“The notification process when a Russian citizen has citizenship or permanent residency in another country”.
Russian citizens can become citizens or permanent residents of any other country while keeping their Russian citizenship. However, Russian authorities must be notified about obtaining citizenship of another country or becoming a permanent resident. In this article, we will give you more information about this process.
Why is it necessary to notify Russia about obtaining citizenship or permanent residency outside of Russia?
There is a requirement to notify Russia which is written down in Federal law №62 “About Russian citizenship”. For violation of this law, the person can be held accountable.
You must notify Russian authorities of:
- New foreign citizenship
- Permanent residency or any other document giving you the right for a long-term residency on the territory of a foreign country
You can notify the Russian authorities in the following ways:
- In-person or by another person in Russia who has a power of attorney from you
- By mail
- Online through your personal account on the public service website “Gosuslugi”
There are 3 options for notifying Russian authorities depending on your location:
- The local branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs which serves your address of registration in Russia
- The local branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs which serves where you live permanently
- The local branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs which services where you live temporarily
You must send the notification within the timeframe which is set by the Russian government. Also, you must notify them every time your permanent residency is extended.
However, there is an exception for people who permanently live abroad. Permanently living abroad means that you live outside of Russia for 180 or more days a year. If you permanently live abroad, you are not required to notify Russia about your status and you are allowed to enter and stay in Russia for 30 days or less without notifying the Russian authorities. However, if you will stay in Russia for longer than 30 days, you must notify the Russian authorities about your permanent residency abroad after entering Russia. Please note that there is an exception for citizens of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan due to a special agreement that these countries have with Russia.
The process of notifying the Russian authorities.
After obtaining foreign citizenship or permanent residency abroad, you must notify your local branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs within the specified timeframe in person, by mail, or online.
The time limitations depend on the current location of the person:
- If you receive foreign citizenship or residency for another country while you are in Russia, you have 60 days after the day you got your new status to report this.
- If you receive foreign citizenship or residency for another country while outside of Russia, you have 30 days after your arrival back in Russia to report this. However, if you are staying less than 30 days in Russia, you do not need to notify the Russian authorities about your new status.
Documents required for the notifying about your new citizenship or residency status.
In order to notify Russian authorities, you must fill out the form, printed or electronic. All the information on the form must be fully completed. Corrections, crossing out, or shorthand writing is not allowed.
The notification form consists of 3 pages. The first two pages are filled out by the applicant and the third page is completed by the Russian authorities. However, on the bottom of the third page, you must sign and write your initials. The form can be filled out by hand or on a computer. It is allowed to use letters from both the Latin and Russian alphabet.
The following information will be needed to fill out the form:
- First and last name, patronymic name, and date of birth
- Address of where you are registered, address of your permanent residence, or address of your temporary residence
- Your passport information ( your passport number, date of issue, place of issue)
- Information about your citizenship or permanent/temporary residence in a foreign country
- Your foreign passport or residence card information
- If your residence card was extended, you must provide a document proving this extension or provide your new residence card.
You do not need to answer all the questions on the form notifying about foreign citizenship or permanent/temporary residence. Just write your answer for the questions that apply to your particular situation. If you are unsure about something in regard to the form, you should ask an official at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For point 6, you only need to provide this information if it is not your first notification and you are notifying about your permanent/temporary residence extension or renouncing your foreign citizenship.
The form is perforated. A Russian official will keep the larger part of the paper. This person will fill out the smaller part for you and you will receive this back for your records. The perforated smaller portion of the form is not to be filled out by the applicant. Make sure to keep this paper in a safe place and not to lose it so that you have proof of submitting your notification.
Important: for children under the age of 18 who have received another citizenship or permanent/temporary residence, there is a different form to make the notification. You can find all the forms here.
While filing the notification, you must provide a copy of your Russian internal passport, a copy of your Russian travel passport (for children under the age of 14, use a copy of their birth certificate), and a copy of a document proving your foreign citizenship or permanent/temporary residence. You do not need to notarize the copies.
If you are notifying about having foreign citizenship or residency after entering Russia, you must provide officials with a copy of your Russian travel passport and a copy of the passport page showing the stamp with the date of entry into Russia. This is in addition to the things needed in the list above. Please aware that you will need two copies of your passport. When you apply, you must give all of the copies, but you must also have the original documents with you. The official will check that your copies match the original document. After this, your application can be accepted.
Where can you file your notification?
1. At a local branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. You can search for a branch with their address locator on their website. There is no option to notify while abroad. You cannot do this notification through a Russian embassy or consulate.
2. The official public service website “Gosuslugi”. Here are the steps to make the notification online:
- Log in to your personal account (or register if you don’t already have an account).
- Go to the website section about getting Russian citizenship. There you will find the form you need. Download it.
- Fill out the form and send in the file.
Through the public service website “Gosuslugi”, you can not only send your notification, but you can also make an appointment at the local branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
3. Another option is to make a notification online through the website of the Multifunctional Center in your region.
- You should log in to your account on the Multifunctional Center website.
- Download the form and fill it out.
- Upload the completed form to the website. Afterward, you will receive a notification that your application has been accepted for processing.
The advantage of making your notification online through the website of the Multifunctional Center is that the processing time will be much faster compared to the “Gosuslugi” website.
4. At one of the branches of the Russian post service.
The form can be downloaded and printed out and then brought to the post office or you can get the form at the post office. You must have your government-issued ID with you. After you have given the notification form to a post office employee, he or she will sign it and tear off the perforated portion and give this to you to keep for your records. Please make sure to provide your complete and correct mailing address. After the Ministry of Internal Affairs receives your form, they will send a letter to your address letting you now that they have started processing it. There will be an extra fee to be paid at the post office for the service of sending the form. If you choose to send your notification by mail, please make sure that you do this at least a few days before the last date allowed to make the notification.
What if you don’t notify about your foreign citizenship or residency abroad.
In the Administrative Violations Code, article 19.8.3, it is said that if you either send the notification late or you file incorrect information, you can be punished by a fine of 500 to 1,000 rubles. Sending the notification late or with incorrect information by the applicant is treated as an administrative violation.
In the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation Article 330.2, stronger penalties are designated. There are two penalty options for people who have hidden the fact of having foreign citizenship or foreign residence:
- A fine of up to 200,000 rubles or income for up to one year even if you are unemployed
- Public service work for up to 400 hours
Criminal liability is only applicable for cases when it is proved that applicant intentionally hid information on having foreign citizenship or residency. In general, the Ministry of Internal Affairs doesn’t go out of its way to check if someone is hiding foreign citizenship or residency. Usually, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will find this information out when the person is involved in another criminal case or trial.
There is another possibility of how Russian officials can find out that you have not notified about having foreign citizenship or residency. When you are leaving Russia, a border service officer of the Russian Federation can request that you show him or her the confirmation that your notification form was accepted. This is why it is very important to keep your notification with you and be able to provide it when asked.
We highly recommend following the regulations set up by the law in order to avoid problems and penalties.
The following links may be useful for you:
How to renew a Russian “foreign” travel passport in the U.S.
