Citizenship for individuals with refugee status or political asylum

There are categories of foreign nationals who may be admitted to citizenship of the Russian Federation under a simplified procedure if they hold a residence permit (hereinafter, a residence permit). These foreign nationals include those who have been granted refugee status or political asylum in the Russian Federation.

If a foreign national or stateless person has been permanently residing in the Russian Federation for at least one year (which means residing for at least one year with a residence permit) and has been recognized as a refugee or granted political asylum in the Russian Federation, they are entitled to submit an application for admission to Russian citizenship.

The procedure for granting political asylum is governed by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 746 “On Approval of the Regulations on the Procedure for Granting Political Asylum by the Russian Federation”.

The procedure for recognizing a foreign national as a refugee is governed by Federal Law No. 4528-1 “On Refugees”.

Consider an example:

A Latvian citizen applied for recognition as a refugee for himself and his family members and received the relevant certificate, as did his family members. They subsequently obtained residence permits in Russia. One year after obtaining the residence permit, he and his family members are entitled to apply for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation.

Document submission procedure

To submit an application and a complete set of documents for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation under paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 16 of Federal Law No. 138-FZ “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation”, a foreign national must contact the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the constituent entity where they are staying.

The application for admission to citizenship is processed within three months. If necessary, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs may extend the processing period by a further three months.

Document package

The current list of required documents in .pdf format can be downloaded here

List of documents for applying for Russian citizenship for those recognized as refugees or granted political asylum in the Russian Federation 

A foreign national or stateless person who has reached the age of eighteen and has legal capacity is entitled to submit an application for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation without regard to the requirement to reside permanently in the Russian Federation from the date of the decision to issue a residence permit in the Russian Federation until the date of submission of the application for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation for five years, if:

• the foreign national or stateless person referred to above has been permanently residing in the Russian Federation for at least one year and has been recognized as a refugee or granted political asylum in the Russian Federation. 

The application and documents required to acquire citizenship of the Russian Federation are submitted to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs or its territorial body.

1. Application in 2 copies (printed double-sided)

An application concerning a child under the age of 14 is prepared in one copy.

The application must be completed in Russian, by hand using black, blue or violet ink, or electronically. The applicant must sign each page of the application in the designated field in the lower-right corner. Handwritten text must be legible. Abbreviations and acronyms may not be used when completing the application, except for commonly accepted ones; corrections and marks are also not permitted.

All fields of the application that are required to be completed must be filled in, except where the circumstances needed to answer the question do not exist. In this case, the word "none" is entered in the relevant field, or the corresponding section is left blank. Answers to the questions in the application form must be complete.

If there is insufficient space in an application field to provide all the required information, that information must be entered on additional sheets attached to the application, which form an integral part of it (hereinafter, an addendum). In this case, the relevant application field must state "See addendum".

The number of the field being supplemented must be indicated on the addendum sheets, along with the required information. All addendum sheets must be numbered. The page number and total number of addendum sheets must be stated in the upper-right corner of each sheet. The number of copies of each addendum must match the number of copies of the application. The applicant must sign each addendum sheet in the lower-right corner.

2. A document proving the applicant's identity.

If a foreign national does not have such a document, a copy of the determination establishing the foreign national's identity, issued by a territorial body of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in accordance with Russian law.

A document confirming the presence or absence of citizenship (a citizen's passport, a stateless person's identity document, a temporary identity document for a stateless person in the Russian Federation, a non-citizen's passport issued by the relevant authority of a foreign state, or documents confirming the applicant's lack of citizenship of a foreign state, issued by the competent authority of the foreign state in which the applicant was born).

3. Residence permit.

4. Migration card and detachable part of the arrival notification form for a foreign national or stateless person at their place of stay — migration registration.

In most regions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs requires a stamp showing registration at the place of residence in the residence permit when an application is submitted.

5. Certificate granting political asylum by the Russian Federation (if the applicant is a person granted political asylum in the Russian Federation);

or

refugee certificate (if the applicant is a person recognized as a refugee in accordance with Russian law).

6. Birth certificate.

7. Documents confirming changes to the applicant's full name.

(marriage certificate, divorce certificate, or certificate from the civil registry office in cases of repeated surname changes, or a name change certificate).

8. One of the documents confirming*

- proficiency in Russian:

    • a standard-form document (or duplicate) confirming completion of education (at least basic general education) in the territory of a state that was part of the USSR, before September 1, 1991,

      or

    • a standard-form education document (or duplicate) or a standard-form education and qualification document (or duplicate), confirming completion of education in the Russian Federation after September 1, 1991;

    • an education and/or qualification document issued in a foreign state by a higher education organization that was jointly administered by the Russian Federation and the foreign state under an international treaty of the Russian Federation, and where instruction was conducted in Russian;

    • a document confirming completion of education (at least basic general education), issued in a foreign state where Russian is one of the official languages (for citizens of that state);

    • a certificate confirming the level of Russian language proficiency required for the purpose of acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation, issued in the Russian Federation or a foreign state by a state institution included in the list established by the Government of the Russian Federation of state institutions that conduct examinations in Russian as a foreign language, Russian history and the fundamentals of Russian law. The procedure and criteria for including such state institutions in the list, the procedure for maintaining the list, the procedure and grounds for removing state institutions from it, the form and procedure for conducting the Russian language examination for the purpose of acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation, the Russian language proficiency requirements for the purpose of acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation, the examination fee, and the procedure and retention periods for examination materials are approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. The form of the certificate confirming the level of Russian language proficiency required for the purpose of acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation, the procedure for issuing it, and the technical requirements for the certificate are approved by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. Information about the certificate is entered by the issuing state institution into the federal information system "Federal Register of Information on Education and/or Qualification Documents and Training Documents";

    • a certificate of proficiency in Russian, knowledge of Russian history and the fundamentals of Russian law at the level corresponding to the purpose of obtaining a residence permit;

    • a decision recognizing a compatriot as proficient in Russian, adopted by a commission of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs or its territorial body for recognizing compatriots as proficient in Russian;

- a certificate confirming knowledge of Russian history and the fundamentals of Russian law at the level required for the purpose of acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation, issued in the Russian Federation or a foreign state by a state institution included in the list established by the Government of the Russian Federation of state institutions that conduct examinations in Russian as a foreign language, Russian history and the fundamentals of Russian law,

or

• a standard-form document (or duplicate) confirming completion of education (at least basic general education) in the territory of a state that was part of the USSR, before September 1, 1991, or a standard-form education document (or duplicate) or a standard-form education and qualification document (or duplicate), confirming completion of education in the Russian Federation after September 1, 1991;
• an education and/or qualification document issued in a foreign state by a higher education organization that was jointly administered by the Russian Federation and the foreign state under an international treaty of the Russian Federation, and where instruction was conducted in Russian;
• a document confirming completion of education (at least basic general education), issued in a foreign state where Russian is one of the official languages (for citizens of that state);
• a certificate of proficiency in Russian, knowledge of Russian history and the fundamentals of Russian law at the level corresponding to the purpose of obtaining a residence permit.

* Foreign nationals and stateless persons are exempt from confirming their proficiency in Russian and knowledge of Russian history and the fundamentals of Russian law when submitting an application if they have reached the age of 70 or are Group I disabled persons.

9. Personal photographs, 3 x4 cm – 3 pcs. (black and white or color).

The image of the applicant (child, legally incapacitated person) in the photograph must correspond to their age on the date the application is submitted.

10. Receipt for payment of the state fee.

All the documents listed must be submitted as photocopies, together with the ORIGINALS.

A copy of an original document must be of good quality, easy to read, and contain all the information included in the original. Copies must be made on standard A4 sheets and must not be cut with scissors to match the format of the original.

The originals of the document proving the applicant's identity and other required documents submitted by the applicant must be returned. Copies of these documents are attached to the application; an official checks them against the originals and certifies them with their signature and the seal of the body responsible for matters of citizenship of the Russian Federation, or the seal of a subordinate enterprise (authorized organization).

The period for providing the public service is 3 months.

The period may be extended for the time required to verify the documents submitted by the applicant and the information provided by them when submitting the application, and to obtain additional documents and information stipulated by this Federal Law, but by no more than three months.

An application will not be accepted for consideration and will be returned to the applicant together with the attached documents if:

a) the application and documents have not been properly completed, including if they contain clerical errors, typos or other mistakes;

b) the documents required under these Regulations and attached to the application have not been submitted in full.

If an application is refused acceptance for consideration, the official returning the application will state, orally or in writing, the circumstances that served as grounds for the refusal and how they can be rectified.

At the applicant's written request, the official will communicate these circumstances and how they can be rectified in writing, including a list of missing documents.

All official documents issued by foreign authorities in a foreign language must be legalized, translated and notarized.   

For countries that are parties to the 1961 Hague Convention:

    • The original document must be apostilled in the country where it was issued.

    • The document and the apostille affixed to it must be translated into Russian.

    • The translation must be certified by a notarial certification made by a notary in the Russian Federation.

For countries that are not parties to the Hague Convention:

    • Documents must undergo consular legalization through the consular offices of the Russian Federation abroad or the Consular Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

All documents not prepared in Russian must be submitted with a translation into Russian. The accuracy of the translation or the authenticity of the translator's signature must be notarized in accordance with Russian law.

The originals of the Russian translations of the above documents must be returned. Copies are attached to the application; an official checks them against the originals and certifies them with their signature and the seal of the body responsible for matters of citizenship of the Russian Federation, or the seal of a subordinate enterprise (authorized organization).

If a document prepared in a language other than Russian duplicates all entries in Russian, it does not need to be submitted with a Russian translation.

Under paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 16 of Federal Law No. 138-FZ dated 28.04.2023 "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation"

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 889 dated 22.11.2023 "Issues of Citizenship of the Russian Federation" ("Regulations on the Procedure for Considering Matters of Citizenship of the Russian Federation", "Regulations on the Procedure for Taking the Oath of a Citizen of the Russian Federation"