Under what circumstances your Russian “foreign” travel passport application could be denied. How to avoid this and what to do if this happens to you.
It is rare for Russian authorities to deny a person’s Russian “foreign” travel passport application. This may happen when it is a very serious situation. An application can be rejected at any stage during the application process, even after your documents have been accepted with your application. There are some conditions under which authorities can reject your Russian travel passport application. These conditions are determined by the law, Article #15 of the Federal Law “Regulations about exiting the Russian Federation and entering the Russian Federation”.
Why my Russian travel passport application and/or documents weren’t accepted?
Russian authorities are very strict about all the details of the application and documents. If there are any discrepancies, this could lead to rejection.
Possible reasons why your application and/or document might be rejected:
- Your Russian internal passport is expired.
- Your Russian internal passport is damaged or defaced (for example handwriting or a stamp that shouldn’t in the passport).
- Not having the stamp proving Russian citizenship on the birth certificate of a child under the age of 14.
- Not providing the military service card proving service or being excused for men between 19 and 27 years old.
- Passport photos do not meet the requirements.
- Any kind of mistakes or corrections on the passport application.
- Not providing the certificate proving that the applicant obtained Russian citizenship.
Our agency will ensure that you won’t run into these problems. We verify that the package of your documents is complete and that everything is in order before sending it to the Russian authorities.
Can my application be denied after I successfully submit everything?
Yes, this is possible. If your documents were accepted by the Russian authorities, they can still be denied later. At any stage of processing your Russian travel passport, you can be contacted and informed that your application has been denied. All the accepted applications are carefully checked over and background checks are done by appropriate organizations, like the Federal Service for Execution for Punishment, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Federal Security Service, and Federal Tax Service. If something comes up during these checks, your application could be denied.
Reasons why your application could be denied.
In order not to waste your time and money, please read about the reasons why your application could be denied. The reasons are determined by Russian law. Every denial will have a written explanation as to why.
Reasons for denial of Russian “foreign” travel passport applications:
- Prior or current access to national security information or other highly classified information. For applicants in this situation, there are two different time restrictions, five years for national security information, and ten years for highly classified information. These time limits start from the last day of having access. If you apply before the end of these time restrictions, your application will be denied.
- If you are currently serving in the military, you can not apply for a new Russian travel passport. For the entire time of military service, the person’s Russian travel passport must be in the possession of the local authority who issued it for temporary storing until after completion of military service and being approved by the federal security service.
- Having convictions or currently in any phase of the conviction process. If the Russian travel passport applicant is suspected of having committed an offense or has been accused, their passport application will be denied. The applicant can only apply after the court has come to a verdict.
- For applications who have been convicted, there will be a delay in issuing a Russian travel passport until the end of their sentence or until all debt is paid. The other option is for there to be a cancellation of the charge(s) or conviction.
- When the applicant has debt ordered by a court and hasn’t paid. For example, not paying child support, outstanding debt, traffic tickets, etc. Any violations amounting to 10,000 rubles or more, will cause your application to be denied. You should either pay off your debt or reach a settlement. We highly recommend for you to check your name on the official website of the Court Bailiff’s Service of the Russian Federation. You can check by using your name and date of birth. If you see that you have some debt, please contact the Court Bailiff’s Service to pay the amount in full before starting the application process.
Russian authorities can request extra documents from the applicant to prove that debt has been paid in full and that conviction sentence(s) have been completed or settled.
Denial of a Russian travel passport application for a child
The most common reason for denial of a child’s travel passport application is when one of the parents or guardians does not agree to the child leaving the country. There is a form at the Ministry of Internal Affairs that a parent or guardian can fill out saying that they do not approve of the child traveling outside of Russia. In that case, the child will not be allowed to leave Russia even with a valid passport. If it is necessary, it is possible to cancel this no travel order in a court. There might be a situation when you need to take the child to another country for medical treatment, but the other parent/guardian is preventing this. You will need to prove to the court that the medical treatment can not be done in Russia and that the child must travel to a different country. If this happens to you, we highly recommend getting advice from a family law attorney.
What to do if your Russian travel passport has been denied.
Your next steps depend on the reason for the denial. If your application was denied according to one of the reasons listed in the law, like military service, access to highly classified information, then your options are very limited. For example, if a person had access to highly classified information and less than 10 years has gone by, the passport can be printed but the applicant won’t be able to take it until the time limit has finished.
If the reason for your denial isn’t listed with the law, you have some options to reverse the denial.
- The first option is to reapply if the reason for denial is no longer relevant.
- You can write a complaint to the head of your local branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs which accepted your passport application.
- If you don’t get a response from your local branch, you can send your complaint to the General Authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
- If you still are unable to get an answer, you can send a complaint to the prosecutor’s office because the denial of your passport application abuses your constitutional right as a citizen to travel abroad.
- You can also appeal the decision in court. You have the right to file a lawsuit in order to determine that the actions of the authorities to deny your passport application was unlawful. The law says that you must file the lawsuit within 10 days after receiving the denial.
- During the court process, you can ask for compensation for emotional damage which was caused by the actions of the local authorities who denied your passport application. For example, you weren’t able to travel abroad to see a close relative who was dying, your health condition dramatically worsened due to not being able to travel abroad for specific medical treatment, or if you lose a work contract abroad. You must be able to prove a direct connection between the denial of your travel passport and your emotional damage.
Our agency is not a governmental agency. We are an expediting service. If your travel passport is denied, it is out of our control. Please make sure that none of the denial reasons in the law are applicable to you before trying to obtain a travel passport.
We highly recommend checking if you have any debt, if you are banned from traveling outside Russia or if you are on the national wanted list.
There are a few websites where you can find this information.
First, we recommend to start with the website of the Federal Court Bailiff Service, then the website of the Federal Tax Service to find out about any tax debt you may have and you can pay it off online, and lastly on the website of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate where you can check if you have any unpaid tickets. Also, you can check if you are currently on the National “wanted” list.
At the governmental public services website, you can order a report that will show if you have any outstanding debt or any other issues.
For business owners, we highly recommend checking the website of the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation as well.
Please check all of this information before traveling back to Russia.
The following links may be useful for you:
How to renew a Russian “foreign” travel passport for an adult in the U.S.
How to renew a Russian “foreign” travel passport for a child in the U.S.
