The process of receiving salaries from Russia will be made as difficult as possible for relocants: nuances have been revealed

Employers use all sorts of tricks

The authorities decided to restore order among the relocants. In the next two years, they will be counted, registered at the consulate, and a digital profile will be created for each using biometric data. Formally, this will make it possible to take into account the activities of each of those Russians who moved abroad after February 24, 2022. Meanwhile, keeping track of all the fleeting changes in their emigrant life will be very difficult. Thus, by the summer of last year, the number of relocants who work in domestic companies had decreased to 13%.

These are the data from the OutRush research project, obtained from a survey. Before leaving abroad, 43% of respondents worked in Russian companies (the remaining 57% had a foreign legal entity), but in September 2022 – only 17%.

No one can still say exactly how many people left Russia after the start of the SVO: estimates range from half a million to 1.5 million people. How many returned is also unknown: officials estimate their number at 50%, recruiting agencies at 25%. In absolute numbers, returning citizens are most often estimated in the range from 170 thousand to 330 thousand. As for the most likely motives for returning, experts include problems with employment and earnings, as well as stricter rules for obtaining a residence permit (RP) and periods of stay in the territory of other states. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the most popular countries for relocations are Israel, Turkey, Armenia, Germany, the UAE, Spain, Finland, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Cyprus and the USA.

The emigrant environment that has developed over almost two years is extremely fragmented and heterogeneous. First of all, in terms of their professional composition and connection to one or another employer. Even greater confusion arises with salary transfer schemes, which, under the conditions of sanctions against the Russian financial sector, are multiplying, taking on new forms. Companies whose employees have moved abroad resolve the issue in different ways. Some began to resort to the now popular option of payment through third parties with whom an agency agreement is concluded. Others do not change anything and continue to transfer money to the Mir card of the salary bank, which still works in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus.

True, back in September 2022, the US Treasury warned foreign banks about the risks of secondary sanctions for cooperation with the Russian payment system. After which the Mir card was no longer serviced in Turkey. This scenario can happen in absolutely any country and at any time. So far, one of the most effective ways for relocants to gain access to their salaries remains the transfer of funds from a Russian card abroad using the Zolotaya Korona and Unistream money transfer systems. Money sent through them can be received on a foreign bank card or in cash at a branch of the system’s partner bank. But, again, this option is not suitable if you are a client of one of the large credit institutions that are subject to sanctions.

According to Alexander Safonov, a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, in some cases, employers can use an agent company (a resident of another country), which will pay salaries from their accounts on their behalf. Of course, not for free, but for a certain commission. In addition to all the technical difficulties, one more important circumstance is added: after an employee loses his residence (if the person stays in another country for more than 183 days within one year), the employer loses the status of a tax agent, and the employee loses the obligation to pay personal income tax. As Safonov notes, in order to protect themselves from tax costs and save on insurance premiums, companies resort to various types of “optimization” options. For example, they register workers under a contract with a private employment agency: the person is officially registered there, but actually works for another company. Often in such cases, only the minimum wage is paid in white, and the rest is “in the envelope.”

“The majority of relocants do not live in the West, not in the European Union,” says Professor Alexey Zubets, Safonov’s colleague at the Financial University. – The cards of our banks have not lost their relevance in friendly countries – India, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, which, however, is not completely friendly. The scheme is extremely simple: people receive their salaries, say, in Moscow, and they receive money in the host country – at an ATM in cash in local currency. Among the relocants there are many IT specialists, marketers, PR and website promotion specialists. Their salaries are often higher than before (measured in hundreds of thousands of rubles), since employers at home do not want to lose highly qualified personnel.”