A foreigner coming to Russia: which documents to translate for the visa, registration and work

A small company invited an engineer from Turkey for six months. The HR manager knew how to arrange the invitation, but every next step required new documents: "Translate the passport", "We need a diploma translation", "The bank wants a notarised translation". Here is what is actually needed at each stage.

Invitation and visa

To obtain an invitation from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the foreigner's details and a copy of their passport are submitted. A translation is usually not needed at this stage: the data is entered in Latin script exactly as in the passport. The spelling must match letter for letter, or problems start at the border.

After arrival

For migration registration, a passport and migration card are usually enough. But most other steps require a notarised translation of the passport: obtaining a taxpayer number and social insurance number, opening a bank account, signing contracts, obtaining a work permit, visiting a notary. The translation fixes how the foreigner's name is written in Cyrillic — and that spelling then travels through every document.

Diploma and other documents

If the foreigner works under a work permit or as a highly qualified specialist, a diploma translation may be required. Turkey is party to the Hague Convention, so the Turkish diploma is apostilled in Turkey and a notarised translation together with the apostille is made in Russia. Countries outside the Convention require consular legalisation.

The main advice

Make the notarised passport translation once, in several copies, agree the Cyrillic spelling of the name with the employee, and use it in every document. In our case the bank and the tax office received different versions of the surname — "Озтюрк" and "Озтурк" — and the salary account had to be opened again. One translation with an agreed spelling would have avoided it.