Immigration to Russia from Kyrgyzstan. Russian Citizenship by Birth. Part - 5

Ways to Acquire Russian Citizenship by Birth

In this article, we will examine the ways to acquire Russian citizenship when a person has a specific life circumstance – the fact of being born on the territory of Russia.

We will consider the influence of the fact of a person's birth not only on the territory of the current Russian Federation but also on the territory of the former Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on the methods and procedures for acquiring Russian citizenship.

This discussion will focus on the procedure for acquiring Russian citizenship only for adult and legally capable foreign citizens and stateless persons (hereinafter referred to as foreign citizens) who wish to acquire Russian citizenship or wish to be recognized, under the appropriate circumstances, as citizens of Russia.

Methods of Acquiring Russian Citizenship by Birth on the Territory of the RSFSR

First of all, let’s look at the existing methods for a foreign citizen, who is a native of the RSFSR, to acquire Russian citizenship in a simplified manner.

1. The fact of a foreign citizen's birth on the territory of the RSFSR (as well as the fact that they previously held citizenship of the former USSR) allows them to acquire Russian citizenship in a simplified manner in accordance with paragraph "A" of part 2 of article 14 of the Federal Law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" dated May 31, 2002, No. 62-FZ (hereinafter referred to as the Federal Law of May 31, 2002).

It should be noted that the official name "Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic" was changed to "Russian Federation" on December 25, 1991.

Based on the above, from a legal standpoint, only foreign citizens born on the territory of Russia before the aforementioned date can use this basis for acquiring Russian citizenship in a simplified manner.

2. Citizens of the states that are parties to the Agreement between the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and the Russian Federation on the Simplified Procedure for Acquiring Citizenship dated February 26, 1999, have the opportunity to acquire Russian citizenship in a simplified manner if they were born on the territory of the RSFSR (as well as if they previously held RSFSR citizenship and simultaneously held former USSR citizenship).

For the two cases mentioned above, in order for a foreign citizen to have the right to submit an application for acquiring Russian citizenship in a simplified manner, they must first obtain a residence permit in Russia and register at their place of residence based on this document.

Additionally, applicants acquiring Russian citizenship under the four-party international Agreement must also preliminarily arrange for their departure for permanent residence from their country of citizenship to Russia in accordance with the established national legislation.

3. Foreign citizens who are natives of the RSFSR are recognized as compatriots under Russian law in all cases. This conclusion can be drawn from the content of part 3 of article 1 of the Federal Law "On the State Policy of the Russian Federation Regarding Compatriots Abroad" dated May 24, 1999, No. 99-FZ.

This means that these foreign citizens have the opportunity, after fulfilling the necessary preliminary conditions, to submit an application to participate in the state program to assist the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad to Russia.

Upon a positive decision on the application, the relevant foreign citizens have the opportunity to acquire Russian citizenship in a simplified manner in accordance with part 7 of article 14 of the Federal Law of May 31, 2002, i.e., without first obtaining a residence permit in our country.

4. Foreign citizens who are natives of the RSFSR will very likely have relatives in the direct ascending line who previously resided (possibly currently residing) on the territory of the Russian Federation or on the territory that belonged to the USSR, within the State border of the Russian Federation.

This means that these foreign citizens have the opportunity, after fulfilling the necessary preliminary conditions, to submit an application to be recognized as bearers of the Russian language.

In this case, a mandatory preliminary condition for submitting such an application is the legal presence of the applicant on the territory of our country at their temporary stay, temporary residence, or permanent residence.

Acquisition of Citizenship by Birth on the Territory of the Russian Federation

It should be noted right away that the mere fact of a person's birth on the territory of the Russian Federation does not automatically mean that they have Russian citizenship.

To acquire citizenship of Russia by birth, certain other life circumstances must also be present, which we will discuss further in this article.

Let’s clarify in which cases an adult foreign citizen, who is a native of the Russian Federation, can be recognized as a citizen of Russia by birth.

In this case, we are talking about recognizing them as a citizen of Russia as a result of conducting a procedure to verify circumstances indicating the presence of Russian citizenship in accordance with paragraphs 51 and 52 of the Regulation on the Procedure for Considering Citizenship Issues of the Russian Federation, approved by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated November 14, 2002, No. 1325.

This procedure can only be conducted for foreign citizens born on the territory of the Russian Federation during the period from February 6, 1992 (i.e., after the entry into force of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" dated November 28, 1991, No. 1948-1) and until July 1, 2002 (before the entry into force of the Federal Law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" dated May 31, 2002).

Let’s consider the categories of foreign citizens who are natives of the Russian Federation and who acquired Russian citizenship by birth.

These include individuals whose:
• parents were citizens of the Russian Federation at the time of their birth (article 14 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" dated November 28, 1991, No. 1948-1);
• one parent was a citizen of the Russian Federation, and the other was stateless (part 1 of article 15 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" dated November 28, 1991, No. 1948-1);
• one parent was a citizen of the Russian Federation, and the other had citizenship of a foreign state, and there was no written agreement between them regarding the determination of the child's citizenship in that foreign state (part 2 of article 15 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" dated November 28, 1991, No. 1948-1).

The three categories of foreign citizens mentioned above can be recognized as citizens of Russia based on the official conclusion of the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia following the verification of the relevant circumstances.

The legal basis for their recognition as such will be part 7 of article 4 of the Federal Law of May 31, 2002, with the application of, respectively, article 14, parts 1 or 2 of article 15 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" dated November 28, 1991, No. 1948-1.

Admission to Russian Citizenship for Natives of the Russian Federation

Previously, we examined three categories of foreign citizens who are natives of the Russian Federation and who acquired Russian citizenship by birth, i.e., by virtue of the fact of being born on the territory of our country.

As we can see, not all foreign citizens born on the territory of the Russian Federation can be recognized as citizens of our country by birth.

Moreover, for many foreign citizens belonging to the previously mentioned three categories, there may not be a real possibility to document the circumstances indicating their Russian citizenship.

This, in turn, often leads to the impossibility of issuing a positive conclusion regarding the applicant's Russian citizenship.

For example, due to a number of objective reasons, there may arise very serious, sometimes practically insurmountable problems with documenting the presence of Russian citizenship of the parents (one of the parents, the only parent) of the relevant foreign citizen at the time of their birth.

Therefore, we will now consider other ways for natives of the Russian Federation to acquire citizenship of our country, i.e., methods of acquiring Russian citizenship as a result of admission to it or restoration in it.

The mere fact of a person's birth on the territory of the Russian Federation is not a basis for their admission to Russian citizenship in a simplified manner. After all, it is not enshrined as such either in article 14 of the Federal Law of May 31, 2002, or in part 1 of article 1 of the four-party international agreement on the simplified procedure for acquiring citizenship dated February 26, 1999.

If we consider the procedure for acquiring Russian citizenship in the "broad sense," the fact of a person's birth on the territory of the Russian Federation gives them only one advantage - the right to obtain a temporary residence permit in our country without regard to the quota established by the Government of Russia.

This right is enshrined in paragraphs 1 and 3 of part 6 of the Federal Law "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation" dated July 25, 2002, No. 115-FZ.

Thus, we can conclude that a foreign citizen who is a native of the Russian Federation and does not have grounds for being recognized as a citizen of Russia by birth in the previously discussed manner must go through the "standard" procedure for admission to it or restoration in it, respectively, in a simplified or general manner.

On the other hand, it is also quite evident that a native of Russia (both the Russian Federation and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) may have other legal grounds for acquiring Russian citizenship in a simplified manner.

This means that such a foreign citizen has the opportunity to acquire Russian citizenship on other grounds, and the fact of their birth on the territory of Russia cannot be an obstacle to this under any circumstances.

Immigration to Russia. Citizenship for Russian Language Bearers. Part - 4