russia is fucked up. one of my friends applied for a one year working visa there (why i dont know?) and got rejected. if you get rejected from russia the guillotine is needed.
That would be because of corruption. Some recent legislation introduced quotas for immigrant workforce. The quotas are relatively low and get filled super fast by large construction companies that need cheep workers. They can be increased if you motivate the immigration service with bribes and payoffs.
Basically this new rule was adopted to fight corruption but in reality it only increases it. Before nobody bothered with work permits and registration - you could just pay the police and immigration officers and they looked away. Now you have to pay for the quota increase and there are still minor companies who don't bother and still bribe officials on the spot.
So it only makes things harder for people like your friend, Scent.
