MOSCOW, March 4 (RAPSI) – The Russian Government has forwarded for the State Duma's review a bill on granting citizenship to foreigners who invest more than 10 million rubles (over $274,888) in Russia, or who have a Russian diploma and have worked here for at least three years, RIA Novosti reports on Tuesday.

As previously reported, 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 ($2.8 million), can apply for Russian 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.

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.