Russian citizenship for a child if one of the parents is a foreign citizen

“How to obtain Russian citizenship in the U.S. for children if one of the parents is a citizen of another country.”

Unlike the situation when both parents are Russian citizens and the child automatically becomes a Russian citizen, you have a choice to obtain Russian citizenship for your child. Both parents, Russian and non-Russian, must agree to obtaining Russian citizenship for the child.
Russian Agency offers a service of preparing the set of necessary documents which includes all the forms and translations and also setting up a no-wait time appointment at one the Russian consulates or Embassy in the U.S. Both parents must consent and appear in person at the consulate  in order to apply for Russian citizenship for their child. The child must also be present for the appointment at the consulate. There is no way to obtain Russian citizenship for the child without the consent of the parent who isn’t a Russian citizen. That consent can only be made in person in the consulate. The consulate does not accept any kind of paper stating the parent’s consent. (An exception can be made for families where the Russian citizen parent has full custody of the child.)
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What will be included in the package that you will receive after applying for your child’s Russian citizenship?
 The package will include:
  • A Russian translated birth certificate and apostille certified by a Russian consular officer.
  • Your original documents and the translations will be bound together by the consular officer and on the back there will be a stamp proving that the child obtained Russian citizenship.
  • A non-biometric Russian travel passport for the child valid for 5 years.
There are a few processing time options:
  • Standard processing within 6-8 weeks – $1,350.00
  • Expedited processing within 3-4 weeks – $1,800.00
  • Urgent processing within 2-3 weeks – $2,000.00
  • Same or next day service ( upon request) – $2,600.00
Our processing fee already includes the consular fee for certification of translation accuracy and for obtaining Russian citizenship and a 5-year non-biometric passport for a child.
Please note, that these processing time options are only applicable if the child is younger than 14 years old. When the child turns 14 the process becomes more complicated and takes longer, from a few months up to one year. We highly recommend to apply for Russian citizenship before the child turns 14.
Please CALL our TOLL FREE  numbers (888) 9-RUSSIA or (888) 978-7742 more information about this service.
What is included in our service for obtaining Russian citizenship for a child:
  • We make a consular appointment for a day of your convenience. Just let us know what the best day is for you to go to the consulate. We can work around your travel plans.
  • We will check over the entire package of your documents and make sure that everything matches and is in order before scheduling the appointment. The Russian consulate is very strict about document requirements. We will let you know if anything needs to be changed before making the appointment.
  • We will prepare all the translations that are needed to obtain Russian citizenship for the child and ensure that they will be certified by the Russian consular officer.
  • We will prepare all the forms, print the photos, and make all the photocopies which are required for the application process.
  • We will include money orders for paying the consular fee and a prepaid return envelope with a tracking number.
You will receive the whole set of documents from us either by mail or for pickup at one of our offices which is ready for you to take to the consulate.
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED TO APPLY:
STEP 1 (you should mail or bring in the following items to us):
  1. The child’s original birth certificate.
  2. An apostille for the birth certificate issued by the Secretary of State from the same state where the child was born. (We can obtain the apostille for you for an extra fee.)
  3. We accept personal checks, money orders, and cashier checks. All checks and orders should be made payable to RUSSIAN AGENCY. You can also rapidly transfer money through Zelle using our email address order@russianagency.com. We do not accept credit cards.
STEP 2  (you should either mail, email or bring in the following items to us):
  1. Completed application.
  2. A passport photo of the child
  3. A copy of the travel passport of the Russian citizen parent, only the main page. This travel passport must be valid when you appear at the Russian consulate for your appointment.
  4. A copy of the Russian citizen’s internal passport (main page) and all pages with address registration when the internal passport is valid and available
  5. A copy of the Russian citizen parent’s document (green card, US passport, long-term visa, etc.) proving permanent residence in the United States. If you don’t have this kind of document or if you are a tourist, please contact us and we will help you with your particular situation
  6. A copy of the child’s US passport (if you have one)
  7. Information about current place of employment or study of the Russian citizen parent (organization’s name, address, and phone number)
  8. Copy of the international travel passport of the non-Russian citizen and a copy of his/her document proving permanent residence on the United States  (for US citizens a copy of US passport passport)
  9. If married, a copy of the marriage certificate*
  10. All prior name changes of the parents must be accompanied with the appropriate documents (marriage and divorce certificates or official name changes).
We will be in touch with you throughout the whole application process and be ready to help with any concerns.
* Please note: If the parents got married outside of Russia, the original marriage certificate must be provided along with an apostille or foreign authentication. Both of these documents need to be translated into Russian and certified by a Russian consular officer or a Russian notary public on the territory of the Russian Federation. If these two documents haven’t already been prepared, we are happy to provide this service for an extra fee. Both the original marriage certificate translation and translation of the apostille or foreign authentication must be ready before submitting your application to the consulate or embassy.
If you are not able to appear in person in the Russian Consulate/Embassy or if you decided not to give the child Russian citizenship and you are going to travel to Russia, we are happy to help you get a Russian visa for your child.
PLEASE NOTE: There is a shipping fee for mailing your completed documents to you. The shipping fee for delivery within the U.S. is $40.00. Shipping to Canada costs $50.00. We ship documents via FedEx with a direct signature required option. International shipping is available for an extra fee via DHL. Please contact us and we’ll tell you the price of shipping to your country.
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