What applies to you
Do you need a patent, temporary or permanent residence
The path depends on citizenship, and the difference is large: one person needs no work patent, another is entitled to a residence permit straight away, a third takes no exam at all. All of it is in the law, but in different articles and different words.
Choose a country and you will see what the law gives you — with the exact quotation next to every line.
Choose your country
- Belarus No patent neededNo exam
- Kazakhstan No patent neededResidence permit without temporary residence
- Kyrgyzstan No patent needed
- Armenia No patent needed
- Moldova Patent neededResidence permit without temporary residence
- Ukraine Patent neededResidence permit without temporary residenceNo exam
- Uzbekistan Patent needed
- Tajikistan Patent needed
- Azerbaijan Patent needed
- Georgia Patent needed
Where to go next
What citizenship gives
- The exam is required for four purposes: temporary residence, a residence permit, a work permit and a patent.
- People declared legally incapable or with limited capacity do not take the exam for temporary residence or a residence permit.
- People under 18 do not take the exam for temporary residence or a residence permit.
- Men aged 65 and over do not take the exam for temporary residence or a residence permit.
- Women aged 60 and over do not take the exam for temporary residence or a residence permit.
- Participants in the state resettlement programme for compatriots and their family members do not take the exam.
- Highly qualified specialists and their families are exempt when applying for the residence permit under clause 27 of article 13.2 — that is, in this case and not in every case.
- Citizens of the Union State — that is, citizens of Belarus — do not take the exam for temporary residence or a residence permit.
- An applicant for a residence permit whose parent, son or daughter is a Russian citizen permanently living in Russia does not take the exam.
- Citizens of Ukraine do not take the exam for temporary residence or a residence permit.
- An education document issued in the USSR before 1 September 1991 takes the place of the certificate.
- An education document obtained in Russia after 1 September 1991 with state final assessment takes the place of the certificate.
- A decision recognising someone as a native Russian speaker takes the place of the certificate only if it was made before 26 October 2023.
For citizenship, language and history are not asked of those aged 70 and over or of people with a first-degree disability. For temporary residence and a residence permit the thresholds differ: 65 for men and 60 for women.
For a work permit (which is not a patent), highly qualified specialists and journalists of foreign-language media are exempt.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the whole list?
No — these are the benefits that follow from CITIZENSHIP. Beyond them the law knows grounds that do not depend on the country: marriage to a Russian citizen, parents or children who are Russian citizens, a Russian university degree with distinction, a year of work in a listed occupation.
Where did you take these provisions from?
From the full text of the law: articles 6, 8 and 15.1 of Federal Law No. 115-FZ and article 97 of the EAEU Treaty. Each line carries a quotation, and a machine check finds it in the text every time the site is built.
I still need the exam. Where can I practise?
Free and without registration — in the trainer: the tasks match the level of the exam, and every wrong option is explained in your own language.