A residence permit for living in Russia is a document enabling a foreign citizen to live in Russia for up to 5 years provided that his national passport is valid for such a term.

    You must have lived for at least one year on the territory of the country in accordance with the permission for temporary residence for submitting a motion on granting you a residence permit. For the period of temporary residence you needn’t have a personal domicile within the Russian territory. It is sufficient if any Russian citizen consents to your living in his flat. A rent guaranteed by a person, for example, your employer is also possible.

    If you have a residence permit you will be able to independently invite your friends from around the world. For these purposes you need to apply to the authorities of internal affairs in charge of processing private invitations at the place of your residence on the Russian territory.

    The documents stipulated by the legislation for processing a residence permit may be filed at the place of your residence into the Russian diplomatic or consular establishment or, in case you have lived for at least one year on the territory of the Russian Federation, then in accordance with the permission for the temporary residence, processed in the prescribed order. You have the right to apply to the authorities of internal affairs at the place of your stay (registration) for the issuance of a residence permit as stipulated by the Federal Act on the Legal Status of the Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation.

    You need to personally produce a set of the following documents:
- application form(2 copies);
- 4 photographs sized 35Х45 mm;
- document proving your identity and nationality, a notarized translation of your foreign passport (term of validity is 6 months);
- permission for interim residence.
- copy of the document of temporary registration (at the place of stay);
- certificate of previous convictions (if any) of the applicant; (the term of validity of the certificate is 3 months);
- residence permit, confirming that the foreign citizen resides outside his state of origin;
- document proving the presence of funds providing the subsistence wage for him and his family in case of residence in the Russian Federation, or a document proving his disability;
- certificate of marriage and a copy of the spouse’s passport;
- certificate of birth of an infant;
- consent of a minor infant aged 14 to 18 to his arrival to the Russian Federation for living (notarized)
- certificate proving the absence of the HIV-infection of the applicant (members of his family) valid for 3 months;
- document issued by the authorized department of public health of the district, proving that the applicant (members of his family) is not a drug addict, doesn’t have leprosy (Hansen's disease), tuberculosis, and a number of other diseases; the validity term for the certificates is 3 months;
- certificate of birth issued on the territory of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic or the Russian Federation by a civilian registry office, for those born on the territories of such states accordingly;
- certificate of birth and passport of the person’s son or daughter as well as the certificate of disablement of the applicant, for those recognised as a disabled person;
- certificate of marriage and copy of the spouse’s passport, for those married to a Russian citizen;
- document proving the presence of a living quarters or a consent (notarized) of Russian citizens, registered at the place of residence in the Russian Federation to present such living quarters for temporary residence (financial personal account, extract from the house-register, property documents).

    The term for consideration of the documents for processing the residence permit takes from six to nine months. In case of a positive result the residence permit will be granted to the foreign citizen for the term of validity of his identity document but for not more than five years. At the moment of issuance a foreign citizen will be given information related to his legal status, the grounds for cancellation of the residence permit stipulated by the Federal Act on the Legal Status of the Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation, his obligation to pass the reregistration procedure with the authorities of internal affairs, as well as the obligation to timely prolong and reregister his residence permit in case of a change of his domicile outside the territory of the Russian federation subdivision.