Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has ordered the Interior, Justice, and Health and Social Development ministries to review the rules and deliver a report by Wednesday, Andrew Somers, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, said Monday.
The review is in response to an AmCham appeal.
The tests are required after the Federal Migration Service abruptly began enforcing a two-year-old law last month. In addition to leprosy, foreigners seeking work permits are now required to be tested for tuberculosis and the sexually transmitted diseases syphilis, chlamydia and chancres. Under earlier rules, foreigners also have to take HIV tests.
Somers said he was hopeful that the government would reconsider. "There was a similar row a few years ago when they introduced mandatory immigration cards, which turned out to not be such a big deal," he said. "But then again, it's all in the eye of the beholder. I don't think many people will view this as just a minor irritation."
Somers may have good reason to hope. After the American Chamber of Commerce complained to Fradkov about the denial of work permits to foreign nationals of representative and branch offices earlier this year, the Federal Migration Service started issuing the permits.
The migration service, meanwhile, has lifted a requirement that tests only be carried out at state clinics, according to several agencies that assist foreigners with work permits. Now foreigners can visit any clinic that does the tests.
"Some executives have not taken to the new tests kindly," said Yana Khmelova, a senior consultant with Jus Privatum. "Some say they don't have time. We have to explain to them that they are not our demands."
She and Tatyana Bondarenko, the director of Visa Delight, said some companies were hiring doctors to visit their offices to carry out the tests.
Katrina Maltseva, a spokeswoman for the International SOS Clinic, said the clinic's telephone had been ringing incessantly. "Since the new requirements were put into effect, we have seen a significant increase in the number of inquiries about these tests," she said. "Now virtually every corporate client is inquiring about how to get the tests."
Examinations for all the diseases except tuberculosis require a blood test, while tuberculosis requires a skin test that takes three days for the results, Maltseva said. International SOS Clinic provides all test results on the third day, she said. The American Medical Center said it was offering results for all tests in two days.
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