MOSCOW, February 25 (RAPSI) – The Russian government's legislative commission has approved a bill on granting citizenship to foreigners who invest more than 10 million rubles (over $281,601) in Russia, or who have a Russian diploma and have worked here for at least three years, according to the government's official website.

“Self-employed entrepreneurs who have worked in Russia for at least three years with annual business revenue of more than 10 million rubles, as well as investors who own at least 10% of a Russian company with the charter capital of at least 100 million rubles ($2.9 million), can apply for Russian citizenship,” Kommersant newspaper wrote earlier.

Under current legislation, only foreigners married to a Russian national or stateless persons who were born in the former Soviet Union can file for citizenship. The bill's authors propose using the European experience of a simplified procedure for granting citizenship.

Under the bill, this procedure can also be used by foreign students who received a Russian diploma as of July 1, 2002 and have worked in Russia for at least three years before applying for citizenship.
The draft law will be considered by the government at a later date.

Currently, only foreigners married to a Russian citizen or those who were born in the former Soviet Union and are stateless qualify for the speeded-up procedure. Nearly 136,000 foreigners obtained Russian citizenship in 2013, according to the Federal Migration Service. That was up from about 96,000 in 2012.