears a resolution is in the works. The issue began when BP asked its Russian counterparts to apply for 150 visas for about 100 permanent employees. The application for the visas was submitted only asking for 63 work permits. If BP is unable to acquire the visas they need to operate in Russia they risk losing operation control of the TNK-BP joint venture. It was speculated that Russian partners intentionally misfield the application for BP in an attempt to gain control of the company in order to sell it to a state owned energy provider. TNK-BP is the third largest producer of oil in Russia.

Now it appears that at the last minute visas will be renewed for 49 of the company’s executives. Robert Dudley, the Chief Executive Office of the joint venture and six other VP’s will have their visas renewed for an additional year. BP believes that this is a step in the right direction to getting the ordeal straightened out they stress that this still leaves more than half of the employees with visa about to expire that will have to leave Russia within weeks. Dudley said “Unless additional permits are accepted and granted at least half the non-Russian staff, recruited from a number for firms around the world, will be ejected from Russia, as a result of the original unauthorized and improper application that was supported by two of the shareholders in TNK-BP’s management.”

www.tnk-bp.com

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Russians consider emigrating

Mathew Walters — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:54:08 +0000

Even though the Russian economy has grown stronger over the last decade many who have directly benefited from this prosperity are still considering emigration. A survey conducted by the Levada Center indicates that nearly half of Russia’s middle class would consider emigrating either for a short period or permanently.

The poll conducted by the Levada Center targeted a specific demographic. It polled Russians who had a college education and were between the ages of 24 and 35. Those polled also had to live in the largest fourteen cities in Russia and their per capita income had to satisfy specific criteria.

These results seem to indicate an uncertainty and general feeling that their situations are not stable. The Nezavisimaya gazeta in response to the findings wrote “Many of the respondents believe that they cannot influence the political processes in the country and are prepared to use dishonest and unlawful means for the resolution of conflicts and problems. There readiness to give bribes and to use personal contracts is very high within the Russian middle class.”

Also questioned in the Leveada Center’s survey was why respondents were dissatisfied. 59 per cent of those surveyed responded that there was a high crime and aggression. Another 52 per cent noted poor health services. 86 per cent of respondents stated that they simply want to live a safe and stable lifestyle.

Another point of concern is that those dissatisfied are passing the opinion to their children with more than half stating they would prefer to send children abroad.

www.levada.ru/default_e.htm

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