Obtaining Russian Citizenship by Marriage
In this article on the website, we will detail and step-by-step examine the entire procedure for acquiring Russian citizenship based on the marriage of a foreign citizen (or foreign citizen) to a citizen (citizen) of Russia.
We will discuss the procedure for acquiring Russian citizenship by marriage in a "broad sense," i.e., we will start with the issue of registering a foreign citizen or stateless person (hereinafter referred to as a foreign citizen) for migration accounting at their place of stay in our country and conclude with the questions of taking the Oath of a Russian citizen, as well as obtaining an internal Russian passport.
We will thoroughly, step by step, examine all, so to speak, "stages" of acquiring Russian citizenship by the spouse of a citizen (citizen) of Russia, the advantages and difficulties involved, the timeframes for obtaining various documents confirming legal status in Russia, and other questions.
Registration at the Place of Stay in the Presence of Marriage
First of all, it should be noted that obtaining Russian citizenship by marriage at a diplomatic mission or consular institution of Russia outside our country is not possible, as the current citizenship legislation excludes such an opportunity.
That is, for a foreign citizen to acquire Russian citizenship on this basis, they must arrive in Russia.
After arriving in our country, the foreign citizen is required to register at their place of stay within the timeframes established by Russian legislation. This form of registration is often referred to in practice as "temporary registration," "migration accounting," "registration at the place of temporary residence," and so on.
The registration for migration accounting at the place of stay has a distinctly notification nature; the responsibility for its arrangement, as well as for complying with the timeframes established by Russian legislation, lies with the accepting party.
In our case, i.e., when a foreign citizen (foreign citizen) is married to a citizen (citizen) of Russia, there are usually no problems with registering for migration accounting at the place of stay—after all, the spouse who is a citizen of Russia can obviously act as the accepting party.
Moreover, for this registration, the accepting party is not required to have residential premises—a flat, house, room in an apartment, etc.
On the other hand, no Russian regulatory legal act requires a citizen (citizen) of Russia who is married to a foreign citizen to necessarily act as the accepting party for them.
Accordingly, a foreign citizen (foreign citizen) is not obliged to register for migration accounting at the place of stay exclusively with their spouse who is a citizen (citizen) of Russia.
That is, in our case, the migration accounting at the place of stay for foreign citizens can be arranged by other individuals who are not spouses, but, for example, relatives, acquaintances, etc.
The main requirement in this regard is that the accepting party must be exclusively a citizen of Russia or a foreign citizen permanently residing in Russia (i.e., having a residence permit in our country).
Obtaining a Temporary Residence Permit in Russia by Marriage
After registering for migration accounting at the place of stay, the next step for the foreign citizen in acquiring Russian citizenship by marriage should be obtaining a temporary residence permit in Russia (with the exception of citizens of the Republic of Belarus, for whom obtaining a temporary residence permit in our country is not mandatory).
Foreign citizens married to citizens of Russia who have a residence in our country enjoy a significant benefit—this permit is issued to them in the subject of Russia where the residence of the Russian citizen who is their spouse is located, without regard to the quota established by the Government of Russia.
This right is enshrined in paragraph 4 of paragraph 3 of Article 6 of the Federal Law of July 25, 2002, No. 115-FZ "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation."
Moreover, in this case, it does not matter how long the foreign citizen has been married. That is, literally the next day after the marriage, foreign citizens gain the right to apply for a temporary residence permit in our country without regard to the quota.
It should be noted that under the provisions of current Russian legislation, a citizen of Russia has a residence in our country only if they are registered at their place of residence.
Such registration in our case is only possible with an internal Russian passport, as it cannot be arranged with a Russian foreign passport.
The presence of registration at the place of stay or the fact of residing in our country without any registration, as well as the ownership of residential premises, is not sufficient from a legal point of view to recognize them as having a residence in our country.
The timeframe for providing the state service for issuing a temporary residence permit in our country to foreign citizens married to citizens of Russia from the day of acceptance of the relevant application is:
• sixty days—for applicants who arrived in Russia without needing a visa;
• six months—for applicants who arrived in Russia on a visa.
After receiving the temporary residence permit in Russia, the foreign citizen must register at their place of residence within the established timeframes and procedures. They are also obliged to strictly comply with the rules of temporary residence and temporary stay in our country.
It should also be known that a foreign citizen temporarily residing in Russia, i.e., a foreign citizen who has a temporary residence permit in our country, is obliged to submit a notification confirming their residence in Russia in the established manner, along with the necessary documents.
Residence Permit in Russia in the Presence of Marriage
The procedure (in a broad sense) for obtaining Russian citizenship by marriage in all cases implies the necessity for the foreign citizen to obtain a residence permit in our country.
It should also be noted that the presence of foreign citizens temporarily residing in Russia (i.e., those with a temporary residence permit in our country) who are married to Russian citizens does not provide any advantages or benefits when obtaining a residence permit.
That is, Russian legislation does not provide for any "simplified procedure" or "preferential regime" for obtaining a residence permit in this case, as general provisions and requirements apply without any exceptions.
The general provisions and requirements state that foreign citizens, including those married to Russian citizens, acquire the right to obtain a residence permit in our country no earlier than one year of residence in Russia based on a temporary residence permit (paragraph 2 of Article 8 of the Federal Law of July 25, 2002, No. 115-FZ "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation").
In addition, a foreign citizen has the right to apply for a residence permit in Russia no earlier than six months from the date they received a temporary residence permit in our country.
If the above-mentioned timeframe is violated, the application and documents for obtaining a residence permit in Russia will not be accepted for consideration by the employees of the relevant migration department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (paragraph 51.5 of the Administrative Regulation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, approved by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia No. 846 of November 9, 2017).
The timeframe for providing the state service for issuing a residence permit in our country to foreign citizens married to citizens of Russia is six months from the day of acceptance of the relevant application and necessary documents.
The only exception to the above rules is citizens of the Republic of Belarus, who, regardless of whether they have a spouse who is a citizen of Russia, have the right to apply for a residence permit in Russia without first obtaining a temporary residence permit in our country, i.e., immediately after registration (without presenting a migration card) at their place of stay.
This right of citizens of the Republic of Belarus is enshrined in part 1 of Article 4 of the Agreement of January 24, 2006, between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus on ensuring equal rights for citizens of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus to freedom of movement, choice of place of stay and residence in the territories of the states—participants of the Union State.
The decision on the application of a citizen of this state for a residence permit is made within three months.
After receiving a residence permit in Russia, the foreign citizen must register at their place of residence within the established timeframes and procedures.
They are also obliged to strictly comply with the rules of permanent residence and temporary stay in our country.
It should also not be forgotten that a foreign citizen permanently residing in Russia, i.e., a foreign citizen who has a residence permit in our country, is obliged to annually notify the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia of the confirmation of their residence, along with the necessary documents.
Failure to fulfill this obligation may lead to serious administrative responsibility, including administrative expulsion from our country, and thus serve as grounds for the annulment of the existing residence permit in Russia.
Naturalization in Russian Citizenship by Marriage
Immediately after receiving a residence permit in our country and registering at their place of residence based on this document, foreign citizens married to citizens of Russia, provided they meet other established requirements, have the potential opportunity to acquire Russian citizenship in a simplified manner.
To be more precise, the fact that foreign citizens are married to a citizen of Russia will serve as grounds for submitting an application for simplified Russian citizenship in the following two cases.
1. A foreign citizen (foreign citizen) has been married to a citizen (citizen) of Russia for at least three years—paragraph "B" of part 2 of Article 14 of the Federal Law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" of May 31, 2002, No. 62-FZ.
In this case, it does not matter when exactly the spouse (spouse), who are citizens of Russia, acquired citizenship and on what basis they did so.
The main thing is that the marriage was concluded more than three years ago and the spouse (spouse) who are citizens of Russia have a valid document confirming their identity as a citizen of Russia.
Such a document, depending on certain circumstances (for example, depending on the place of residence—Russia or a foreign state), can be either an internal Russian passport or a foreign Russian passport.
The place of marriage—Russia, the state of citizenship of the spouse (spouse), or, for example, some third country—also does not have any legal significance.
In this case, the decision on naturalization in Russian citizenship is made within six months.
2. A foreign citizen has the right to naturalization in Russian citizenship in a simplified manner in accordance with paragraph "B" of part 1 of Article 1 of 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 of February 26, 1999.
This refers to cases when foreign citizens—citizens of the states participating in the specified international agreement—have a spouse who permanently resides in our country and is a citizen (citizen) of Russia.
In this case, the duration of the marriage, when exactly the spouse (spouse), who are citizens of Russia, acquired citizenship, and on what basis they did so does not matter.
The place of marriage—Russia, the state of citizenship of the spouse (spouse), or, for example, some third country—also does not have any legal significance.
The main thing is that the specified spouse or spouse has a valid internal Russian passport and registration at their place of residence in our country (a valid foreign Russian passport and/or registration at the place of stay is not sufficient in this case).
However, to submit an application for naturalization in Russian citizenship by marriage under the quadrilateral international agreement, the foreign citizen must first fulfill one additional requirement, namely, they must arrange for permanent residence in Russia from their country of citizenship in accordance with national legislation.
The decision on naturalization in Russian citizenship is made in this case within three months from the date of submission of the relevant application and all necessary, properly executed documents.
Taking the Oath of a Russian Citizen and Obtaining a Russian Passport
After the decision on the naturalization of the foreign citizen in Russian citizenship is made within the above-mentioned timeframe, the relevant officials are obliged to inform the applicant by sending a notification of the decision made within one month from the date it was issued.
It can be stated that due to this circumstance, in most cases, the timeframe for obtaining an internal Russian passport when naturalizing in Russian citizenship by marriage is extended by another thirty days.
I would like to draw attention to a very important circumstance: after the entry into force on September 1, 2017, of the Federal Law of July 29, 2017, No. 243-FZ, a foreign citizen acquires Russian citizenship from the day they take the Oath of a Russian citizen (unlike the previously existing procedure, under which Russian citizenship was acquired on the day the relevant decision on the naturalization of the foreign citizen was made).
Thus, taking the Oath of a Russian citizen is currently the final step in acquiring citizenship of our country.
After this step, the new citizen of Russia has the right to apply to the relevant migration department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia with a request for the issuance of an internal Russian passport in connection with the acquisition of citizenship.
When obtaining Russian citizenship by marriage, the timeframe for providing the state service for issuing an internal Russian passport should not exceed 10 days from the date of acceptance of all necessary documents.
After receiving the passport, the citizen of Russia has the obligation to comply with the established rules for temporary and permanent (preferential) residence in our country, i.e., they are obliged to register at their place of stay or residence within the established timeframes.
This obligation is enshrined in paragraph 2 of paragraph 4 of the Rules for Registration and Deregistration of Citizens of the Russian Federation at Their Place of Stay and Residence within the Russian Federation, approved by the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation of July 17, 1995, No. 713.
Immigration to Russia. Russian citizenship by parents. Part - 6