Choose your route first: employment, independent services or your own business. Your skills, nationality and permission to work all affect the practical next step.
Start with a focused job search
Choose a role, city and realistic language level. Prepare a concise CV, relevant achievements and a portfolio where appropriate. Explain your current location, availability and whether you already hold a Russian residence document. Use job descriptions to identify the vocabulary employers use, then search in both English and Russian.
A role asking for English does not necessarily mean the employer can hire a foreign national or arrange immigration documents. Ask about that early. Moscow Welcome does not maintain a database of vacancies or accept CVs; the search below opens the external HeadHunter service.
Check the work route before starting
| Situation | What to check with the employer |
|---|---|
| Visa-required employment | Which employer-led permission, invitation and work-visa process applies to the person and role. |
| A visa-free route | Whether a work patent, permit or exemption is required for that citizenship and activity. Visa-free entry alone is not the full answer. |
| An EAEU citizen | The EAEU framework removes the requirement for a work permit for qualifying employment; contract and other applicable duties still need checking. |
| Existing RVP or VNZh | Have the employer assess the actual residence document, validity and any territorial or other conditions. Do not start a duplicate visa process without checking. |
| Founder or independent professional | Check personal work entitlement, the proposed legal structure and the tax treatment separately. |
A tourist or business visit, including an e-visa for its permitted purposes, is not a general permission to begin employment. Have the employer and the relevant migration or consular authority confirm the route before you travel or start work. Special categories may apply, but should be identified from your actual circumstances.
Before accepting the offer
- Role and location. Confirm the duties, working hours, workplace and whether the position is genuinely remote or based in Russia.
- Pay. Check currency, gross versus net amount, payment dates, probation and bonus conditions.
- Documents. Agree who arranges permissions, invitation, visa, migration formalities and any required medical or identity steps.
- Costs. Establish who pays for travel, document preparation, accommodation and professional assistance.
- Contract. Obtain the proposed contract and clarify what happens if the job ends before a visa or residence document expires.
Verify the employing company and speak through its established recruitment channel. A vacancy, interview or payment to an intermediary is not an immigration approval. Keep written confirmations of the responsibilities you agree.
Freelancing and running your own activity
A client contract and an employment contract are different arrangements. Before regularly offering services from Russia, check the lawful basis for the activity, your stay and your tax reporting. A foreign payer or overseas bank account does not by itself answer the immigration and tax questions.
Compare IP registration and an OOO where appropriate. NPD is restricted to eligible nationalities and activities; it cannot be assumed available to every foreign freelancer. Read the structures comparison and tax overview before accepting a supposed one-size-fits-all solution.
Prepare the move around a confirmed plan
Save your employer’s contact, workplace address and document schedule offline. Confirm accommodation and how the required arrival formalities will be handled. Plan your commute with the Moscow Metro guide and use Live in Moscow for practical first-week preparation.
Exhibitions and professional meetings can help you understand a sector, but they are not a promise of recruitment. Use the business hub for networking ideas. For an individual legal question, Igor can help coordinate an appropriate professional contact in Moscow; he does not promise a job or a permit.
Questions, answered
Can I start work because I have a tourist or business visa?
Do not assume so. Employment requires a valid basis for that activity. The employer and competent authority should confirm the required permissions before work starts.
Does an English-speaking vacancy include visa sponsorship?
Not necessarily. Ask the employer whether it can hire a person with your nationality and status, which documents it will arrange and which costs it will cover.
Can I work remotely from Russia for an overseas company?
The payer’s location does not by itself settle the rules. Your activity, physical location, immigration position and tax obligations need a case-specific assessment.
Continue with the right guide
Start a business
Choose the right structure, check your position as a foreign founder and prepare the documents, tax arrangements and day-to-day operation before you register.
Read the guide
Compare business structures
Legal form, tax regime and permission to work are separate choices. Compare the main options before choosing a registration route.
Read the guide
Register an IP
Check your residence entitlement first, then prepare the identity documents, application and tax arrangements for individual entrepreneur registration.
Read the guide
Open an OOO company
Prepare the owners, address, management and documents together. Company registration, banking and your personal right to work need separate checks.
Read the guide
Understand business taxes
Understand the tax base as well as the percentage. This 2026 overview separates company taxes, simplified regimes, payroll and the questions a foreign founder should bring to an accountant.
Read the guide