On 8 September 2026, Veronika Minina was appointed CEO of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Passport and Visa Service” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (ФГУП «Паспортно-визовый сервис» МВД России). The order, as reported by the National Research University Higher School of Economics (НИУ ВШЭ), was signed by Minister of Internal Affairs Vladimir Kolokoltsev. For companies employing foreign workers, this is primarily a change in the management of the enterprise whose regional branches provide some passport, visa and migration services.
What exactly has changed at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Passport and Visa Service
Veronika Minina became CEO of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Passport and Visa Service” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (ФГУП «Паспортно-визовый сервис» МВД России) on 8 September. Before her appointment, she served as Vice Rector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (НИУ ВШЭ) for infrastructure development and budget investments. The Passport and Visa Service is involved in providing passport and visa services and implementing migration policy, and its operations are organized through a network of regional branches.
For an employer, the news does not mean the introduction of a new procedure for employing foreign nationals, new documents or any separate mandatory actions. The head of the enterprise has changed, not the Ministry of Internal Affairs requirements for processing employees’ documents. Therefore, HR departments should not automatically rewrite policies, templates or migration-process workflows solely because of the appointment.
Why HR departments need to keep processes under control
Companies that regularly work with Passport and Visa Service branches depend not only on formal requirements but also on the organizational side of the process: communication channels, appointments, document submission and coordination of employees’ visits. When there are management changes at the enterprise level, these working arrangements may need to be clarified directly with the relevant branch.
The employer’s practical task is not to guess whether the procedure has changed, but to verify the information before the next application or visit. This is particularly useful when several foreign workers are supported centrally, since an error in a contact or appointment can affect several visits at once. Confirming arrangements helps the HR team control the process and explain it to internal stakeholders.
Hiring foreign workers continues under the existing rules
The appointment of the Passport and Visa Service CEO does not, in itself, change the existing procedures for processing foreign workers’ documents or working with Ministry of Internal Affairs units. No special new deadlines for employers have been announced in connection with this news. Employers should continue to follow the requirements applicable to the specific foreign worker’s status and the service selected.
Internal controls cannot be replaced by monitoring a single corporate news item. For each worker, the company must separately check the expiry dates of the patent, work permit, visa, migration registration and other applicable grounds. It is missing a mandatory migration deadline—not a change in the Passport and Visa Service’s management—that can create a liability risk.
The Passport and Visa Service may be part of the practical organization of migration procedures, but this does not remove the employer’s obligation to maintain its own document calendar. It is useful for the head of the HR function to keep these two tracks separate: mandatory deadlines are monitored for each individual, while information about a branch’s operations is clarified before documents are submitted or a visit takes place.
How to work with a regional branch without unnecessary changes
Before a visit or document submission, employers should confirm with their regional Passport and Visa Service branch the current contact details, opening hours, appointment procedure, list of documents and available services. This information has practical importance: it allows the employee to prepare for the visit and reduces the likelihood that the appointment will have to be rescheduled for organizational reasons.
If the company contacts the Passport and Visa Service regularly, it may request the current procedure for working with corporate clients—if this format is used by the relevant branch. It also makes sense to check whether the contact details of designated employees or the procedure for handling corporate inquiries have changed. This is not a new obligation, but a way to maintain effective communication.
It is better to retain confirmations of appointments, document submissions and inquiries to the service center in the personnel or migration file. They help reconstruct the chronology of the company’s actions if the appointment date changes, the branch must be contacted again or the task needs to be handed over to another specialist.
Why the website and the Unified State Register of Legal Entities may not reflect the news immediately
At the time of publication, the information on the Passport and Visa Service website and in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (ЕГРЮЛ)—the official register of Russian legal entities—may not yet have been updated and may still contain information about the previous acting head. This delay does not support the conclusion that the appointment did not take place, nor does it allow the actual status of the management decision to be assessed using only one register.
To verify the news, employers should cross-check the official announcement and current data rather than rely solely on a website profile or registry entry that has not yet been updated. The National Research University Higher School of Economics (НИУ ВШЭ) was the source of the announcement; it stated that the order was signed by Vladimir Kolokoltsev. At the same time, an employer does not need to prove the appointment in order to continue ordinary work with the branch.
Failure to take action specifically in response to the change of management does not create sanctions. A risk arises in a different situation: if the company does not monitor working contacts and organizational changes at its branch, this may lead to an incorrect appointment, a rescheduled visit or a delay in receiving the service. Mandatory migration deadlines remain important regardless of management decisions at the Passport and Visa Service.
What to check
- Do not revise internal migration processes solely because the Passport and Visa Service head has been appointed.
- Before submitting documents or visiting, confirm the contact details, opening hours and appointment procedure with the regional branch.
- For each worker, check the expiry dates of the patent, work permit, visa, migration registration and other applicable documents.
- Retain confirmations of appointments, document submissions and inquiries to the service center.
- Do not draw conclusions about the appointment based solely on outdated information on the Passport and Visa Service website or in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
- If you work with the Passport and Visa Service regularly, request the procedure for working with corporate clients, if it is used.