A Russian passport is a dream for many foreigners. And I want to get it as soon as possible. As a result, many questions arise, for example: why do some people receive civil status after one and a half to two years, while others have to live in Russia for 8-9 years? We will consider the main nuances on which the timing of obtaining Russian citizenship depends in this material.
Law on Citizenship of the Russian Federation
The Federal Law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation” has existed since 2002. This legislation defines a citizen of the Russian Federation as an individual who:
- Has Russian citizenship on the day of approval of the Federal Law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation”, namely on July 1, 2002.
- A person who acquired citizenship of the Russian Federation in accordance with the law after its entry into force.
The Federal Law on Russian Citizenship spells out the main principles of Russian citizenship, cases, rules and procedure for issuing citizenship, as well as its withdrawal - cases of deprivation of Russian citizenship.
A document confirming citizenship of the Russian Federation is a state passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation.
According to the law on Russian citizenship, a person born on the territory of Russia, provided that at least one of his parents is a Russian citizen, automatically receives citizenship in Russia, without additional procedures and difficulties.
However, for foreign citizens, obtaining Russian citizenship is a much more complex and lengthy matter.
On the way to the coveted Russian passport, the migrant will have to go through many offices and fill out a huge number of papers. To make it easier for you to go through all the procedures without making mistakes and thus without delaying the process, in this article we will tell you in detail how a foreigner can obtain Russian citizenship.
Application form 2021
The main basis for obtaining Russian citizenship is the corresponding application, which is established in a certain order, with the signature of the applicant.
The 2021 citizenship form can be obtained from the local office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For any category of citizens of another country, the sample application is the same. In this case, the form must be filled out without abbreviations, errors, corrections, abbreviations and missing items. It is necessary to answer these points in detail and accurately.
The most important point is the obligation to comply with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Here you need to sign as confirmation of the agreement to comply with all laws of Russia.
To date, filing an application electronically is not possible. The application must be submitted to the emigration services employee in paper form.
We must not forget that it is prohibited by law to forcibly deprive Russian citizenship, but deprivation of Russian citizenship can be carried out in the following cases:
- refusal of an application for citizenship (occurs in case of non-compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation or submission of documents with incorrect information);
- voluntary refusal when moving to another state;
- option - obtaining another citizenship;
- deprivation of citizenship of a child if the parents have lost Russian citizenship.
The procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship
The procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for foreign citizens differs depending on the applicant’s status in the Russian Federation and the permits that he already has and the availability of grounds for obtaining Russian citizenship in a simplified manner.
For example, the general procedure implies that a foreign citizen wishing to obtain Russian citizenship must first obtain a temporary residence permit, residence permit and live in Russia for at least 5 years, and only then will he be able to apply for Russian citizenship. We will tell you more about how to obtain Russian citizenship on a general basis later in the article.
So, as we have already mentioned, the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship and obtaining a Russian passport for foreign citizens will differ:
- By right of birth
- By right of marriage with a Russian
- For Russian speakers
- Foreigners with the status of “Refugees”
- Highly qualified specialists
- People participating in the resettlement program
- Citizens of CIS countries
- Born in the Soviet Union or USSR
- Studied in Russia or the former Soviet Union
- Those receiving citizenship in the general manner
How long should I wait after submitting documents?
When the applicant submits a package of documents for obtaining Russian citizenship to the migration department of the Main Directorate for Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the responsible officer informs the period during which the application will be considered and a decision will be made on approval or refusal of admission to Russian citizenship. How do you know if you have been approved for citizenship status and will you receive the appropriate document as a result? There are several methods that will be described below. Find out more about what is needed to obtain Russian citizenship here.
How long does it take to make a document? In Art. 35 of Law No. 62-FZ specifies the maximum deadlines for considering applications and making decisions on them, which must be observed. Officials of regional departments of the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs do not have the right to independently change them upward. In some cases, if the work of the department is clearly established, a response to the application may come in a shorter time .
Important! The period for reviewing documents for obtaining Russian citizenship depends on the procedure and grounds for its acquisition.
The longest path is admission to citizenship of the country on a general basis. In such cases, the applicant can expect a response within one year. When submitting documents in the general manner, the decision on the case is made by the President of the Russian Federation.
If the applicant has legal grounds for obtaining citizenship on preferential terms, then the period for consideration of the application will be significantly reduced, and will range from three to six months.
After the decision is made, the applicant must be familiarized with it in writing by sending a corresponding notice to the place of residence. In accordance with the law, the applicant must be informed within a month from the date of the decision.
Grounds for acquiring Russian citizenship
In addition to the basic main reason to obtain Russian citizenship by birth, there are other cases in which a foreign citizen can obtain a Russian passport.
A foreign citizen can apply for Russian citizenship in the following cases:
- If a foreigner has lived in Russia for more than 5 years from the date of issue of a residence permit or temporary residence permit of the Russian Federation, and also has not left the country for more than 3 months during each year of residence.
- If a foreign citizen who wants to obtain Russian citizenship is a highly qualified specialist, and Russia is interested in him as a professional.
- If the applicant is staying in Russia with the status of a migrant (under the program) or refugee. In this case, the minimum period of residence in Russia to apply for Russian citizenship is reduced to 1 year.
General grounds for receiving
The legislator establishes methods for obtaining citizenship:
- By birth. The newborn automatically acquires the citizenship of the parents. If one parent is a foreigner, the child must be born on the territory of the Russian Federation to become a citizen.
- As a result of the acquisition. Foreigners can apply for citizenship. Main criteria: availability of a residence permit in the country, legal source of income, knowledge of the Russian language, renunciation of previous citizenship. Conditions may vary.
- In order of restoration. If you have Russian citizenship in the past, for example, in the RSFSR.
- On other grounds and international agreements.
You only need to have a Russian residence permit; the length of residence does not matter.
Citizenship of the Russian Federation in general
Obtaining citizenship and a passport of the Russian Federation for a foreign citizen in the general procedure is much more difficult and takes much longer than in the simplified procedure. Therefore, before choosing this method, check and make sure that you do not belong to any category of people with a simplified form of issuing Russian citizenship, which we will discuss in subsequent sections of this article. For example, citizens of Uzbekistan can obtain Russian citizenship with a simplified form of citizenship in a period of 1.5 years and with fewer documents. The general procedure will take from 5 years and will require a lot of patience from a person. The Federal Law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation” provides for the following requirements for a foreigner applying for Russian citizenship:
- Reside in the territory of the Russian Federation without interruptions for at least five years under a residence permit. The permissible break is 3 months within 1 year. (The only exceptions to the length of residence are people with special merits to their homeland and those who, while living in the countries of the USSR, served in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for three years or more).
- A foreigner must have a confirmed minimum income sufficient to live in Russia.
- Take upon yourself the obligation to fulfill and comply with the Law and the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
- Renounce the citizenship of another state by applying, for example, to the consulate of your country in Russia.
- Receive a certificate of knowledge of the Russian language.
Welcome to the Russians
According to Kazakova, many people were waiting for this date, since the condition for providing documents on the desire to renounce existing citizenship was canceled. “For many, the reason for refusing to acquire Russian citizenship was the fact that they either had to renounce their existing citizenship, or present this document, which was sent to the authorities of the state of citizenship. Since July 24, this document does not need to be provided to anyone, regardless of nationality,” Kazakova explained.
“A significant number of people from non-CIS countries who have residence permits to live on the territory of the Russian Federation, taking into account the changed conditions for renouncing existing citizenship, will now most likely apply to acquire citizenship,” Kazakova predicts.
RG experts discuss the legal aspects of obtaining citizenship in the “Legal Consultation” section
In addition, understanding that a foreign citizen collects a large number of documents to obtain one or another status, along with the application for acquiring citizenship it will not be necessary to provide documents confirming the source of livelihood. Since this happens, according to the head of the migration department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, when submitting documents for a residence permit.
Since July 24, the following changes have also occurred - citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and Kazakhstan, upon receiving a residence permit immediately without a period of residence (previously for at least 5 years), will be able to submit documents to acquire citizenship. Today there are more than 240 thousand people living in Russia with a residence permit and subject to the procedure for simplifying the acquisition of citizenship.
The procedure for obtaining citizenship will also be simplified for foreigners who have graduated from Russian universities. “According to the previous legislation, it was necessary to submit documents indicating that a person, after graduating from a university, worked officially for 3 years with deductions of certain funds to various social insurance funds. But, taking into account such a category of foreign citizens as university graduates, which is in demand in the labor market and adapted to Russian society, the period of labor activity was reduced from 3 years to 1 year. And I hope that many foreign citizens will take advantage of this rule,” says Valentina Kazakova.
The conversation with the head of the Migration Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs undoubtedly included a conversation about how the coronavirus affected the migration situation in Russia. “Taking into account the closure of borders since March, a large number of foreign citizens have not entered Russian territory; we continue to actively work with the same citizens who are in Russia. Taking into account the presidential decrees, which determined the special procedure for the legal status of foreign citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation, all migration departments accept foreign citizens. And since March, more than one and a half million foreign citizens have contacted us who wanted to regulate their legal status, that is, obtain permits and, accordingly, extend their visas,” said Valentina Kazakova.
Due to the complicated epidemiological situation, migrants predictably recorded a decline in requests to them - by approximately 30 percent. At the same time, on issues of obtaining citizenship, even despite the coronavirus, an increase in the number of applicants is recorded. The increase is more than double compared to the same period last year. “If we speak in absolute numbers, about 300 thousand people acquired citizenship of the Russian Federation in the first half of the year. And, of course, this is facilitated by the changes in legislation that took place this year. In June, changes came into force that reduced the period for considering an application for acquiring citizenship from 6 to 3 months,” recalled Valentina Kazakova.
In addition, citizens of Belarus and Ukraine are exempt from the interview procedure if they meet the conditions of native Russian speakers. This means that Ukrainians and Belarusians who speak Russian fluently will not have to undergo an interview by a special commission of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
How the interview will take place for all other citizens of foreign countries who fall under the conditions of the norm of native speakers of the Russian language will soon be available on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “There were a lot of complaints about the fact that in one region they ask for the rules of the Russian language, in another they are forced to write dictations - so in order to unify these procedures, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has developed control and measuring materials,” explained the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs main department for migration issues.
In general, the Ministry of Internal Affairs records a trend of annual growth in the number of foreigners wishing to acquire Russian citizenship. If last year about 500 thousand people were granted Russian citizenship, then in the first half of this year alone, more than 300 thousand people expressed a desire and were accepted for Russian citizenship.
It is worth noting that the amendments that came into force on July 24 are not the last of those introducing relaxations for foreigners who want to become Russians.
On October 12 of this year, changes to the law “On Citizenship” will come into force, which will allow able-bodied citizens who have adult children - citizens of the Russian Federation and living in Russia, to acquire our citizenship. For now, Russian citizenship can only be acquired by disabled parents of retirement age who have adult children who are Russian citizens. And from October 12, those already able to work, that is, people who have not yet reached retirement age, will be able to acquire citizenship “for children living in Russia.” “I think that after these changes the number of working-age citizens aged 40 to 60 will increase,” concluded Valentina Kazakova.
Procedure for applying for Russian citizenship
The procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship on general terms for a foreign citizen takes place in several stages:
- Crossing the border (with or without a visa), obtaining a migration card.
- Migration registration.
- Registration and receipt of a temporary residence permit (Belarusians only need to register).
- Obtaining a residence permit of the Russian Federation.
- Obtaining Russian citizenship by a foreign citizen.
When all the documents are in hand (you will find the list later in the article), and you have 5 years of living on the territory of Russia with a residence permit, you can safely go with an application for citizenship of the Russian Federation to the department of migration affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for place of residence and apply for Russian citizenship.
They don’t give citizenship in due time: what to do?
The specified time frames for considering the application and making a decision on it are maximum. The rule here is: faster is possible, longer is not possible. For example, if a citizen has grounds for a simplified procedure, and the authorized bodies delay the issuance of Russian citizenship for up to a year, this is a violation of the law on the part of officials.
What to do in this case?
In order to assert his right to have his case considered on time, the applicant can:
- contact directly the employee who is dealing with the issue and his management;
- write or call the leadership of the territorial branch of the Main Directorate for Migration and Migration (in a specific subject of the Russian Federation);
- draw up a complaint addressed to the head of the Main Directorate for Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia;
- address your claims to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation or the President of the Russian Federation.
To contact higher authorities, you can use the services of the Russian Post or the functionality of the official website of the Main Directorate for Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
For those who are in the dark about how to find out the date of receipt of Russian citizenship, it is worth saying that all the necessary information is available at the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. To obtain such data, you need to contact the migration service department at your place of residence in person or send a request by mail; such information is currently not available online.
Documents for citizenship of the Russian Federation
To obtain Russian citizenship in general, a migrant must provide the following package of documents:
- two completed applications for Russian citizenship according to the sample;
- identification document;
- a copy of the residence permit of a foreign citizen, certified by a notary;
- renunciation of citizenship of the previous state (in duplicate);
- receipt of payment of state duty;
- birth and marriage certificates;
- photo of the applicant in 4 copies;
- diploma or other certificate of education;
- if your last name or first name has changed, you need documents proving this;
- a document confirming the official source of income in Russia;
- confirmation of knowledge of the Russian language (certificate of the Russian Federation or the RSFSR, or a certificate of passing the exam);
- children's birth certificates.
Photo for Russian citizenship
The package of documents for obtaining citizenship of the Russian Federation by a foreign citizen in general must include 4 photographs of the applicant.
Photo format for Russian citizenship is 30x40 mm .
Photo requirements for Russian citizenship
A photo for Russian citizenship is a full-face image of the face. The photo must be clear.
The person in the photo should not be wearing a headdress. However, if the applicant’s religious beliefs do not allow him to appear in front of other people without a headdress, then he can be photographed wearing a headdress, but the headdress must not hide the oval of his face.
As for glasses, if the applicant wears them all the time, then he also needs to take a photograph for Russian citizenship wearing glasses. Please note that the windows should not be tinted.
How can you find out about the readiness of a document in Russia by last name?
How to check the status of an application and the preparation of documents on citizenship in the Russian Federation by last name? After the period for consideration of an application for citizenship has expired, you can find out the answer in several ways:
- by phone;
- during a personal visit to the department of the Main Department of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to view the readiness of the decision to accept citizenship online.
You can find out the phone number on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (Migration Issues - Main Directorate for Migration Issues - divisions in the regions).
How to check and find out whether the decision and documents for obtaining the status of “citizen” are ready if it is not possible to reach the inspector? Then all that remains is a personal visit to the department. If the decision has already been made and it is positive, then the responsible employee will hand over a notification of citizenship for signature.
Russian citizenship exam
In order for an application for Russian citizenship for foreign citizens to be approved, the migrant must confirm his knowledge of the national language by passing a Russian language exam for Russian citizenship.
The test for Russian citizenship has the right to be conducted by educational institutions included in the list of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.
To take the Russian exam for Russian citizenship, you must first register for the exam and pay for it.
The cost of the Russian language exam to obtain Russian citizenship in 2021 is 6,000 rubles.
Testing for Russian citizenship in the Russian language is considered successfully completed if the applicant scores at least 65% of the points. That is, only those who score at least 65% of the possible points receive a certificate of successful completion of the test to obtain Russian citizenship.
Let's sum it up
The new law Federal Law 134 dated April 24, 2020 specifies who can take advantage of the simplified procedure for obtaining citizenship and submit an application; in addition, it contains a list of all required papers. The simplified diagram has several main nuances:
- Now, in order to officially become a citizen of Russia, you do not need to obtain a residence permit and live in the country for 5 years.
- Compatriots who live in another country and want to return to the Russian Federation can take advantage of preferences and submit a package of papers to obtain citizenship at their location.
- The new simplified scheme does not require renouncing citizenship in another country and passing a Russian language exam, as well as confirming the source of income. But there remains one most important condition - compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
- The deadlines for obtaining official status have changed. It now takes about 6 months to process the application. For citizens of the former USSR, which includes Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, the review period has been reduced to 3 months. If the application for assignment of official status is rejected, then a second application can be submitted after 1 year.
It is also worth noting that foreigners who have received refugee status will be able to live on the territory of the Russian Federation, but they must prove to the Ministry of Internal Affairs that in their own country they faced persecution on the grounds of racism, nationality, divergent religious beliefs or views on political principles.
Who does not need to take the Russian citizenship test in the Russian language?
A Russian language exam will not be required to obtain Russian citizenship if the applicant has received:
- secondary education in the USSR until 1991;
- general secondary education in Russia after 1991, or in a country where Russian is considered one of the state languages.
Thus, for example, documents for obtaining Russian citizenship for a Belarusian do not include a testing certificate, so you can simply provide a document confirming the fact of citizenship or education.
Also, the following categories of foreign citizens do not need to take the Russian exam for citizenship of the Russian Federation:
- men over 65 inclusive;
- women over 60 years old;
- incapacitated citizens;
- persons of the first disability group.
Thus, all foreign citizens who do not fall into these specified categories will be required to pass the Russian citizenship exam.
