HOW TO OBTAIN RUSSIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR A CHILS IN THE U.S. COMPLETELY BY MAIL
RUSSIAN AGENCY in the US offers services for obtaining Russian citizenship for children born outside of Russia. The child could be born in the U.S., Canada, or any other country. There are many questions about the process of obtaining Russian citizenship because it is complicated and not straightforward. Here are some of the frequently asked questions.
Читать на русском языке
If my child was born abroad, is it possible for him or her to obtain Russian citizenship?
A child will have Russian citizenship automatically if both parents, or the only parent, have Russian citizenship at the moment of birth, regardless of the place of birth (according to Russian Federal Law, Section 1a of article 12 “About Russian Citizenship” number 62-FZ (since May 31st, 2002).
In that case the parents do not have a choice about processing the child’s Russian citizenship. The child is already a Russian citizen. To enter Russia all Russian citizens must have a valid Russian travel passport. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will deny any Russian visa applications for those who are already Russian citizens.
If only one of the parents is a Russian citizen, you can obtain Russian citizenship for the child with the consent of both parents. You can find detailed information about obtaining Russian citizenship for this situation here.
How does the process work? Is it necessary to obtain a Russian birth certificate?
No, obtaining a Russian birth certificate is not possible in this situation because there can be only one official birth certificate, which must be from the country of birth. The child’s birth is registered officially within that country. According to article number 13 of the Russian Federal Law 143-fz about Vital Records from November 15th, 1997, the only official document that proves a child’s birth aboard, which is equivalent to a Russian birth certificate, is a foreign birth certificate with an apostille or government authentication along with a certified translation. The translation must be certified by an official Russian Federation notary or a Russian consular officer.
The information below applies when both parents (or the only parent) are Russian citizens. If one of the parents is foreign citizen, you can find more information here.
What are all the documents that will be included from Russian Agency after processing Russian citizenship for a child?
-
An exact translation of the child’s birth certificate along with an apostille (state authentication for Canada) into Russian
-
A certification proving that the translation is correct by a Russian consular officer. All these documents will be bound together and stamped by the Russian consular officer
-
On the backside side of this packet of bound papers there will be a stamp saying that this person is a citizen of Russia
-
A non-biometric Russian travel passport for a child which is valid for 5 years.
The processing times and our processing fee if BOTH parents (or the ONLY parent) are Russian Citizens with VALID Russian travel passports:
-
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.
The processing of Russian citizenship and a Russian travel passport can be done without the personal presence of the applicant at a Russian consulate or the Russian embassy. Our processing fee already includes the consular fee for certification of translation accuracy and for obtaining a 5-year non-biometric passport for a child.
Please CALL our TOLL FREE numbers (888) 9-RUSSIA or (888) 978-7742 about our fees because the pricing is subject to change.
LIST OF DOCUMENTS REQUIRED TO APPLY:
STEP 1 (you should mail or bring in the following items to us):
-
The child’s original birth certificate along with an apostille (state authentication for Canada)
-
Payment of processing fee. 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):
-
A passport photo of the child
-
Copies of Russian Internal passports of both parents (main page and all the pages with address registrations in Russia), if available
-
Physical Russian travel passports of both parents*
-
Copy of the marriage certificate of the parents (if married)**
-
All prior name changes of the parents must be accompanied with the appropriate documents (marriage and divorce certificates or official name changes).
-
Information about current place of employment or study of the applying parent (organization’s name, address, and phone number).
